Louisville’s 3 Keys to beating Pitt’s Offense
By Caleb Hall
No. 2: Force 3 play drives early against Pitt
Pat Narduzzi‘s game plan for the the Panthers on offense will be to hold onto the ball as long as possible to keep Louisville away from the football. If Pitt has the football Louisville won’t be able to score (or at least that’s the idea).
Pitt will likely run out the play clock till it’s down to 5, run the ball, and keep the ball inbounds at all costs. To counteract that Louisville needs to make sure they don’t let the Panthers convert on 3rd down. If the Cardinals force a couple quick empty drives for Pitt and then score, the Panthers will have no choice but to move faster. That is exactly the opposite of what Narduzzi wants to do with this team. He knows the offense isn’t that capable, but if they can put out slow drives that eat up clock then maybe he can give Pitt a chance to win.
Not only will forcing these quick drives make Pitt change their game plan entirely, but it just gives Louisville a better chance to win overall. If you stop the other opponent from scoring you’re going to give yourself a better chance to win this football game.
Louisville needs to force early quick drives for Pitt’s offense so they will have to redirect their entire offensive gameplan.