Bryan Brown's Three Spring Ball Goals For Louisville's Defense
(Photo of Yasir Abdullah: Scott Utterback/Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - During his tenure as the defensive coordinator for the Louisville football program, Bryan Brown has orchestrated a tremendous turnaround. Last season, the Cardinals held opponents to 26.6 points and 369.1 yards per game, as opposed to the 44.1 points and 483.5 yards per game in 2018 prior to his arrival.
That side of the ball was Louisville's strong suit, and appears to be continuing on an upward trajectory heading into his third season with the program. However, if the Cardinals want to someday be considered one of the elite defenses in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Brown knows exactly what his guys need to work on.
While he admitted that the majority of spring ball will be used primarily to work on fundamentals and instill effort amongst his players, he also wants the defense to improve in three major facets: pinning teams on first downs, getting off the field on third down, and forcing more negative plays.
"You got to be able to win those (first downs) in order to get guys behind the sticks a little bit, to where you can get some more third and longs, as opposed to a lot of 3rd and shorts," Brown said on Wednesday after practice. "Then making sure we're able to get off the field on third downs when they do come up."
A deeper dive into the stats showed that the defense did in fact struggle on first downs at times. Out of their eleven games played in 2020, Louisville surrendered an average of 5.0+ yards or more on first down six times, and gave up 8.0+ yards or more four times (Miami, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Boston College). Only twice, against WKU and Wake Forest, was this average under 4.0 yards.
Louisville actually did a solid job at forcing teams into long third down situations. Only against Virginia and Boston College was their opponent's average third down distance under 6.0 yards, and it was double digits against Miami, Pitt and Virginia Tech. The problem? The Cardinals' third down defense ranked a little lower than it should at 57th in FBS, allowing teams to convert 39.6% of their third downs.
That directly correlates to a lack of consistent pressure that Louisville suffered from throughout the 2020 season, which is also the reason for their lack of negative plays generated. The Cardinals were only able to garner 2.00 sacks and 5.7 tackles for loss per game, both of which ranked 12th in the ACC, as well as 73rd and 79th in FBS.
Of course, he also acknowledges that Louisville needs to capitalize on their missed opportunities in the form of dropped interceptions, but he believes the combination of returning veteran players and athletic newcomers will see an increase in turnovers generated.
"Now you'll be able to see some guys being able to make some plays on some balls, and I hope and pray, that they will be able to up that interception total next year," Brown said.
Louisville will kickoff the 2021 season against Ole Miss in the annual Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, Sept. 6.
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