The good, bad, and ugly from Louisville football’s loss to Boston College

The Ugly

I think you all know what is coming. It’s the one thing that is obvious a recurring issue amongst the program this season.

Turnovers

The bottom line is that Louisville has the worst turnover margin in the country with the season winding down. The team is now -12 in that department (the worst in the FBS). Turnovers, as you all know from countless television broadcasts, often make or break a team’s performance.

In 2020, the Cardinals have been breaking their performances many more times than making them. That much we can confirm.

Not only has Louisville turned the ball over 18 times this year, they only have six turnovers forced on defense in 10 ball games. That’s not enough havoc caused by a defense that could desperately use it when the offense is struggling to hold onto the ball themselves.

It’s not just going to click for this team with now just one game to go in the 2020 season. The Cards forced a turnover in the game against Boston College but ended up losing the turnover battle tacking on another minus-two performance with two more fumbles and an interception given to Boston College on the day.

It’s gotten silly. On Saturday, Tutu Atwell and Hassan Hall both inexplicably seemed to have lost control of the ball during natural motion as ball carriers. Atwell would have had the chance to score untouched for a huge gain had he not let the ball fall to the turf when he was trying to switch it in his hands.

These kinds of plays have changed football games for Louisville and it has been multiple culprits between Cunningham and a multitude of offensive skill players. The team does not value the football enough to win games and the carelessness behind the lost turnovers is just laughable.

If you want to know why Louisville is 3-7, look no further than the turnover issues. Louisville has out gained their opponents in 8 of 10 games this season and still own this abysmal record that, in a normal year, would have left the Cardinals on the outside looking in for bowl consideration.

Overall, the bad and ugly have outweighed the good this year. Veteran players, many times seniors, are the ones making the biggest mistakes in the biggest moments and that is concerning for so many reasons.

If the team wants to be successful in 2021 and beyond, valuing the football needs to be a priority. The coaches and players need to do their part to ensure a disastrous season like this one is not a trend for the future.