Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Boston College

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hosting Boston College for their first home ACC game of the season, the Louisville football program used a high-flying offensive attack to dominant their visitors, coming out with a 56-28 win to secure their best start to a season since 2016.

Before we close the book on the game and transition to the matchup at NC State, I wanted to provide some closing thoughts and observations from the game against the Eagles:

First of all, I'll fully admit that I did not see this result coming at all. I thought Louisville would win, but I wasn't sure they would cover the 14-point spread because of how close Boston College had played Florida State the week before. Well, it seems like that game was more indicative of FSU's oversight vs. BC's grit and determination. Regardless, while this might not have been a "complete" game like we've wanting to see out of Louisville through the first third of the season, but it's pretty damn close to it. They took care of business against an opponent that should have had no business being in the game, and essentially put Boston College away by halftime. Additionally, while this was a blowout long before the final whistle, it was still a game where Louisville can take away plenty from in the film room to work better on. It was the best of both worlds.
Part of the reason that the offense was so efficient, on top of the elite execution from the players, was the actual play calling itself from Jeff Brohm. Getting multiple receivers, as well as running backs, involved in the passing game and not just having the game plan focus around Jamari Thrash. The incredible decision to run a fake kneel down towards the end of the first half and get more points. Even the first drive where Jordan got multiple runs in a row in the red zone, then running a perfectly timed play action to get the defense to bite hard on the run up the middle. Brohm's prowess as a play caller had shown in spurts over the first three games, but here is where it really shined.
Okay, now onto the actual players. I can't complement this unit enough. I get that Boston College is not the most elite defense they will face all season, but scoring touchdowns on your first seven drives (and eight of nine, too) is not an easy feat to pull off regardless of who you are facing. This was a well oiled machine that could do little wrong.
Considering BC's secondary was actually pretty solid through the first three games of the season, I expected quarterback Jack Plummer to be just okay in this game. Instead, he goes out and puts together the best performance of his career. I'd been critical of his ability to throw the deep ball with consistency over the first three games of the season, but it was a thing of beauty all day long. He looked much more confident in his ability to make these throws, putting multiple balls to multiple receivers right on the money and right in stride. Not only was his timing and velocity and deep balls exceptional, he made accurate throws and good decisions in the intermediate and short parts of the field as well. Plus, he continues to demonstrate that his legs are a vastly underrated component to his game. That double pump fake and scramble for a touchdown was a savvy veteran move.
Of course, Plummer doesn't look as good as he does if the receivers don't make the plays as well. Sure, Boston College's safeties were getting roasted all afternoon long, but this group was not only able to utilize their collective speed, they ran good routes and caught every thrown their way regardless if it was a go route or not. Ahmari Huggins-Bruce has had loads of potential since he arrived on campus a couple years ago, and he is finally starting to get utilized after having peaks and valleys in terms of his usage under Satterfield. Jamari Thrash continues to showcase his elite talent in all areas of the field. Kevin Coleman Jr. and Chris Bell both atoned for their drops last week with big plays. If there's any questions I have with this group, it's regarding the role of both Jimmy Calloway and Jadon Thompson. The latter I get considering he is coming off of an injury, but the former seems to be slowly be getting phased out of the game plan.
There's still plenty of games left, but Jawhar Jordan could very well be on his way to contention for the Doak Walker Award. He took advantage of a BC front seven that had been struggling to contain the run, and put up another masterful performance both on the ground and as a receiver. The saying "a threat to score every time he touches the ball" is without a doubt overused, but this saying very much applies to Jordan. Plus, Isaac Guerendo and Maurice Turner both continue to play vital roles in the ground attack by allowing Jordan to stay fresh and contributing to the effort as well.
The offensive line, again, continues to play a vital role to the success of the offense. BC might have gotten two sacks, but according to Pro Football Focus, only one of them can be attributed to the line. Plus, out of 28 pass block snaps, they collectively allowed just four pressures on Plummer all game. I still would like to see them cycle in some of the backups more often just to keep the line fresh, but I'm not about to questions methods that are clearly working.
Lastly of offense, it was good to see the tight end room actually play a role in this game. They looked good as blockers, and were able to actually get involved in the passing game too with Nate Kurisky's score on the goal line. Baby steps.
Now onto the defensive side of the ball, who was definitely hit-or-miss at times. This area of the field was the reason I was not sure Louisville would be able to cover the spread. They certainly showed good things, and Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos has shown that is a bright spot on an otherwise dim offense, but the defense did have breakdowns from time to time after a really good start (turnover on downs and three punts on first four BC drives). The tackling was particularly poor in this matchup, with Louisville racking up 16 missed tackles by the end of the game.
All things considered, the front seven was not that bad for Louisville. They held Boston College's running backs to just 70 rushing yards and were able to get in the backfield to Castellanos quite a lot. The issue seemed to be, like in most games up to this point, is that they were getting *this* close to a sack and barely missed one before the QB got the ball out or escaped the pocket. Ashton Gillotte was able to get a pair of sacks in the game, but Stephen Herron - who had none - probably should have had at least three with how close he was getting to Castellanos. I will say this though, they limited Castellanos on the ground, and he only had one big run for the day. Considering what he was able to do against FSU, Louisville will take that. Still, the Cardinals need to continue making progress in actually getting home with their pass rush, as Castellanos had several throws where he had way too much time in the pocket to throw.
Some other noteworthy performances in the front seven were that of Jaylin Alderman, Mason Reiger and Jeff Clark. Alderman looked good both against the run and as blitzer against the pass, and his game-leading eight tackles show for it. Reiger looks like he hasn't missed a step since coming back from injury, and he will only become more of a factor once he gets more in a groove. Clark might have had just one tackle, but he was constantly pushing the pocket back and causing disruption.
As for the coverage, this was also very up and down. Sure, Castellanos' success as a passer was partially a byproduct of the defensive line and front seven not getting home quite in time on several occasion, but the coverage on the backend had some great showings, and it had some bad ones. Jarvis Brownlee and Quincy Riley were the ones who stood out the most here, as they seemed to be the most locked in. However, most every one else in the secondary had at least one obvious missed assignment. They play amongst the safeties was particularly noteworthy, as Cam'Ron Kelly, Benjamin Perry, Gilbert Frierson and Josh Minkins combined to allow nine receptions for 158 yards.
I'll close with this thought: Given what we thought Boston College could have been capable of following their matchup against Florida State, Louisville needs to execute and perform at a high level. This might not have been a "complete" game per se, but considering the Cardinals blew the Eagles out while still demonstrating clear room for improvement in various areas, it's hard to be anything short of optimistic moving forward. Especially with a weeknight game at NC State on the horizon.

(Photo of Jack Plummer: Jared Anderson - Louisville Report)

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