Louisville football report card: Grading Cards win over UVA

Defense

The defensive line has yet to really stand out this season in terms of big plays but that doesn’t mean that they haven’t played well consistently. While tackles and sacks are what most people judge defensive lines for, at Louisville, the production of everyone else starts with the defensive line doing their job and doing it well. But it doesn’t necessarily come with a ton of stats for those players.

Against Virginia, guys like G.G. Robinson, Jared Goldwire, and Tabarius Peterson did a great job of getting to their gaps and occupying space allowing for linebackers C.J. Avery, Dorian Etheridge, and others to make plays on the ball. The first play in the video below is a perfect example of just that in which Khane Pass is waiting in a run lane for Virginia’s running back waiting to destroy him (which he does) all due to the play of the D Line.

https://twitter.com/theACCDN/status/1189210287125057536

While Virginia was by no means a dominant run team this season, they’ve had enough success with quarterback Bryce Perkins and others on the ground to be dangerous. But on Saturday Louisville was fully prepared and the front three did a great job of not only keeping Perkins contained but making plays in the backfield for a loss of yards.

Not only did they do that but they constantly got pressure, something we haven’t seen a ton of this season. G.G. Robinson picked up a sack, Tabarius Peterson had 1.5 tackles for loss, and Thurman Geathers, Amonte Caban, and Dayna Kinnaird were all credited with one quarterback hurry.

Virginia really struggled against Louisville’s defense when you talk about start to finish and I put a lot of that on the defensive line and their strong performance.

Nobody was better on Saturday against Virginia than Louisville’s linebackers outside of maybe Javian Hawkins. It seemed like nearly every offensive play for Virginia ended in with a linebacker either making the tackle or being one of the next guys there to finish a play.

Entering the season I worried that Louisville’s smaller linebacking core would be an issue, but through eight games I stand corrected. Guys like C.J. Avery, Rodjay Burns, and Monty Montgomery are smaller but what they bring is speed and hitting power – and it’s paid off for Louisville in a major way.

C.J. Avery led the team in tackles again, finishing with eight total tackles, all of which were counted as solo tackles, while Rodjay Burns finished with four (three solo) and a QB hurry, and Monty Montgomery reeled in two sacks. All three made big plays in big moments and without them playing an A+ game, Lousiville probably doesn’t win.

As long as Louisville stays healthy at the position expect more performances like we saw on Saturday.

Much like the linebackers, Louisville’s secondary was once again great for the Cards. While they did give up 233 yards, including a 39 yarder and a 24 yarder, they played extremely well in coverage against a dynamic dual-threat quarterback who forces defenses to cover longer. They also were huge in run support and made a ton of tackles, something you don’t normally see.

Leading the way for Louisville was starting corners Chandler Jones and Marlon Character, who started the first game of his career in place of Anthony Johnson.

Character was one of the best players on the field Saturday, recording the third-most tackles (7), a sack, and a tackle for loss. Jones continued his excellent season, defending two passes, leading the team with eight tackles and nabbing another interception.

Virginia’s receivers aren’t well-known names like we’ve seen in weeks past against FSU, Wake Forest, and Clemson but to undermine how well the secondary played would be foolish.

There is still plenty of room for improvement but keeping Perkins’ damage through the air at a minimum was huge for the morale and confidence moving forward of the secondary.