Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Duke

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Returning to action following the bye week, the Louisville football program was able to rebound and capture a big win as it pertains to the ACC standings, shutting out Duke 23-0 in a top-20 matchup to take sole possession of second place in the ACC.

Before we close the book on the game and transition to the matchup vs. Virginia Tech, I wanted to provide some closing thoughts and observations from the game against the Blue Devils:

First of all, what a way for Louisville to respond following the letdown at Pitt. Considering the loss came just ahead of their bye week, a lot of the early season buzz surrounding the Cardinals seemed to take a significant step back both locally and nationally. But instead of letting the setback put a damper on their approach moving forward, they used it as fuel and motivation, and were able to put together one of their most complete performances of the season. Because of that, they are not only back in the mix for the ACC title race, they now control their own destiny as it pertains to getting to Charlotte.
The defense might have been the one to pitch a shutout here, but I'm going to go over the offense first. Specifically, the game plan put together by Jeff Brohm and the offensive staff. I was very critical of Brohm's game plan and decision making in the Pitt game, but it seemed like Brohm and Co. really learned a lot from that game. With how good of a secondary that Duke has, it was going to be imperative to have a low-risk, run-focused approach. That's exactly what they went with here, and it worked to near perfection. It was very similar to their game plan against Notre Dame: simply line up, play more physical against your opponent, and run the ball down their throat. When you do have to pass, don't take many downfield risks, settle for easy throws to keep the offense ahead of schedule, and mix in some play action. If there's anything you can maybe criticize Brohm and the offense for, it was their execution in the red zone. But considering they were opting to take the air out of the ball in this area, it's understandable how in that condensed area, they only got one touchdown in three trips.
Alright, now onto the offensive players. It's one thing to go into the game wanted to go run-heavy, but Louisville does not win this game if the running backs don't have the success they have. In particular, Jawhar Jordan. While he is known for his explosiveness and ability rip off long runs, it was his consistency that allowed Louisville to have to offensive success that he did. Of his 21 runs that resulted in a career-high 163 yards, only seven of them went for under five yards, and he was not tackled for a loss once. He was routinely either bouncing off of the first tackler when going up the middle, or beating his man on the edge when running to the outside. Plus, Isaac Guerendo did a great job serving as a change-of-pace back and getting hard-fought yardage, and Maurice Turner made an impact as well. Not only was the Jordan's best game of his career, this was the best game out of Louisville's running backs all season.
Even with how well the offensive line has played up to this point in the season, I have been a little critical of their performance when it comes to run blocking. That being said, this unit deserves a lot of credit. This was easily their best run-blocking game of the season, routinely bulldozing open holes for whomever was in the backfield. They more than understood the run-heavy assignment.
While quarterback Jack Plummer wasn't a huge factor in this game, he didn't put Louisville at a disadvantage like he had done in the previous game against Pitt. He stuck to the game plan, opted for short easy throws to keep the ball moving, didn't take unnecessary risks or hold the ball for too long, and didn't have any intentional grounding penalties. As long as the ground game is going, that's all you really need him to do. Additionally, wide receiver Jamari Thrash made Plummer's role in the game plan a lot easier, as four of Louisville's six passing first downs came from Thrash.
Now onto the defense. A lot, and I mean a lot, of credit goes to Ron English, Mark Hagen and the rest of the defensive staff. The front seven was not only winning one-on-one battles to generate pressure, they did a phenomenal job confusing the opposing O-line with their various front and blitz packages. The Duke offensive line was on their heels all night long, and a lot of that starts with the coaching.
The defensive line set the tone right out of the gates. While Duke QB Riley Leonard did have a few instances where he was able to escape sacks, he is one of the more difficult quarterbacks to bring down in the ACC, and the early pressure sent a clear message that he was going to harassed all night long. Not only were they able to get four sacks on him, even when pressure didn't get home, it forced him to make a lot of uncharacteristic offline throws.
If that's not efficient enough, the front seven as a whole did a masterful job of bottling up the run. Duke is one of the most proficient rushing teams on all of college football, and the Blue Devils had very little success on the ground. Louisville was sealing the edges, shooting the gaps, anyway Duke tried to run it, it usually didn't end with a sizable gain.
Ashton Gillotte is unquestionably the anchor of this defensive line, and his two sacks shows why he's the defensive MVP. But a healthy and disruptive Jermayne Lole is an X-factor for the defense. The defensive tackle was once regarded as one of the top interior defenders in all of college football, and his strip sack and PBU against Duke showed why this was the case. If he can stay healthy and remain a factor, it will only make the defense and even harder unit for opposing offenses to crack.
Of course, the front seven doesn't do as good of a job stymying Duke's run-heavy offense if the linebackers don't have an impact as well. It's wild that this area of the field was once regarded as the defense's weak spot. T.J. Quinn continues to swarm to the football, Ben Perry and Antonio Watts both did well at STAR both against the run and dropping back in coverage, and Gilbert Frierson finally had a breakout game with his perfectly read interception on a wide receiver screen.
With as good of a job as the front seven did when it came to coming after Riley Leonard or stopping the run, it shouldn't be lost on how well the secondary performed. Louisville defensive backs were excellent in pass coverage. While they did leave a couple interceptions out on the table, they also - more often than not- life extremely difficult for Duke's receivers. There were only a few instances where the Blue Devils had a man wide open or where was not contested coverage by Louisville. Only one DB gave up more than 25 passing yards as the closest defender, and even he (Devin Neal) wasn't too shabby, either. The safety duo of Cam'Ron Kelly and Josh Minkins didn't allow Leonard to have any success on deep shots, Quincy Riley was as good as ever whether he was in man or zone, and even when Jarvis Brownlee had to re-exit the game, Storm Duck didn't let himself get picked on like at Pitt.
While we're on the subject of bounce-backs, placekicker Brock Travelstead deserves credit, too. If he doesn't make his three field goals, perhaps that doesn't force Duke to deviate from their game plan and have to take more risks.
I'll close with this thought: There was a lot on the line in this game as it pertains to Louisville's long term goals. Not only were they able to win, they did so playing a brand of football that matches up well with most teams in college football. The Cardinals now control their own destiny, and if they can keep playing like this in their next three games, they will be in Charlotte, N.C. after the end of the regular season.

(Photo of Ashton Gillotte: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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