Defense Rebounds, Offense Regresses in Louisville's ACC Championship Game Loss

 The Louisville football program had already made program history by making the ACC Championship Game, but there were plenty of chances to make more.

Not only was it their first appearance since in the league's title game joining the ACC in 2014, they had a chance to clinch their first outright conference title since 2006. Securing only their sixth season of 11-plus wins was also on the table.

However, Louisville let far too many opportunities slip away from them on Saturday night, eventually resulting in them dropping a 16-6 defensive slugfest against Florida State from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.

"For us, it was disappointing," head coach Jeff Brohm said immediately after the game. "I'll take the blame for the loss. I would have liked to have played a whole lot better than that on offense. I thought our defense played really, really well the entire game, gave us a chance without question. Our special teams played really well, and we were not up to par on offense, so that's my fault."

As the final score - and Brohm's opening statement following the loss to the Seminoles - suggests, it was certainly a tale of two sides of the line of scrimmage for the Louisville football program on Saturday night. One unit for the Cardinals played exceptionally well and kept them in the game up until the final minutes, while the other one essentially served as a ball and chain that held back the team as a whole.

Defensively, Louisville played nearly lights out. Save for a couple big plays on the ground and a bit of an initial struggle adjusting to the wildcat formation, the Cardinals couldn't have performed much better than they did.

They made incredibly uncomfortable for Brock Glenn, FSU's third string true freshman quarterback who was forced to start after Tate Rodemaker suffered a concussion last week. They also significantly limited the production from the Noles' top three offensive weapons in running back Trey Benson and wide receivers Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson.

"The way I saw the game on the field, I haven't watched the film, but our defense really played well, and we needed them to," Brohm said. "The team was playing their third quarterback. But we played pretty well overall other than the wildcat couple plays that really cost us. They played to the end, so I'm proud of their effort. They kept us in the game."

By the time the game hit final zeroes, Louisville held Florida State to only 219 total yards of offense, the Seminoles' lowest offensive output since putting up only 203 against Miami back on Nov. 2, 2019. Considering the Cardinals' defense had given up 1,209 total yards over their previous three games, it was a tremendous bounce back and return to their early and midseason form, and one that was sorely needed.

But with how much the defense did to keep Louisville in the game, the offense found themselves continually giving Florida State the advantage.

The Cardinals struggled to get the run game going, rushing for only 77 yards, but this was somewhat expected given the Seminoles' talent-laden front seven. But their exceedingly disjointed efforts in the passing game was the biggest factor in the final outcome.

"These guys pressed us across the board on the slot, on the outside, Brohm said. "They challenged routes, and we had to earn our completions. We got a few. We missed a couple plays early we could have hit. We kind of dropped one in the end zone right before the end of the fourth quarter that we need to catch. We let the one kind of slip out of our tight end in the end zone, as well, that we need to catch, and after that we didn't execute.

"Once it turned into a heavy pass-oriented game in the fourth quarter when we were down, we were really dismal with that. So just goes to show that if we don't have balance, we have a long ways to go in the passing game."

Quarterback Jack Plummer, a sixth-year senior who was starting his 38th career game in college, put together by far his worst performance in a Cardinal uniform. His throws were off the mark all night long, routinely either over throwing or throwing behind open receivers. His presence and awareness in the pocket, whether that was walking into a couple sacks or yet another intentional grounding penalty, was not what you would expect from a quarterback with as much experience as him.

Plummer also nearly single-handedly killed the biggest momentum swing of the entire game. Following a punt attempt gone wrong for Florida State, Louisville inherited their best opportunity for a touchdown - and potential go-ahead score - all game. They took at the 12 yards line, down just 10-6, with just under 11 minutes to go in the fourth quarter,

But following a busted trick play and then a drop in the end zone, Plummer dropped back on 3rd and 9 from the 11. His ensuing throw over middle was intended for tight end Joey Gatewood in the end zone, but not only was Gatewood completely covered by linebacker Tatum Bethune, the throw was also a tick behind, resulting in the pass in being thrown right into the arms of Bethune.

"Well, it wasn't his best game," Brohm said. "I think early on, he did some pretty good things. Missed a few throws here and there. Didn't pull the trigger a few times. But not until the interception in the end zone, that's when the wheels started to come off a little bit. You've got to go back and look and figure out ways to not allow that to happen again, but like I said, he played hard. He hung in there.

"Like I said, once we got to where we were pass oriented trying to come back, they were good pass rushers. We got pressure on the quarterback. Could he have stood in there a little longer, made a couple of those? Probably. But, you know, the balance left us, and really all year when we've had to throw it a whole lot, we have not been as efficient as we need to be. We've got work to do."

Combined with some early struggles by the wide receiving corps in terms of drops, Plummer finished the game just going just 14-of-36 for 111 yards, and Louisville could only compile 188 total yards of offense. It was the Cardinals' lowest offensive output since putting up just 171 against West Virginia in a 17-10 loss on Nov. 11, 2010, and the lowest by a Jeff Brohm-coached team since a 104-yard effort by Purdue against Penn State back on Oct. 5, 2019.

Louisville came into the matchup averaging 33.0 points per game, 438.6 yards and 255.1 passing yards per game. While Florida State entered the game with one of the best defenses in the ACC (No. 10 nationally in scoring, No. 19 in yards allowed), Louisville had shown the ability to move up and down the field against other stout defenses this season, such as Notre Dame, Duke and Miami. Not being able to move the ball in the slightest, especially through the air, was nothing short of a massive step backwards.

Now, Louisville has to hope that their lackluster offensive showcase on a national stage - as well as other results from around the college football landscape during conference championship weekend - doesn't kick them out of a potential berth for the Orange Bowl. But regardless of where they will be going in the postseason and who they will be facing, Brohm knows that the Cardinals have a lot of work to do between now and then.

"We'll have to figure out ways to fix (the passing game) moving forward," he said. "I'm sure we'll have another tough game in the bowl game coming up, but disappointed today, but I do think we had a lot of guys that played hard and quite a few guys that played really well, especially on defense and special teams. Unfortunately offense was not good, and that's my fault."