Louisville Football: Three Positive Take Aways from Heartbreaking Loss

Louisville football dropped another game on Saturday in the most heart breaking possible fashion. However, there are some positives to take away going forward.

That sucked. Just wanted to get the undeniable fact out of the way that Louisville football’s 3rd loss of the season to Florida State ended in the absolute worse case scenario.

Up by three with two minutes to go, and well into field goal range, Bobby Petrino did the unthinkable and elected to pass on first down. The result, a Florida State interception, led to a 58 yard touchdown four plays later from FSU’s Nyquan Murray that sealed Louisville’s fate.

We can talk about the horrifying play-calling in the game’s waning minutes that led to the Cards blowing a 21-7 and 24-14 lead. In reality, though, Louisville absolutely outplayed Florida State, and there are plenty of positives to take away.

Cards’s Defense Continues Steady Improvement

The one continuous bright spot for Louisville has been the play of the defense under first year coordinator Brian VanGorder. BVG has mixed in the perfect amount of aggression in his play calling, and really been able to keep teams out of the end zone at a much better rate than in the last two years.

Although the Cards gave up the late game-winning touchdown, they remained consistent on Saturday, and had only surrendered 14 points going into the fourth quarter.

Most will only remember the critical missed tackles, but situationally the Cards have been very good. Consider also that Louisville has been without it’s best pass rusher and team caption Jon Greenard, and has had to overcome a slew of injuries on defense.

Louisville only surrendered 42 rushing yards to FSU’s stud running back Cam Akers after giving up 155 on the ground last year against the Noles.

The Cards were also a very staunch on 3rd down, only allowing the Seminoles to convert 3 out of 13 attempts.

The last issue that they will look to fix is the propencity to give up big plays. Against Alabama, Virginia, and now FSU, the Cards have been burned by the big play. They will often make teams stall repeatedly, and then a blown coverage or missed tackle results in a long play.

Against FSU, they allowed 370 yards of total offense, but 155 yards came on their four touchdowns. Limit those big plays, and the defense will go from  good to great.

Fitzpatrick and Smith Finally Make an Impact

Finally. Jaylen Smith and Dez Fitzpatrick came up huge against the Noles. The dynamic duo accounted for 9 receptions and 145 yards on Saturday, a huge step up from the previous four games.

Smith, who underwent an emergency appendectomy two weeks before the season, did not appear to be in game shape until this week. He finally appeared to be his old self again this week, making multiple tremendous catches when the Cards needed it the most.

Fitzpatrick finally found the end zone en route to a 4-catch 45 yard performance. A marked improvement from the first few weeks of the season.

The next step is finding offensive continuity with Puma Pass behind center. The Cards had four situations where wide open receivers were streaking down the field, only to have Pass overthrow them.

It could be on Pass, but Louisville’s receivers have to be able to adjust to throws better and simply make a catch. Often times, they try to catch a pass in stride instead of making the play first.

Again, it is frustrating but with time, Pass should be able to make those big plays.

The Offense is Finally Opening Up

There’s no two ways about it. Louisville’s offense had by far their best performance of the season. Sure, it left much to be desired because it could have been even better.

However, it seems like Bobby Petrino and his staff have found the right ingredients to turn the offense around going forward.

Louisville started true freshman Hassan Hall in the backfield, and he did not disappoint. He is an extremely versatile back, but he brings elite speed to the table that makes him an absolute problem for opposing defenses. He finished the day with 57 yards on 11 carries, but his presence in the backfield was significant because FSU really had to respect the run when he was in.

Trey Smith had a fantastic outing, toting the rock 14 times for 70 yards. Hall and Smith hit holes harder than anyone else on the team, and finish every play falling forward. Look for those two to continue to see carries, and for Jeremy Smith and Dae Williams to be added into the mix in short down situations.

Louisville also utilized their tight ends much more effectively against Florida State. Micky Crum is finally becoming the player he has been expected to be since his freshman year. He is a blue collar player who wants to destroy everything in his path, with or without the ball.

Crum finished the game with 8 receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown, while Kemari Averrett added 2 receptions for 18 yards.

The Cards sprinkled in some more speed, getting Tutu Atwell and Marcus Riley- both blazing fast true freshmen- open in space. Louisville finally let Atwell find some holes in the first level instead of constantly sending him deep, where he doesn’t stand a real chance against larger players in the secondary.

Overall, the loss to Florida State is especially heart breaking because Louisville finally played a good game and executed in all phases. However, if the coaching staff can get the players to understand that they executed well for the first 57 minutes of the game, then they have a real chance of getting the season turned out.

Let’s see what the Cards can do going into a short week.