Louisville football looks to win a quarterback duel when it hosts a tough Virginia squad.
Louisville football had every opportunity to walk out of Winston Salem with a victory this past weekend, only to fall short.
Blame the refs, blame not hitting open receivers, blame the playcalling, whatever suits your narrative.
Whatever the case, the Cards need a bounce-back victory in the worst way before heading into a bye week.
First Down: What to Know
Who: Virginia Cavaliers at Louisville Cardinals
Where: Cardinal Stadium, Louisville, KY (Capacity: 62,500)
When: 3:00 PM ET | October 9th, 2021
Last Meeting: Virginia won 31-17 last season in Charlottesville
Series History: Louisville leads the series 5-4
Home Record: Louisville is 4-0 all-time when hosting UVA
How to Watch: ACC Network
How to Listen: 790AM WKRD in Louisville
Spread Check: Louisville -2
Thread Check:
Adidas simply does not miss in 2021.
Second Down: What to Watch For
Virginia
An Air Raid Attack
The most important thing you need to know about this UVA squad is that they throw the ball like it’s going out of style.
Quarterback Brennan Armstrong is second in the nation in passing yards per game and has passed the ball 60 more times than Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham in the same amount of games.
Armstrong and UVA average 46 pass attempts per game while only rushing 29 times a game.
The receiving core is diverse and deep for the Wahoos. There are five players who have recorded more than 200 yards on the season. The wideouts are lead by Dontayvion Wicks, an explosive big-play threat who averages greater than 22 yards per game and has accounted for 5 touchdowns. Wicks only recorded three catches in his career heading into his redshirt sophomore campaign, but he has already hauled in 22 catches for 535 yards.
A gettable defense
Virginia’s defense has been stout in games against opponents like Illinois and Miami. However, North Carolina and Wake Forest gashed the UVA D for more than 600 yards a game.
The main factor for the Louisville football offense against the UVA defense is overall team speed. Louisville has had a fair amount of success against UVA in years past by feeding the studs. However, this season, the Cardinals are taking more of a balanced approach through the air and on the ground.
Look for Louisville to get the ball early and often to Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, Tyler Harrell, and Josh Johnson. It will also be interesting to see if the Cavs can keep contain on Cunningham. I’d like to see the Cards unleash Hassan Hall a bit and run some of the traditional option looks with Hall and Cunningham.
Louisville
A “Show Me” game from the secondary
We have touched a lot on how Louisville football showed marked improvement from week two to week five. UofL has been creative on offense. The defense found ways to get pressure rushing three or four. Bryan Brown has been creative with some of his packages allowing for more team speed.
If there is one area, however, that has remained a bit stagnant throughout the season, it’s the secondary.
After a solid start to the season from transfers Qwynnterio cole and Kenderick Duncan, the Louisville safeties have been out of position quite a bit of late. It is understandable against a Wake Forest “ride and read” offense that gave the Cards fits. Florida State and Central Florida also exposed Duncan and Cole’s abilities in pass protection. Both players are hard-hitting, downhill run-stoppers, but they have struggled with play-action reads and been beaten over the top quite a bit.
Additionally, Louisville’s star corner, Kei’Trel Clark, has not been as much of a lockdown threat as expected. Since a fantastic showing against UCF, a game-ending interception at FSU is his only real highlight. Clark plays with the confidence and swagger of an NFL corner. More often than not, he has been better than advertised. However, it would be nice to see him return to form against a great UVA passing offense.
Ball Control offense
Louisville football has always prided itself in owning time of possession under Satterfield. I’d say that will be the name of the game even more so against a prolific Virginia passing offense.
The best way to take a more traditional passing offense out of rhythm is to keep it on the sideline. Against Wake, Satterfield ran a lot of tempo, but the speed Wake operated at on the other side was likely the reason for that. Virginia isn’t going to bring as confusing of an offensive scheme. Thus, this game could come down to the Cards simply owning the clock and taking advantage of opportunities when they arise.
Third Down: What they’re saying
Scott Satterfield on the UVA Offense:
We have to bounce back and we have a great opponent this weekend so we’re looking forward to playing Virginia this weekend. Coach Mendenhall, I have a lot of respect for him, how he runs his program, the kids play hard for his staff. They do things in all three aspects that are unique: offense, defense, and special teams. They really make you think with a lot of different sets. Offensively, their quarterback is playing at a high level. He can throw the football well; he is a very accurate passer with a great catchable ball. They have some guys to throw it to as well; really good wide receivers, a big tight end that is about 6’ 7”, and a little slot receiver that can run all over the place. Their running back came back last week and played well against Miami. They do some good things offensively; they are putting up a lot of big numbers as one of the top passing teams in the country with 400 yards or more per game.Â
Scott Satterfield on the UVA Defense:
Defensively, they have done a lot of different things on defense these last few games, against Wake Forest they ran a lot of four-down, but with everyone else, it has been a lot of three-down technique. They have multiple defensive looks so it will be a big challenge for us.
Bronco Mendenhall on Malik Cunningham:
On a scale of whatever dangerousness there (is), I would put him at the top of the dangerous scale in terms of how fast, how athletic. He can pull it down and run on any given play. I’m just really impressed with him. I think he’s a really good athlete. I think his throwing accuracy and precision have improved. On any given play, he’s a threat.
Replay: Injury Report
Scott Satterfield on injuries
Renato (Brown) and Ashton (Gillotte) will be day-to-day, we’ll check on those guys, they’re coming around, but they’re listed right now is day to day and whether they play this week remains to be seen. I feel for certain they will be able to play after that, we’ve got a bye week coming up after that so they will be certainly available the following week, but we’ll have to find out this coming week whether they’ll be available or not. Shai (Werts) will probably be back this week; he was close last week we put him out in warmups, and I thought he looked pretty good last week, and hopefully this week he’ll get a full practice throughout the whole week and be available.
Fourth Down: Predictions
Presley Meyer: Louisville 43, Virginia 39
Jacob Lane: Louisville 31, Virginia 17
Matthew McGavic: Louisville 41, Virginia 38
Spencer Brown: Louisville 35, Virginia 31
Brian Trent: Louisville 42, Virginia 24
Alan Thomas: Louisville 48, Virginia 24
Alex Stengel: Louisville 38, Virginia 28
Ethan Sprowles: Louisville 35, Virginia 42
Madison Wood: Louisville 34, Virginia 17
College Football News: Louisville 38, Virginia 34
Streaking the Lawn: Louisville 42, Virginia 37
A lot of Louisville football love here. Let’s see if the Cards can get a 50-50 conference win to kick-start the season.
