Louisville’s third quarter against NC State kept delivering the same maddening theme: one big coverage bust after another, usually triggered by motion, and enough broken communication to keep the Wolfpack in control.
That issue showed up again on a play where Ben Perry did his job and TJ Banks did not. The two were switching responsibilities, but Banks never handed off the assignment after the motion came across.
Perry reacted, pointed, and looked like he was yelling as he sprinted toward the ball. On this call, Perry appeared to be the one handling the curl zone after the motion changed the structure, while Banks was supposed to pick up the outside flat in a three-by-one look.
Instead, CJ Bailey found all the room he needed. Every blown coverage in this game featured motion by the offense.
Something to watch for going forward.
Banks’ struggles in coverage didn’t stop there. Later, he missed another route concept and failed to carry the receiver running past him.
The idea in zone is simple enough in theory: identify the threats to your area and react. In this case, the only real danger to Banks was the receiver streaking by him, and he should have traveled with that route.
The corner at the top of the screen bailed once his area cleared, while the edge defender at the bottom initially sat in the flat before turning to carry the tight end downfield. Assess the threats and adjust.
I’m not saying it’s easy, but it is something Banks has to learn to understand.
There was also a touchdown on a snap where the coverage picture was hard to sort out. It looked like an all-out blitz at first, then two defenders dropped out late.
Brycen Scott appeared to be in man coverage on the receiver who scored, but he was still about five yards behind the play when the ball arrived. Tayon Holloway might have been in soft man, but he was chasing like he had deep zone responsibility.
With no safety in the middle of the field, it pointed to Cover 0. Your guess is as good as mine.
While the secondary kept leaking, Louisville’s pass rush at least gave the defense a few clean moments. Per PFF, Clev Lubin, Tyler Thompson, and AJ Green have been piling up pressures even if the sacks haven’t always followed.
The bigger issue has been that coverage hasn’t held long enough to force quarterbacks into tougher reads. In some cases the rush has also failed to finish, which has opened the door to scrambles for first downs.
But more often than not, quarterbacks are getting the ball out before the pressure can fully matter.
On one of the better defensive snaps, the rush and coverage finally lined up. Bailey was pushed to his second option, and Lubin finished the job by beating the right tackle with a power rush and then a rip move to the sack.
Offensively, Tre Richardson was the bright spot, and he showed more than just speed. He ran through arm tackles, made people miss, and looked like someone Louisville should try to get more handoffs to as the season moves on.
The play stood out even more because of the work around him. Jaleel Skinner turned into a blocker immediately after the catch to help open a lane across the field, and Treyshun Hurry screened one defender before looking for a block at the goal line.
The little things mattered there.
The final snap in this stretch was ugly in a different way. Only one offensive player went after the ball, while everyone else watched a bouncing pass as if they were waiting to down a punt.
It was a two-man route with max protection, and Kienholz had three defenders around him when he tried to throw. The whole sequence was embarrassing.
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