Louisville Football: What to watch for vs Wake Forest

Louisville football looks to find some sort of positive as it heads into a home slate Saturday against Wake Forest.

Louisville football and coach Bobby Petrino are coming off of a bye week looking for a lot of answers.

After an abysmal start, going 2-5 and winless against power five teams, Louisville has concerns at every single position. Maybe most importantly, they have questions surrounding the coaching staff and their preparation.

Wake Forest comes into the game limping as well, but it is hard to imagine another team being as listless as Louisville nearly three quarters of the way through the season.

The Cards and the Deacs have a recent history of being one of the weirdest rivalries in sports. Although Wake hasn’t been a world beater by any means, expect Dave Clawsen’s bunch to bring their A game against a Bobby Petrino-coached team that the opposing coach hates.

Can Louisville Find Consistency in the  Passing Game?

The Cards’s offense has shown promise this season- but only in very short spurts. It seems that if they could find consistency in the passing game, no matter who is behind center, the Cards could open up the offense much more.

Puma Pass has seemed to make progress slowly but surely, but will Bobby Petino keep him on a short leash? One would think in a down year that the coaching staff would let Pass play through his mistakes. However, Petrino has pulled his starting quarterback in four out of seven games.

There is a general lack of consistency at the quarterback position, but if the Cards can get the passing game going with some short to intermediate plays, maybe Puma Pass can finally lead the Cards on scoring drives with a level of consistency.

Can the Defensive Line Show Improvement?

Louisville’s defense has ranged from impressive to downright embarrassing; Sometimes even in the same game.  The Cards lack continuity on defense, and especially on the defensive line.

The absence of captain Jon Greenard, and the recent loss of GG Robinson, have left the Cards with a real void that sophomores Derek Dorsey and Tabarius Peterson have not been able to fill.

With Robinson and true freshman Dez Dumervil returning to the fold this week, Louisville will have the opportunity to get their run defense turned around. If they can hold Wake below their average on the ground, their chances of winning increase significantly. If recent history is any indicator, that is a big “if” though.

Will the Cards Buy in?

It is hard for a seat to get warmer that Bobby Petrino’s is right now. There are basically two directions that the team can go in from this game forward: buy in to what Petrino is selling, and fight for wins, or completely quit.

So far, we have seen much more of the latter from Louisville in 2018. The more things change- personnel, schemes, strategies- the more the hustle, attitude, and chemistry stay the same. The Cards have been flat 98% of the season, and it doesn’t seem like they are going to all of a sudden buy in now.

Bobby Petrino is coaching for his job from this point on. If he can’t get his team fired up enough to compete with a down Wake Forest team, there is little hope for a win for the rest of the season.

What Weird Thing Will Happen Next?

Louisville-Wake Forest has been the dumbest, weirdest rivalry in the ACC for the last four years.

It began when Bobby Petrino attempted to Grey shirt running back Matt Colburn- a common practice in modern college football in which a player is given the opportunity to transfer or remain on the team and await a scholarship offer. After this decision, the nation lost its collective mind (even though teams do it all the time), and Wake became the “good guys” when Colburn committed in 2015. Since then, Colburn has gained more than 2,400 yards from scrimmage over the course of his career.

There was also the “Wakeyleaks” “scandal” in which a disgruntled Demon Deacons staffer left some of Wake Forest’s plays on Louisville’s sideline. This in a game in which Louisville scored 3 points in the first half before going on a 41-0 run to end the game.

Last season, after the Wakey Leaks dust cleared, Petrino and Wake coach Dave Clawson exchanged some rather unkind words about each other’s programs. Then Wake went out and handed it to Louisville.

Now, Colburn and Clawson return to Louisville for the pillow fight of the century. The two teams are a combined 0-8 in conference play.

Somebody’s going to win, but neither team will make it easy on themselves. With the way that this season is going,  Louisville- Wake Forest is almost certain to end in epic fashion.