Behind Enemy Lines: Getting A Closer Look At the Cardinals With Louisville On SI's Matt McGavic

In one of the biggest games of the weekend, No. 24 Virginia travels to Louisville to face an undefeated Cardinals team that is looking to keep a zero in the loss column. The Cavaliers are coming off of an upset against previously eighth ranked Florida State and could take a serious step towards making the ACC Championship game if they could go on the road and upset the Cardinals tomorrow.

Before the game, we wanted to sit down with Louisville On SI publisher Matt McGavic to get a closer look at the Cardinals and talk about how they have looked this season.

1. How do you feel about the trajectory of this team four games in?

"This has been incredibly hard to gauge for a number of reasons. On one hand, the second half of their schedule looks fairly gettable. Boston College and Virginia Tech haven’t exactly looked like world beaters, while Clemson and SMU are not nearly as good as we thought in the preseason. Not to mention Kentucky might go 0-for in SEC play.

That being said, Louisville hasn’t come close to realizing its full potential. This is primarily because the offensive side of the ball, which we thought would be their strength, has played far from consistently. On top of that, penalties have absolutely killed the Cardinals in crucial spots at times.

While it’s shaping up for Louisville to potentially have a special season, the jury is still out on if they can actually realize it."

2. How far along is Miller Moss at this point of the season compared to previous Cardinals quarterbacks?

"In year one under Jeff Brohm, Jack Plummer looked solid in the beginning, only for him to really struggle with basic decision-making at times towards the end. Last season, Tyler Shough took some time to get the ball rolling and looked every part of a second-round NFL Draft pick by the end of the year.

For Moss, it’s somewhere in between. It’s clear that he very much has the capability to run this offense and keep them on schedule. He has the accuracy to allow his playmakers to do their job, but maybe not the arm strength to make plays himself.

The only issue is that he’s been very inconsistent, and the Pitt game is a great example. In the first half, his timing and touch on the ball were all over the place. In the second, his poise, accuracy, and the speed at which he went through his reads were phenomenal."

3. Has the defense improved since last season?

"The defense is the reason they’re 4-0 right now. Last year, defense is what held Louisville back from possibly winning 9-10 regular season games and maybe throwing their hat in the ACC title and CFP ring. The defensive line had a slow start to the 2024 season, and they also had the 100th-ranked passing defense.

Now, everything seems to finally be coming together. Communication, which was a major issue last season, seems to be streamlined in a much more decipherable fashion. The D-line has been ferocious in pockets, especially on pass rushes. While the secondary hasn’t been properly tested, they look light-years better than they did this time a year ago."

4. Why the slow starts vs JMU and Pitt?

"Primarily because the offense hasn’t looked super crisp so far this year. This is mainly because the offensive line has been flat-out atrocious at times.

Isaac Brown and Duke Watson are all-world rushers, but they’re banged up, and the O-line isn’t generating decent rushing lanes anyway. Additionally, while Moss is adept at navigating the pocket, he isn’t nearly as mobile as Shough was last season, and that has led to more sacks than you’d like.

Sure, Moss has been up-and-down, but a large reason for that is that he’s being sped up because he has a very limited time to throw."

5. Who is the X Factor on both sides of the ball?

"Offensive, normally I would say Brown, but the ground game is stuck in neutral right now. Instead, I’ll go with Caullin Lacy. The slot receiver had to miss a big chunk of the season last year due to a broken collarbone, but now that he’s fully healthy, he looks like one of the most dynamic wideouts in the ACC. He is incredibly shifty and explosive, and it’s clear that Brohm has put a big emphasis on him this season offensively. Not to mention, he also already has two punt return touchdowns.

Over on defense, it’s a fairly easy pick for me, and I’m going to go with Clev Lubin. To say that the transfer edge rusher from Coastal Carolina has been disruptive is an understatement. He possesses incredible twitch and bend, which are the two main things you look for in a true four-down lineman edge. Not only does he get in the backfield with incredible ease, he’s also one of the better batters of the ball at the line of scrimmage I’ve ever seen."