Recapping Louisville football’s loss to Georgia Tech position-by-position
Louisville football fell to 1-3 after a loss to Georgia Tech.
Louisville football dropped an extremely disappointing 46-27 Friday night bout against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. This may chalk up as one of the most disappointing losses in the Satterfield era.
From start to finish, undisciplined mistakes and turnovers plagued the Cardinals against the now 2-2 Yellow Jackets. Louisville sits at 1-3 on the season. Yikes.
There are certainly many issues with this team. There are ones clear as day and others that are not quite as clear. All emotion aside, let us take a look at this team through a positional scope.
Quarterback
The discussion about Malik Cunningham is scattered across the board with many (understandably) being particularly disappointed with his play the last two games against Pittsburgh and now Georgia Tech.
Certainly the Georgia Tech game was an average game at least for Cunningham. A first drive dime was dropped by tight end Ean Pfeifer. Later, a crucial play that would have went for a first down was dropped by Dez Fitzpatrick.
I am under the impression Cunningham’s issues throwing corner routes and crossing routes are very real. But it is not a talent issue. Let me explain.
Cunningham looks out of sync with his receivers. In particular, Tutu Atwell and him seem to have lost some chemistry. I’m not sure how that has happened after the year both had last year. But it is certainly apparent to me now.
Cunningham has not seen Atwell on deep crossers quick enough. A couple of times, you could see Cunningham throwing the ball late to Atwell. The ball was on the money on those crossing routes. The issue is that he is a second or two late and Atwell was out of bounds with no chance to catch the ball (albeit accurate).
On corner routes, no matter how far, Cunningham has struggled. This is a timing and placement issue. Cunningham has to anticipate where the receivers will start to break on their corner and the proper amount of touch. It is a harder throw than it looks.
Cunningham thrives in areas when he can utilize play action and throw ropes that do not require timing. On timing routes, Cunningham and the receivers struggle. If Louisville can get that chemistry between Cunningham and the receivers right (specifically Atwell), this offense led by Cunningham will be ticking once again.