Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Miami

The Louisville football program earned one of their biggest road wins in school history this past Friday night, marching into South Florida and leaving Hard Rock Stadium with a 24-21 win over No. 2 and previously undefeated Miami.

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

• First of all, what a tremendous, momentum-swinging victory for Louisville. Following that home loss to Virginia, while I still believed the Cardinals had a chance to do some good things down the stretch, doubt was starting to creep in regarding if a special season was still on the table. Not only is that the case, Louisville has firmly placed themselves back into the ACC title race, and it's not unheard of to start having visions of a potential run to the College Football Playoff. These were the kinds of games that you hire Jeff Brohm for, and once again, he delivered when the stakes were highest.
• Many fans and those in local media (myself included) had been wondering when Brohm's game-day decision making and overall play calling was going to improve this season. Well, turns out when you give Brohm two weeks to prepare for a big-time opponent, things will improve in this department. Sure, it's fairly easy to out-coach Mario Cristobal, but Brohm and the coaching staff put together a good game plan against the Canes. The opening script was fantastic, mixing in early runs was a great move, and the emphasis on short developing routes was exactly what the Cards needed to do. Not to mention, finally, they go with under center looks on 4th and short, and that speed option on the fake field goal was a beautiful play. Brohm wasn't perfect, as the clock management at the end of the first half wasn't great, none of the backup QBs - which had confused Miami when they were in - were inserted beyond the opening drive, and I continue to be baffled by his fixation with screens on 3rd and long. But still, the game plan was still overall successful, which is what you needed it to be when going up against a talented squad like this.
• I'm going to talk about the offensive players first, and I'm going to lead off by giving credit where it's due. For as bad as the offensive line has been this season, they stepped up their game big time against an other-worldly Miami front seven. Pass protection might not have been quite as good as I remembered when watching live, but they did a great job slowing down Rueben Bain Jr. and Ahkeem Mesidor. On top of that, the run blocking was arguably the best it has been all season long. Between getting Trevonte Sylvester back on a full time basis at left tackle, and giving Mahamane Moussa reps at right guard, they might have finally found an O-line combination that works.
• I want to talk about Isaac Brown for a second, and it's not entirely praise, either. Yes, he finally looks as healthy as he's been all season long, and he certainly made Miami pay with his handful of explosive runs. That's the Brown we expected to see. That being said, it's now back-to-back games where he's fumbled the ball and it directly led to points the other way. Miami nearly had the life choked out of them, but his untimely fourth quarter fumble gave the Canes all that life back. In fact, I'll go as far to say that it was a great coaching move by Brohm to put Brown on the sideline for the final series when Louisville was trying to run the clock out. Ball security is job security, and fumbling in crucial situations can't go unpunished or unnoticed.
• As far as he man under center goes, he wasn't exactly perfect, either. Yes, Miller Moss wound up having a fairly efficient night as far as his stat line goes when facing one of the best defenses in the sport. But there were a handful of throws that put put in dangerous positions, and Miami just wasn't fully able to capitalize on them. For the sake of fairness, he did have a handful of insanely accurate throws into small windows. But he also played with fire at times.
• I also was a little surprised that, after putting in three quarterbacks on the opening drive, none of them saw the field after that. Considering how efficient the offense was on their first couple drives, I was a little surprised that we didn't see a couple more Deuce Adams designed runs.
• It's now officially time to start the Chris Bell hype train. He had a bit of a slow start to the year by his standards, but Bell has been on another level for the last few weeks of the season. The run-after-catch effort that he gave on his two touchdown catches against Miami were absolutely absurd. Not only is he firmly in the mix for the Biletnikoff Award, he very well could be working his way into first round NFL Draft status.
• Bell's incredible hot streak has put some other pass catchers at a bit of a back seat, but Louisville still got solid production out of the rest of their wideouts and tight ends vs. Miami. Caullin Lacy came through a few times to move the chains, as did Dacari Collins and TreyShun Hurry. I still think the tight ends need to be more involved, but as long as Bell keeps going at the rate he is, I won't bat an eye if he gets 15 or more targets.
• Now onto the defense. Once again, Ron English and that defensive staff deserve a massive amount of credit and praise. Miami might not have been known for their offense this season, but they have playmakers a-plenty and a nasty offensive line, and they kept the Canes confused for large swaths of the night.
• The defensive line's ability to get pressure on the backfield was something that played a very underrated role in the final outcome. Sure, Louisville didn't log a single sack and only had two tackles for loss. But anyone that watched that game knows that Carson Beck was not given much time to operate in the pocket. Considering that the Canes' O-Line is nothing but Monstars, that's an impressive feat. That's also on top of the fact that Miami only ran for 63 yards. Linemen Clev Lubin and Jordan Guerad did excellent jobs at setting the tone at the point of attack, and linebackers T.J. Quinn and Kalib Perry did a great job reinforcing the efforts in the front seven.
• The collective pass coverage efforts from both the linebackers and secondary were incredible. While there were a few big plays through the air, for the most part, Louisville both played very good zone coverage (and some man to an extent), while also playing downhill and tackling very well. Of Beck's 271 passing yards, 130 of them came on three of his 35 attempts. Not to mention that the effort and execution on all four interceptions was incredible. Antonio Watts covered a ton of ground to get his. Jabari Mack, who had a fantastic day, had a great individual effort in man coverage. T.J. Capers read that final pick perfectly, and he was getting it regardless if it was batted or not. As for JoJo Evans' pic, well, let's ask Rasheed Wallace his thoughts.
• Speaking of which, I want to add one thing: the officiating in this game - on both sides - was absolutely putrid. Both Louisville and Miami were kneecapped at times from bogus flags or blatant no-calls. You can argue that the calls evened out towards the end, but still, this was an awful night from the zebras,
• I'll close with this thought: I hate to even bring this up, but Brohm and Louisville absolutely cannot have a let down against Boston College. Yes, we known Brohm is prone to let downs after massive wins, but you get the chance to face the Eagles - who are the worst team in the ACC - at home. They cannot lose focus after getting back on track.