Louisville Offense Preparing For "Big Time Test" vs. Pitt Defense
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Just three games into the 2020 season, the offensive side of the ball for Louisville will arguably face their biggest challenge of the year.
The No. 24 Cardinals (1-1, 0-1 ACC) are set to hit the road for the first time this weekend, to which they will be greeted by the No. 21 Pittsburgh Panthers (2-0, 1-0 ACC) at Heinz Field. During team meetings this week, offensive coordinator Dwayne Ledford made sure to get the message across that Pitt is not a team to take lightly defensively.
"I spent a good amount of time in our meetings today just making sure that the guys understood that," he said. Most of that message consisted of reiterating that his praise of Pitt's defense was not merely coach-speak.
And he has good reason to hold them in such high regard. The Panthers boast top-10 national rankings in rushing defense (first, 26.0 avg.), total defense (third, 154.0 avg.), pass defense (fourth, 128.0 avg.) and scoring defense (sixth, 5.0 ppg.).
Of course, this comes against Austin Peay & Syracuse - two teams who have yet to find the win column this year. But to further drive his point home, Ledford spent time educating his guys about the history of both the Panthers & Steelers and how the city of Pittsburgh's mentality intertwines itself within the programs.
(The city) prides itself on that lunch pail type mentality, blue collar, hardworking." he said. "You can tell from the effort of the kids and how hard they play, that you know from the top going all the way through that program that that's what they want as their identity as a team."
This iteration of Pitt's defense is certainly not lacking any playmakers. The Panthers feature a pair of preseason All-ACC defenders in strong safety Paris Ford & defensive end Patrick Jones II, as well as defensive end Rashad Weaver - who became the first Pitt player since Aaron Donald in 2013 to be named the Defensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
"Number 12 (Ford) - he'll hit you if you don't have your head on a swivel," quarterback Malik Cunningham said, with Ledford adding that the defensive end duo is "extremely, extremely talented".
But their defense does not revolve around just these guys. Collectively, Pitt has a lot of experience as eight of their eleven starters are juniors or seniors - all of whom operate in near perfect cohesion thanks to the coaching staff.
"This is a defense from the back end all the way up to the front end that's very talented, they're physical, they have great size," Ledford said. "I told our guys this is a big time test for them. Huge."
Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26 at 12:00 p.m. on ABC.
(Photo of Paris Ford: Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports)
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