While Louisville football has struggled in a number of areas in 2022, its pass rush defense could be the best in school history.
Louisville football fans often think fondly of pass rushers like Elvis Dumervil, DeWayne White, and Ted Washington when we look back at the great defenses of the past.
Many long for the Charlie Strong days or the early Bobby Petrino years when the Cardinals got after the quarterback with speed and aggression.
In the past two decades, Louisville has finished 1st (2013), 2nd (2006), and 3rd (2005) in the country in sacks recorded.
However, it may surprise some to learn that this season’s Louisville pass rush defense is statistically better than that of all of those teams.
In fact, this Cardinal pass rush has the momentum to be historically excellent.
Where Louisville stacks up in 2022
Thus far in 2022, Louisville football has recorded 23 sacks. Its 3.83 sacks per game are good for 3rd nationally and 1st among FBS teams.
It starts with Louisville defensive ends Ashton Gillotte and Yaya Diaby, who rank in the top 20 nationally in sacks per game with .83 and .75 sacks respectively.
Linebacker Monty Montgomery is 53rd nationally with 3.5 sacks in 5 games played. Fellow linebacker Yasir Abdullah has recorded 2.5 sacks, while defensive tackle Dez Tell has brought down the opposing QB 2 times.
Momo Sanogo, Debo Jones, Quincy Riley, Jared Dawson, Ramon Puryear, and Mason Reiger are the other players who have recorded a sack in 2022.
How good have opposing offensive lines been, and how good will they be in the future?
Not only does Louisville have a wealth of players that can get to the quarterback, but it has also done so against quality offensive lines.
This is the number of times per game that Louisville’s opponents have allowed the QB to be sacked against all other opponents (teams that are not UofL):
Syracuse 2.2
UCF 1.4
FSU 1.0
USF .6
Boston College 3.8
UVA 2.8
Average: 1.97 sacks allowed per game
This is the number of sacks per game allowed by Louisville’s future 2022 opponents:
Pitt 2.2
Wake Forest 2.3
James Madison 1.3
Clemson 1.7
NC State 1.7
Kentucky 3.7
Average: 2.15 sacks allowed per game
Louisville’s strength of schedule thus far is 32nd in the country.
The average strength of schedule for opponents that Louisville has played is 52nd nationally.
The average strength of schedule for opponents UofL has yet to play is 47th nationally.
The takeaway here is that Louisville football has generated the most sacks in Power 5 football this season against a schedule that is in the top 25% of all schedules in the country.
The opposition certainly does not get easier going forward, but Louisville’s future opponents allow more sacks per game to a similar quality of opponents as teams UofL has already faced.
How this UofL pass rush stacks up to past Cardinals teams
Perhaps the most staggering stat line here is the way that this UofL pass rush compares to that of past Louisville football squads.
We know that in the past two decades, Louisville has finished 1st (2013), 2nd (2006), and 3rd (2005) in the country in sacks recorded.
Those teams finished with 3.3, 3.3, and 3.7 sacks per game.
This Louisville football squad is averaging 3.83 sacks per game, which puts it on pace to be the best pass-rushing team in school history.
Not only that, but Louisville may have a chance at posting historically great sack numbers nationally.
Over the last decade, the average for teams that led the nation in sacks was right at 46 over 12 games.
Louisville’s 23 sacks through 6 games put it right on pace to be the best pass rush in school history and one of the best in the country in 2022.
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