Louisville football: How the Cards can beat Miami

Keep. Feeding. Javian. Hawkins.

Miami’s defense is elite. But, so is Louisville’s rushing attack.

Now that two-thirds of the seasons are out of the way, it’s easy to tell what teams are good at. Louisville is good at running the football plain and simple. Louisville knows it and the opponent knows it.

But that fact hasn’t slowed down the production from Javian Hawkins and company. Louisville has now found themselves in a category of teams that can run successfully even when the other team clearly knows it’s coming.

Louisville is one of only five teams to average five or more yards per carry against an eight or more man box. So teams are prepared and focused on stopping Louisville’s rushing attack, they just simply haven’t been able to do it.

The difference between a five-yard carry and a two-yard carry may not feel like a ton, but it’s everything in a matchup like this. Louisville being able to simplify its offense at times when a quarterback is struggling by handing the ball off and prospering has been huge for the Cardinals this season.

It also looks like Hawkins may get his partner in the backfield back this weekend. As Hassan Hall should be able to help the Louisville rushing effort.

If Hawkins can just be himself in South Beach, the Cardinals have a great chance of getting the victory. It may only take 21 points to win this game. Hawkins ability to make something out of nothing has bailed Louisville out and kept them in games consistently this season.

If he can do it against this level of competition, the Cards may earn bowl eligibility long before we all imagined and Hawkins may be the running back that Cardinal fans have been waiting for since Michael Bush.