Louisville football: First half superlatives vs. Pitt

Good thing how you start isn’t how you finish, because the start of the matchup for Louisville football was ugly.

The Cards defense was able to hold Pittsburgh to just a field goal on two straight drives after giving up multiple big plays, but it didn’t stop them from starting the game on a 13-0 run.

Louisville bounced back, scoring 17 straight points and giving themselves a lead for the first time. You knew that even against a strong defense, the Louisville offense was going to perform. It was a slow start though as Patrick Jones II and Rashad Weaver controlled (dominated) the line of scrimmage, but a one-play 75 yard scoring play (how the turntables…more on this soon) from Javian Hawkins opened the game up.

From there Malik Cunningham was able to make enough plays, even being sacked multiple times, to help Louisville score a touchdown on a two play, 21 yard drive following a forced turnover.

Speaking of which, Louisville’s defense very much operated in the bend but don’t break mindset during the first half, doing just enough to get off the field and keep the game close. They forced a turnover early in the first half and got multiple pressures on Kenny Pickett (though they only recorded one sack) and  made other plays in the run game to limit big plays,

Still, they struggled with big plays. Pickett threw for 161 yards and two touchdowns on 16/24 passing while the team rushed for another 79 yards on 20 carries.

How the turntables award – Javian Hawkins 75-yard touchdown

Pitt’s run defense has been stellar so far, but they were caught sleeping on a Javian Hawkins run in the first half. When that man turns on the burners, there aren’t many people catching him.

Almost had ’em award – Yasir Abdullah

Louisville got so close to so many different big plays defensively, whether it be pressure that didn’t amount to a sack, a pass deflection that didn’t get picked, or a tackle that wasn’t a tackle…

Abdullah forced the first Louisville turnover of the day when he got pressure and a hit on Pickett in the first half that led to a fumble recovery. It was a play that probably shouldn’t have been called a fumble, but one Abdullah was super close to getting his first sack of the season on.

A few drives later Abdullah made a pretty standard wrap up tackle, only to watch Pittsburgh receiver Taysir Mack get up and take off for a 40-yard touchdown. Upon further review it was easy to see that Mack’s knee never hit the ground, despite the fundamentally sound tackle from Abdullah, and it resulted in another big play for the Pittsburgh offense.

Busy beaver award – Marlon Character

Aka, the “bushiest” beaver award, Character has been all over the place so far. Louisville’s bend-but-don’t break defense is frustrating at times, but character has stepped up and been impressive. He has laid the wood on multiple plays, and broken up a pass.

The “that’s not a mask” award – Scott Satterfield

Scott… bro. I can’t. We love the dad swag that coach Satterfield possesses, but what is up with the Pirates of the Caribbean, Davey Jones Octopus face look?

Coach looks like he’s hiding snacks in his dangling cloth apparatus. Whatever works, I guess.