Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Cal

Despite developing a reputation as a second half team this season, the Louisville football could not making winning plays in their home matchup vs. Cal, falling 29-26 in overtime.

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

• First of all, despite several close calls this seasons, I thought that Louisville might finally be able to avoid the dreaded "Brohm blunder." Despite the Cardinals' penchant to have slow starts this season, they almost always found a away to pull through in the end (sans Virginia, which is a good team despite their loss to Wake Forest). Well, if you play with fire for long enough, eventually it's going to burn you, and that's exactly what happened. Louisville had everything in front of them: a very good chance to return to the ACC Championship Game, and an opportunity to work their way into the College Football Playoff. Instead, both the players and coaches put together a disasterclass, and the Cardinals blew it against a team that, on paper, they should have been able to win against in fairly convincing fashion.
• There was plenty not to like about the actual on-field execution, decision-making, and what not. But Louisville's coaching staff, especially their head coach, didn't do them any favors either. Jeff Brohm's had a bit of a streaky season in terms of his preparations and game-day play calling, and this might have been his worst performance of the season. Cal actually has a decent secondary but had been susceptible to the run game. Why did Miller Moss get 38 total passing attempts, especially when it was clear Brohm didn't have trust in him to stretch the field vertically in the second half? Why did Keyjuan Brown, who has been tremendous over the last few weeks, only get 14 carries on the night? Also, once again, the end-of-half clock management was not great. Plus the defensive game plan wasn't great, either. Are the defensive backs that bad in man coverage that you have to play in zone almost the entire night? Also, I don't understand fascination that Brohm has with screens on 3rd and long, and that Ron English has with dropping your star pass rusher into coverage.
• I've been hesitant to legitimately have the conversation about potentially benching Miller Moss for various reasons, but this game was my breaking point. Over the first two drives, it looked like he actually might have it together. That strike to Lacy where he climbed the pocket was an NFL-caliber rep. But then it all completely fell apart after that. His interception, once again, was the product of not properly going through his reads and trying to force it into a window it has no business going into - and he should have thrown more than one. He not once, but twice took a sack when it was tied in the fourth quarter to derail a chance at the game-winning score. His windup continues to be a tick too slow. His low release angle resulted in numerous passes batted at the line of scrimmage. He made almost no effort to try and stretch the field and utilize the weapons he has. Just 14 of his 38 attempts went 10 yards or more past the line of scrimmage! I refuse to believe that this is the best that the "quarterback whisperer" can do. If Moss is the best Brohm and Louisville can do at the position, either they whiffed on evaluating him in the portal, or the development of the backups hasn't been what they expected (which has started to become a theme) - and neither are good options.
• Another reasons why the decision to keep throwing the ball was extremely questionable was that the wide receiving and tight ends routinely struggled to get separation. Granted, part of this is because Cal has a really good cornerback duo. But Chris Bell was at an All-American pace a few weeks ago, and Caullin Lacy has shown that he has game-breaking speed. How come neither one of them could get going outside a few shallow routes here and there?
• The play from the offensive line only made Moss' play and Brohm's pass-heavy game plan that much more frustrating. From start to finish, this might have been the best game we have seen out of the O-line, in terms of both pass protection and run blocking. Yet Moss still struggled with all that time he had, and Brohm refused to give Keyjuan Brown more carries despite the fact that he averaged nearly 10 yards per carry.
• Now onto the defense. I firmly believe that they would have had a better game had the offense held up their end of the bargain, but this was still far from their best game. The defensive line was good, but not great per se. They did a solid job of generating pressure on Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, but it didn't result in as many sacks as it should have. The ground game was limited for sure, but there were a handful of chunk plays allowed.
• The linebacking corps has been phenomenal this season, but there's no sugar coating it, they were dreadful against Cal. It was almost reminiscent of last season when they struggled with pass coverage in the middle of the field. JKS was able to pick them aaprt in zone coverage far, far too often, and some of the tackle attempts in this game were pathetic. T.J. Quinn and Antonio Watts have been great this season, but both of them were liabilities.
• The cornerbacks and safeties were in the same boat as the linebackers were to an extent. I get that JKS was one of the top quarterbacks to come out of the 2025 high school class, but he is a true freshman who has shown a propensity to put too much trust in his arm and throw picks. Louisville needs to hop on this aggressive nature, and they simply didn't do it. Also, I get that Jacob De Jesus is a fantastic player. But at least half of his catches came as a result of busted coverages or piss-poor effort. He used and and abused UofL's secondary, and frankly, both players and the coaches should be ashamed.
• Louisville has been pretty good about not committing penalties en masse as of late, but man, they bit the Cardinals hard in this one. Trevonte Sylvester's holding call stalled a drive in the fourth quarter, and Nate Kurisky's chop block in overtime absolutely derailed any chance of scoring a touchdown in that period.
• As far as special teams goes, Cooper Ranvier continues to be a massive bright spot after drilling four field goals, but there's no reason that David Chapeau should continue punting that ball. Hand the reigns over to Carter Schwartz, or just go for it on fourth down every time.
• I'll close with this thought: as much as it stings to basically throw away your chances at a truly special season, there is still a lot to play for if you're Louisville. It won't be easy down the stretch, but the possibility of a 10-win season is still very much on the table. Clemson is already a team that looks like they've quit on the season (despite beating FSU in their last game), and Louisville cannot get to that level. Ending on a strong note is paramount to long term success.