Stock up, stock down for Louisville football after Virginia

Tight Ends

I’ll say this once again and you can take it for what it’s worth.. All receivers (both TE & WR) have to rely on a Quarterback to get them the ball.

Both Micky Crum and Kemari Averett have been non-factors since week one against Alabama. After combining for seven catches for 54 yards and two touchdowns, they have regressed in a major way. Coming into the 2018 season everyone around the Louisville program expected both guys to step up and have big seasons in the new-but-old-look Bobby Petrino offense, giving the Cards a big advantage over the middle.

However, that has yet to happen and Saturday was a rock bottom for the position as a whole. Neither Averett or Crum had a single catch, and by the looks of things the two combined for maybe two to three targets, all from Puma Pass. That’s a big problem.. here’s why.

When Bobby Petrino made the switch from Puma Pass to Malik Cunningham, there had to be the understanding that Cunningham wasn’t quite the passer that Pass was. A good head coach, who knew that was the case, would’ve drawn up more simple passing plays targeting tight ends over the middle of the field, or out by the hash marks to get the offense going. Of course, that wasn’t the case.

The more that the tight ends on this roster struggle to produce, heck even get targets, the more this offense is going to struggle. Using the middle of the field essentially leads to unlocking deeper passing plays to threats like Jaylen Smith and Dez Fitzpatrick.

Not having Chris Klenakis’ around may be a bigger deal than what we are giving it credit, but whatever it is Bobby Petrino has to fix this. The tight end is a staple position in his offense, and for the third straight year he is struggling to use the weapons he has at his disposal.

Running Backs

What is it going to take to get one running back onto the field to build some rhythm? Every time a Louisville RB made a solid play on Saturday, Bobby Petrino called a new formation and that back was replaced with another.

All together the group of three running back’s who received carries combined for 16 carries for 39 yards, averaging for just 2.4 yards per carry. Yikes.

The lone bright spot for the unit was Trey Smith who accounted for 24 of the 39 yards for the Cards, but even he struggled to avoid mistakes when he got the ball.

At some point, sooner rather than later, something has to change at the RB position. The Cards will have zero chances of throwing the football successfully without the supplementation of a running game. I get rotating backs to throw different things at a defense or to get a breather for a particular back whose had multiple carries in a row, but to keep pulling players after one play is ridiculous and has made this group look terrible.

After a big game last week for Dae Williams it seemed as if Petrino had completely forgotten about him, giving him two carries to open the game and then avoiding him like the plague the rest of the game.

I don’t know who the answer is, or what the answer is, but I do know two of the most important units on an offense have zero traction and the majority of it can be pinned on Bobby.

Be better coach – figure it out.