Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Wake Forest

The Cardinals' three-game win streak was snapped thanks to a go-ahead field goal by the Demon Deacons in the final minute.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville was able to rally back from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit down at Wake Forest, but fell 37-34 thanks to a go-ahead field goal in the final minute.

Before we close the book on Louisville-Wake Forest, and transition into week six's game vs. Virginia, I wanted to provide some closing thoughts and observations from the game:

• First, let's address the elephant in the room. The officiating was absolutely horrendous. I try not to let any biases seep through when writing, but my goodness, I can't recall watching a game where the officials were more one-sided than that one. Cunningham should have been allowed to come in on that third down play, Wake Forest should not have been allowed to get off a timeout to end the half (of note, the ACC's explanation for this was awful, and just plain wrong), the block in the back call on Justin Marshall was extremely weak, and the fair catch interference on Marvin Dallas was literally non-existent. I never want to blame the officials for a loss, but it's hard to deny that it played a role in the outcome.
• That being said, Louisville did not exactly do themselves many favors either. The game had shades of the Florida State matchup the week before: come out looking sharp, then go stone cold for a prolonged period of time. Cunningham had two *bad* overthrows that turned 14 points into six, Josh Johnson's muffed punt is what gave Wake Forest an opportunity to commit play clock sabotage, the third down execution was nowhere to be found in the last three quarters, and there were some absolutely brutal penalties. If Louisville plays a more complete and clean game - not even a perfect one - and they could have won by double digits.
• Like in that Florida State game, the offense looked really good to start out. The short passing game was successful and efficient, and the running back tandem of Jalen Mitchell and Trevion Cooley was putting Louisville in some good 2nd and 3rd downs - especially considering they were running more downfield than side-to-side in this game. It doesn't seem like there was a ton of change in the playcalling in the second half, but rather, plays just weren't hitting. Again, just like last week.
• Egregious overthrows aside, Malik Cunningham had another great game. 19-of-26 through the air for 332 yards and two touchdowns, and 46 yards with two touchdowns rushing. If Lamar Jackson didn't set such lofty expectations for Louisville signal-callers, Cunningham would probably end up being as one of the most talked about quarterbacks in recent program history.
• Really liked how they seemed to spread the ball out around again. Touches were split relatively evenly between Mitchell and Cooley, and eight different receivers caught a pass. Tyler Harrell is starting to get more comfortable, as is Ahmari Huggins-Bruce. Though I was shocked to see Marshon Ford struggle as much as he did both as a receiver and blocker in this game.
• The offensive line is performing much better than they did to start the year, giving up just two sacks and three tackle for loss overall. It was great to see Michael Gonzalez perform well in extended time following the injury to Renato Brown, though hopefully Brown has just a minor injury.
• Like with the offense, the defense had a handful of missed opportunities as well. Kei'Trel Clark nearly had himself an interception prior to the play clock snafu, on top of the fact that there were a couple plays where he got beat badly. The overall tackling was incredibly suspect, as it seems like they struggled to either wrap up and make open field tackles, or take the right angle for the tackle to begin with. In the second half, I was not a fan of constant usage of the three-man rush. It gave Sam Hartman plenty of time to make the right reads, including his final touchdown pass with three minutes left in the game.
• Because of the defensive play calling, I don't want to give the defensive line too much grief for not getting more pressure in the backfield. That being said, it would have been nice to seem them get inside the pocket or backfield more often. More importantly, they need to hope that Ashton Gillotte's lower body injury is not severe - although Satterfield himself believes it is not.
• The linebacking corps had some great individual performances from CJ Avery and Jack Fagot. We expect this from Avery at this point, but it's nice to see Fagot look so comfortable at CARD following his position switch. Jaylin Alderman played decent for a true freshman, though Monty Montgomery is sorely missed in the middle. Alderman, and everyone else taking reps at that ILB spot, will eventually get better with more reps, but that could be a sore spot on defense for a few more games.
• It was disappointing to see the secondary struggle the way they did. On top of Clark's struggles, the safety duo seemed to have difficulty making the correct read or taking the right angles. Out of the 324 passing yards by Wake Forest, Jaquarii Roberson and Taylor Morin had 257 of them. Sam Hartman is no doubt a great talent, but when the passing attack is largely focused on just two guys, one would think Louisville could have defended it a little better. Though credit is due to Qywnnterrio Cole on his late interception.
• It was incredibly refreshing to see Satterfield take up for his team during the post-game interviews. He was visibly frustrated by everything that transpired with the officials, and he didn't hold back his thoughts on them. 
• Turnover margin check: +1 on the season!
• I'll close with this thought: Yes, the officiating undoubtedly played a role in the outcome. But, there were several plays that Louisville left out on the field that if they make, officiating isn't even a talking point right now. They were the better team for most of the game, but continuously shot themselves in the foot. They have the blueprint and talent to still have a successful season. But if they continue to dig themselves into holes thanks to their own mistakes, it could be a long second half of the year.

(Photo of Tyler Harrell: Reinhold Matay - USA TODAY Sports)

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