Louisville football: How the Cards will defeat Boston College

Finding success offensively on third down

When teams are this evenly matched, every single down is very important. Wake Forest beat Boston College this past weekend because of third down success, converting 17  out of 24 third down attempts (yes, that stat is correct).

This was huge for two reasons, obviously because they extended their drives and therefore had a better chance of scoring. But also because those survived drives, the Boston College rushing attack was kept off of the field.

Boston College actually offensively out-gained Wake on Saturday by almost 100 yards. But because of Wake’s ability to stay on the field, as well as Boston College’s untimely turnovers, they were able to still find a way to win the game.

Boston College enters this game ranking 119th out of 130 in 3rd down defense. The Cardinals have to mimic Wake’s strategy on Saturday to get the win. However, that’ll be much easier said than done.

Even with a potent rushing attack, Louisville’s offense has struggled mightily this season on third down. Through four games the Cards are 19 for 52 on third down, which ranks 92nd nationally, showing there is still a lot of work left to be done in this area, especially passing the football.

Boston College could be a good place to start improving that, seeing as how their defense has been one of the nation’s worst third down teams, giving up conversions nearly 50 percent of the time which ranks 119th nationally.

Moving the football on first and second down will be crucial as the Cards will need to be able to land in third and manageable situations for whoever is the quarterback. Running the football will be possible, but if the Cards are constantly in third and long it’s likely the trend of struggling on third down continues.