Louisville Football: Three Players that Must Step Up Against Virginia

Louisville football looks to take a step forward against a tough Virginia team. We take a look at three players that have to step up for the Cards.

Time between weekend games seems to go by slowly during the college football season. But it goes by even slower when your favorite team is struggling.

Louisville football is looking for lots of answers going into game four of the season. Game 1 yielded expected results as Alabama clobbered the Cards. Game two was understandably sloppy during monsoon-like conditions.

Game three, however, left everyone around the program more than a little uneasy. The Cards barely managed to sneak by an inferior Western Kentucky team, and looked completely out of whack in doing so.

With so many questions left unanswered, let’s take a look at three players that must step up if the Cards want to stand a chance against Virginia.

Malik Cunningham

This seems obvious, but Cunningham is going to be the lifeblood of this Louisville team going forward.

Cunningham will probably play a Lamar Jackson-type role in the offense where there are some designed run plays, read options, and so forth. It isn’t far-fetched at all for Cunningham to rush once again for 100+ yards, but that isn’t going to win the game for the Cards.

If he can complete more than 50% of his passes and make good decisions with the ball and not force anything, Cunningham can put the Cards in prime position for a win. A key will be finding top targets Dez Fitzpatrick and Jaylen Smith early and often. Virginia will expect a lot of run, pass, options, and if Cunningham is anything like Jackson, there will be a lot of keeper runs.

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Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall is a very smart coach, and will likely game plan to keep Cunningham in the pocket as much as possible. If that’s the case, Petrino has to dial up short passes to guys like Fitzpatrick, Dawkins, Smith, and even Marcus Riley and Tutu Atwell to let them make plays in space.

Cunningham won’t win this game on his own. Getting solid contributions from the run game (looking at you Dae) and no dropped passes from his key receivers will be crucial for the Cards against UVA.

Jarrett Jackson

Louisville has to get pressure on the quarterback, and be able to stuff the run game, which is led by dominant back Jordan Ellis. With defensive captain Jonathan Greenard out, Jackson looks like he may be the Cards’s best option to get into the offensive backfield.

Just a true freshman, Jackson is built like a 5th-year senior. At 6 foot 6, 280 plus pounds, Jackson is quick off the ball, and he does an excellent job of setting the edge. In his last two games Jackson has picked up two sacks, and has lived in the opposing offenses backfield. He’ll be going up against an experienced offensive line who specializes in protecting a dual-threat QB’s.

Playing smart and disciplined football will

Jackson and company need to be able to pressure and contain the dynamic quarterback and running back duo for the Hoo’s or it could be a long day for this Louisville defense.

Dez Fitzpatrick

Louisville’s 2017 freshman All-American has to step up soon, or the Cards may be toast.

Malik Cunningham is going to be in search of a go-to receiver, and Fitzpatrick still has the opportunity to be just that. Unfortunately, Dez has only caught 5 passes for 61 yards in 2018, and hasn’t found the end zone- a complete reverse from his red-hot start to the 2017 season.

With Jaylen Smith still seemingly not himself after an appendectomy 6 weeks ago, Fitzpatrick has to step up and be the man for this Cardinals offense. All together the Cards receivers have seen down tick in statistics, which has a lot more to do with the poor performance at the QB position and the struggles up front. However, this is the game where that has to turn around.

The Hoos are likely to single in on stopping Malik Cunningham from hurting them with his legs, forcing him instead to throw the football. Can he do that at a high level? We honestly don’t know the answer to that yet.

Fitzpatrick has to step up and perform in the way we all expected him to all offseason long. I believe that will likely happen on Saturday.

Louisville still has a chance to turn things around this season. However, without these three players clicking on all cylinders, the outcome seems bleak.

Here’s to hoping that the Cards can get on the same page and get things rolling.