Points of Emphasis: Louisville vs. Georgia Tech

Coming off of their first bye week of the 2020 season, the Louisville Cardinals (1-2, 0-2 ACC) are now set to resume their three-game road trip against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1-2, 1-1 ACC) this Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Here are some of the more notable storylines heading into Saturday's game:

QB Malik Cunningham is a "Full-Go"

After suffering a scary injury in the 23-20 loss to Pitt, quarterback Malik Cunningham is now operating at full health.

"He practiced last week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday and was a little limited. But this weekend was full-go on Saturday," head coach Scott Satterfield said. "We were off (Sunday) and he will be full-go (Monday). He's feeling good and ready to go and there shouldn't be any limitations."

With less than two minutes to go and facing 4th-and-4, Cunningham scrambled to his right to throw what would wind up being the game-sealing interception. In the process of being taken down, he appeared to slam his head and right throwing shoulder into ground.

Cunningham would lay motionless for several minutes, with both teams kneeling as the training staff worked on him. He began to move his hands as the trainers turned him over onto the stretcher, eventually mustering enough energy to give the "thumbs up" sign as the cart pulled away.

True Freshmen Tandem Leading GT Offense

Two of the more notable offensive playmakers that Louisville will face against Georgia Tech this weekend will be true freshmen.

Jeff Sims won out the starting quarterback job over James Graham, and running back Jahmyr Gibbs was elevated up the depth chart when starter Jordan Mason went down with a foot injury.

"They started a new freshman at quarterback and he is a very talented player. He's got great size, he can run,” Satterfield said. “They also have a freshman running back who I think is a really good running back. He's a good player and is very fast."

Sims might have eight interceptions through three games, but he is averaging 231.7 passing yards per game and is also Georgia Tech's leading rusher with 187 yards on the season. In two games and one start, Gibbs is averaging 5.2 yards per carry and 85.5 yards per game.

Georgia Tech Defense Led By Effort

Through three games, the Yellow Jackets are averaging 441.3 yards per game allowed, a mark that is good for third-worst in the ACC behind NC State & Wake Forest.

This is not, however, due to a lack of trying. In fact when offensive coordinator Dwayne Ledford fired up the film in preparation for Georgia Tech, it was one of the very first things he noticed.

"The thing I always try to look at when I watch a defense is how well do they run to the football and how much effort are they playing with," Ledford said. "That's something I think you can see from this group when you watch the film. They're playing very good defense from the effort standpoint and playing hard.

"No. 6 their mike linebacker (David Curry), he's a guy that plays with a high motor. He's all over the field going sideline-to-sideline," he said. "Both of their defensive ends No. 42 (Jordan Domineck) and No. 32 (Sylvain Yondjouen) do a solid job of trying to keep everything inside as far as trying to collapse the pocket. Those two guys on the inside (Ja'Quon) Griffin & (Djimon) Brooks, they're stout at the point of attack."

O-Line Has 'Spirited' Week of Practice

After having a hot start to the 2020 season, Lousiville's offensive line struggled mightily in their most recent game against Pitt.

"They took it very personally," offensive coordinator & offensive line coach Dwayne Ledford said. "I think we had a very spirited week of practice. Any time you have those type of numbers and that type of performance, if it doesn't affect you then we have the wrong guys in that room."

Assisted by a lengthy film session, the offensive line spent a majority of their bye week correcting their mistakes from the Pitt game and translating that onto the practice field. As the Cardinals head into their next game against Georgia Tech, Ledford like what he has seen so far since returning from Pittsburgh.

"I really do like how the guys approached it with practice. I thought they had a good week last week," Ledford said.

Defense Focused on Eliminating Mistakes

Louisville defensive coordinator Bryan Brown worked with his group during the team’s bye week to improve from the first three games of the season.

“We have done different things in practice to try to eliminate mistakes,” Brown said.

Members of the Louisville defense have spent practices trying to hold each other accountable. Brown says pushups are done if a player misses an assignment or a mistake is made.

Brown said Louisville didn’t have as many “eye violations” against Pitt compared to the loss to Miami.

(Photo of Malik Cunningham: Atlantic Coast Conference)

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