For Louisville, the first quarter against Wake Forest was a snapshot of a bigger problem: the Cards kept running into communication issues, misalignments, and missed assignments, while Wake played cleaner, faster, and more disciplined football.
One early defensive snap summed up the trouble. Louisville was late getting the call in, which left the defense confused and outnumbered on one side of the formation.
Three defenders, including the nose tackle, wound up stacked to the left. Josh Donald did a solid job fighting through the double team and avoiding getting sealed off, which helped force the run back upfield.
From there, Blake Ruffin came downhill and finished it.
That kind of breakdown is why the defense still feels fixable in some areas and troubling in others. The coverage issues can be cleaned up. The blown alignments, the missed assignments, and the repeated lateness of the play call suggest something deeper, and Mark Ivey is learning on the job, to an extent.
There were also moments when the defense did exactly what it was supposed to do. On one short-yardage snap, Louisville slanted the line to open a lane for the linebackers to attack downhill.
Stanquan Clark had a clean path to the ball and made the stop. That was the kind of call that makes sense when the offense is trying to lean on the line and grind out just enough yardage.
Wake Forest, though, had the sharper edge all day. The Demon Deacons were better prepared, played with better effort, and were far more disciplined than Louisville, which is why they won the game.
That showed up again on the receiver screens that have hurt Louisville this season. Wake’s defensive linemen recognized the screen quickly, then chased it down with full commitment.
That’s disciplined football.
Louisville’s own screen game also had an odd look on one snap, because the offensive line was not out in front of the play. Lance Robinson and Johnnie Brown did not get to the left side to block it, and it was unclear whether the play had broken down or whether the look was meant to sell a screen the other way.
The linebackers’ reluctance to attack the run has been a recurring issue, and this game offered one of the clearest examples. The second-level defenders barely moved at the snap.
They waited, watched, and tried to confirm the handoff before committing. That hesitation kept them from disrupting blocks, and it allowed Wake’s blockers to climb to them cleanly.
Too often, by the time Louisville reacted, the ball was already 7-9 yards downfield.
Wake’s front also made life miserable for Louisville on the ground. The best blocked run of the day still ended with the runner having to work for every inch.
The edge defender on the right crashed hard into the double team from Cason Henry and Johnnie Brown, while the tight ends handled their assignments well. Isaas Brown had to keep searching for a lane because Wake’s second- and third-level defenders were flying to the ball.
He avoided a safety but took a heavy hit from a defensive tackle tracking back into the play.
That was the pattern all game: Wake made it hard to run, matched Louisville’s blockers with better effort, and tackled well in space and in traffic. They kept that level of energy for four quarters.
Louisville did find some success in the intermediate passing game, including off play-action rollouts. Wake was disciplined against most of what the Cards tried, but even a little hesitation from the linebackers opened space for Lincoln Keinholz to hit open receivers.
That should have pushed Jeff Brohm toward the edges of the defense through the passing game. The Cards were also finding some success throwing between the numbers, so a quicker, more pass-heavy approach might have made sense once the run game stalled. The play-action game likely still had a chance too, given how aggressively Wake plays.
The offensive line, however, had too many snaps that fell apart before they really started. One of the clearest examples came on a play where Anwar O’neal was responsible for the defensive end lined up between himself and Eryx Daughtery.
Daughtery needed to help on the end before climbing to his own assignment, and he should have used his left arm to help push the end toward O’neal so he could get his head across the block. Instead, he chased the play and ended up helping create the tackle for loss.
That missed chance also tied into the larger issue up front. The line is not working together consistently enough.
The five-man unit should move as one, but too often the blocks don’t come together on the same snap. Louisville has to fix that.
In Other News...
Louisvilles Loss Exposed A Problem Fans Wont Want To Ignore
Wake Forest left Louisville with a loss that was built on balance, not just one hot phase. The Deacons were effective on both sides of the ball and got enough from special teams to keep the Cardinals from finding a rhythm, while Louisvilles offense ran into real resistance at the line of scrimmage. The defense was particularly sturdy against the run, and several players on that unit earned strong marks for what they did between the tackles.
On the other side, the blocking picture offered some clues about where Louisville still has work to do. The interior of the offensive line held up well in pass protection, and Drayden Dickmann showed up as a useful piece in run blocking, but the edge of that protection remains a point to watch. For a team trying to establish more consistency week to week, the difference between the inside and outside of the line may end up mattering more than the final score suggested. [Read more 🡒]
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Brohms postgame update added another layer of uncertainty when he said Lincoln Kienholz has something without spelling out what it is. The Cardinals now head into this weekends matchup with North Carolina State needing answers as much as production, and their standing in the ACC picture has already slid to No. 7, which makes the next stretch feel even more consequential. [Read more 🡒]
Louisvilles Playoff Dream Just Took A Brutal Turn
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ESPNs Allstate Playoff Predictor made the setback feel even more severe, dropping Louisville from 22% to 4% after the defeat. With little margin for error now, the next road game at North Carolina State takes on added weight, because the Cardinals can still chase the same ceiling they had before, but every step from here has to come with a sense of urgency. [Read more 🡒]