Behind Enemy Lines: Five Questions For Louisville Report's Matt McGavic

Both teams are facing some significant roster turnover ahead of their Fenway Bowl matchup.

Author:
Russ Heltman
Updated:
Dec 15, 2022 5:05 PM EST

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CINCINNATI — The 2022 Fenway Bowl is just a few days away and there's a lot of mystery to this game, with both programs experiencing coaching change and roster turnover.

Cincinnati is still a slight underdog as they prepare to play on offense without their top-six pass-catchers. While Louisville is missing their starting quarterback.

Still, this rivalry is back as the “Keg of Nails” traveling trophy returns at Fenway Park. Cincinnati and Louisville are playing for the 54th time, and it's the first meeting since 2013.

I caught up with Louisville Report's Matthew McGavic to get the perspective of this game from the Cardinals' end.

1. Who are the most important players opting out/transferring away ahead of the Fenway Bowl?

Most of Louisville's notable opt-outs or declarations for the NFL Draft have been on the offensive side of the ball. It starts with starting quarterback Malik Cunningham, who despite having an up-and-down season, gave the Cardinals their best chance to win due to his abilities as a dual-threat signal caller.

He had 565 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns, on top of a 62.4 completion rate for 1,568 yards and eight touchdowns to five picks. Wide receiver Tyler Hudson hasn't officially declared for the draft or opted out, but he was not listed on Louisville's bowl roster. He was having a fantastic second half of the season, and with 1,034 receiving yards, became only the 10th player in program history to haul in 1,000-plus receiving yards.

Then lead running back Tiyon Evans also declared for the NFL Draft. Despite missing four games due to injury, Evans led the team in yards per carry at 6.3 and had a position-best six touchdowns.

Defensively, Louisville is in much better shape but will have a couple of notable absences. Starting cornerback Kei'Trel Clark declared for the draft and Dorian Jones—a key reserve in the middle linebacker rotation—entered the portal.

2. What should fans know about Bryan Brown's scheme and will anything change for Louisville's top-25 scoring defense on Saturday?

It will be interesting to see how much of Brown's scheme will still be intact for the bowl considering he has already left for Cincinnati. I don't anticipate much changing simply because of how many of their key playmakers are still on the roster.

This is a defense that lives to create havoc, whether that comes on sacks and tackles for loss or forcing turnovers. They showed some tentativeness to blitz early in Brown's tenure at Louisville, but this season, they showed more of a willingness to do so. That, and the defensive line has gotten much, much better at getting penetration, which has elevated the play of the entire defense.

With UofL's defensive line coach and outside linebackers coach still around, I would expect the focus in the Fenway Bowl to come mainly in making plays in the front seven. That's already the strength of this defense—helping keep the secondary out of bad situations.

3. Who are the Cardinals' top impact players on both sides of the ball and their one special trait?

Offensively, Louisville's best remaining player is running back Jawhar Jordan.

While Evans was the starter for the bulk of the season, Jordan was the one who picked up the load down the stretch when Evans was still battling an ankle injury and ended up finishing as the team's leading rusher.

He's not as much of a "home run threat" as Evans, but is incredibly shifty and has breakaway speed. Not to mention that he is deadly in the punt return game as well.

Defensively, it is unquestionably outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah, who posted one of the best individual seasons by a Louisville defender in program history. His greatest trait is his versatility.

Not only is he one of the best pass rushers in the ACC, but he also has no problem playing the run or dropping into coverage to make plays. He led the team in TFLs (13.5) and sacks (8), but that also came with four forced fumbles, two interceptions, and four pass breakups.

Considering he still has an incredible cast of characters around him in the front seven for the bowl—such as YaYa Diaby, MoMo Sanogo, and Monty Montgomery—that only makes him even more deadly.

4. How excited is the program to rekindle the Keg of Nails Rivalry?

Beyond excited.

Following their regular season finale at Kentucky, where they fell 26-13 in a game that was more lopsided than the final score indicates, there was very little juice amongst the fanbase for the bowl.

As soon as the initial reports came out that UC would be their bowl opponent—a lot of the fanbase found the energy to get excited. Plus, the added storyline of Satterfield-to-Cincinnati certainly helps there.

5. Top key to stopping Louisville?

It will likely come down to stopping the run. Backup quarterback Brock Domann has seen some time this year due to various Cunningham injuries and is even 2-1 as a starter in 2022, but he is far from a perfect passer.

One red flag that emerged in Louisville's win over NC State and came out in full force against Kentucky was the fact that Domann struggled on multiple occasions to find receivers who were *wide* open.

Hudson being out for the game certainly doesn't help that issue.

If Cincy can bottle up Jordan and current backup RB Maurice Turner—who are the only two scholarship backs on the roster for UofL—and force the Cardinals to make throws in tough spots, it could be a long day.

Saturday's game against Louisville kicks off at 11 a.m. ET on ESPN. It's available on fuboTV—start your free trial here.

Make sure you bookmark All Bearcats for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more.

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