Louisville football: Five biggest needs of improvement after bye week
Secondary Must Win One-on-One Matchups
The defense this year has shown a lot more emphasis on speed and getting to the quarterback. Bryan Brown’s defensive schemes are based on bringing pressure and that’s fine when you have a great secondary that can handle their one-on-one assignments, however, when they can’t big plays are bound to be gifted to an opposing offense.
This has been my main issue with the defense, oftentimes there have been huge holes in the secondary that can be exposed by a smart quarterback.
Against FSU, Louisville allowed 382 passing yards and 252 of that came from Seminoles’ second-string quarterback Alex Hornibrook. Hornibrook was able to see the holes in the Cardinals’ defense and completed 75 percent of his pass attempts. Louisville also gave up 245 passing yards against Western Kentucky as well. This is what happens when the pressure doesn’t affect a QB and they are able to notice the gaps in a defense.
Louisville’s secondary must be able to hold their own against the opposing receivers, especially when they are more likely to be in iso situations due to the defensive schemes that are ran. Additionally, they have yet to register an interception this year and I believe creating turnovers is something that could really benefit this team as the schedule gets tougher.
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If Louisville can do at least three of these things consistently it will most definitely improve its chances on not only winning a conference game but possibly making a postseason bowl appearance. On the flip side, if these things don’t improve soon it will be harder for the Cardinals to pull off close wins in the ACC. The road doesn’t get any easier after this weekend.