Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Eastern Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program kicked off their 2025 season on a high note, cruising past in-state FCS foe Eastern Kentucky to capture a blowout 51-17 shutout victory.

Before we close the book on the game and transition to the matchup vs. James Madison, I wanted to provide some closing thoughts and observations from the game against the Colonels:

First of all, I'll just get it out of the way now that I'm going to preface a lot of things by saying something along the lines of "yes, they were playing EKU." But even though Louisville clearly had the superior talent, as always with these buy games, it was great to see them approach this matchup with the same preparation and mindset that they would for a power conference opponent. Every year, there are a handful of FCS-over-FBS upsets, and as long as Jeff Brohm remains the coach, I'll never have any thoughts that there could be a slim chance Louisville drops one of these types of games. Some complacency did start to set in towards the end of the first half, but at that point, they were already up by 30-40 points, so that gets somewhat of a pass.
From a play calling standpoint, this game panned out exactly how I thought it would, as head coach Jeff Brohm kept the script/overall play variety about as vanilla as you could get. We know that Brohm is a wizard when it comes to play calling, but he didn't need fire any of his bullets on Saturday, considering Louisville was simply in a much higher talent class than EKU.
I'll start with the offensive side of the ball. Again, it was EKU he was facing, but quarterback Miller Moss was (mostly) spectacular in his Louisville debut. During his time at USC and in spring/fall camp, poise was his calling card, and that was on full display against the Colonels. He navigated the pocket extraordinarily well (and even got to showcase his wheels with his rushing touchdown), got balls to the playmakers to let them make plays, delivered very accurate strikes in the short/intermediate part of the field, and actually did much better on deep balls than I expected. Yes, he did have two picks, but only one of them was his fault - and it's only because the ball was high, tipped at the right angle, and the corner was in the right place to grab it. It wasn't like it was the product of a bad decision.
Let's talk about the backup QBs for a second. Brady Allen was the first guys off the bench, and his brief outing was a mixed bag. For 90 percent of his stint, he was doing a solid job, and that touchdown throw to Kris Hughes on the wheel route was a good throw (although the safety could have made a play on it had he not fallen). However... his interception was a flat out awful decision. Not only did his target have a linebacker right behind him, he didn't even see the linebacker that was five yards to the right. On top of that, I liked what I saw out of the one drive Deuce Adams had as the No. 3 guy, but would have liked to see him get another drive as well.
As far as the running backs go, the entire position gets an A-plus from me. As much hype and attention as Isaac Brown, I'm starting to think that we're not hyping him up enough. Again, it's EKU, but his acceleration - even through contact - was nothing short of elite. While Duke Watson got stuffed on his two runs, his touchdown catch on the wheel route featured concentration that you just don't see out of running backs when catching the ball. Keyjuan Brown showcased some old-school physicality between the tackles, while also showing improvements as a pass catcher on that touchdown that got called back. Even Shaun Boykins Jr. and Braxton Jennings looked good. Louisville needs to keep running backs coach Chris Barclay on staff for as long as possible.
At wide receiver, if this is what a healthy Caullin Lacy looks like, then the passing offense has a chance to be even more dangerous than we thought. Both offensively and on special teams, his ability to get yards after the catch is by far the best on the team. Preseason All-ACC pick Chris Bell looked solid, though it was a tad disappointing to see him pick up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (more on that later). Hughes and Antonio Meeks flashed some good things, but I was a little surprised at how quiet TreyShun Hurry and Dacari Collins were. I was even more surprised that the tight end spot got very little run in the passing game, as this unit combined for just three receptions for 21 yards. I get that starter Nate Kurisky was hurt, but that's something to monitor.
When I rewatched the game, I noticed that the offensive line was really good in one regard, but left a lot to be desired in another. On one hand, they were extremely good in pass protection. Moss and the other QBs typically got a lot of time in the pocket, and were only truly pressured a few times. On the other, while EKU only got one tackle for loss, their efforts in run blocking lagged a lot behind their pass pro. There were not a ton of god sized rushing lanes for the bulk of the afternoon, and it seemed like the main reason Louisville ran for over 200 yards was because they have one of the best running back rooms in the sport. It could be first game jitters that winds up being an anomaly, but still, that's mildly concerning considering who they were facing.
Now onto the defense. While there typically isn't a ton to takeaway from these games because of that aforementioned talent discrepancy, something I did come away with was the fact that there were no noticeable communication breakdowns. Again, Louisville didn't have to throw out an incredibly complex scheme against EKU, but it's a great sign that there was not a single play where Louisville seemed to look confused and not ready for the snap. We'll see if this trend continues when it's time to face power conference foes, but that's something to build on.
The defensive unit that was the most impressive was by far the defensive line. I don't want to overreact too much considering the competition, but Clev Lubin seems like he will be an overwhelming force on the edge for Louisville. Guys like A.J. Green, Jordan Guerad, Rene Konga, Wesley Bailey, and even Micah Carter were regularly having success getting pressure on the pocket. This has been a unit that has preached violence all offseason, and considering the D-line got off to a slow start last season, it was great to see this area thrive.
Linebacker play in this game was, for the most part, just fine. The starting linebacking corps - T.J. Quinn, Stanquan Clark and Antonio Watts - didn't get a ton of overall run, but they did a solid collective job, especially Watts. As far as the bench players go, T.J. Capers and Trent Carter did well in their appearances, although Kalib Perry was a little disappointing. To be fair, the defensive line did such a good job that the linebackers were really asked to do a whole lot.
Louisville's secondary undoubtedly has the most questions on the entire team. While they weren't exactly facing a super prolific passing attack, for the most part, the corners and safeties did a pretty good job when it came to both sticking to their assignments and executing them. EKU QB Myles Burkett threw for just 76 yards, and 50 of those yards came on just two plays. I will say though, I was mildly shocked to see that Rodney Johnson Jr., who has looked fantastic all offseason, came off the bench in favor of Jabari Mack. To be fair, Mack did have a very good camp, so it's not like he didn't deserve to start. If anything, it's great that they have three starting options when you include Tayon Holloway. Additionally, safety JoJo Evans looks like he has made a seamless transition from FIU.
With all the things that Louisville did well on Saturday, there was one very big red flag: penalties. Louisville committed 12 of them for 106, but another was declined by EKU, so it should have been 13. Five of these penalties came on special teams, including the first three kickoffs of the game. Seven of them were some form of holding. In his postgame press conference, Brohm didn't seem super concerned about it, saying that they were things that can be easily corrected. But considering how penalties have been a big issue for some of his teams in the past, this absolutely cannot turn into a bigger issue.
I saw a lot of people complain about pulling the starters at halftime, but I had no issue with it. One: Louisville damn near covered the spread at halftime. Two: you need to get younger guys in-game reps. Practice is great, but nothing beats live bullets. Three: It's a short week with James Madison coming to town on Friday, so you don't want to run the starters into the ground.
I'll close with this thought: Like I said before: yes, Louisville played EKU, so it's important to not have too much of an overreaction. That being said, several position groups absolutely shined on Saturday. Moss looked crisp, the running backs were phenomenal, healthy Lacy looks like a problem, and the defensive line was ferocious. Are there things to clean up? No doubt. But it's hard to have a much better start to the season than Louisville did.

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