Old school stream of consciousness. Let’s roll.
—I know we’ve all spent solid chunks of our lives making fun of Kentucky fans for doing this, but let’s be honest about something: For a portion of our fan base, Friday night’s game determined whether or not it was a basketball season in their eyes.
These people would have continued to watch the games and, in some cases, go to the games, but their primary focus would have shifted to the Cardinal hoops squad with the most preseason hype of any team we’ve seen since Covid.
This is life in the CFP world. You can still have good, maybe even great, seasons without making the College Football Playoff, but the season loses a healthy dose of shine and intrigue once those CFP dreams have fled for good. The allure of a “top tier bowl game” simply isn’t what it was 10, 15, 20 years ago, and without a top 25 opponent looming on the second half of the schedule, it was going to be difficult for some fans (most fans?) to get themselves hyped up on a weekly basis.
Now, that’s not an issue.
From this point forward, every week should feel like a Playoff elimination game for the Cards. The ACC race is too jumbled up at the moment to lay out the various scenarios, but a 7-1 Louisville team with a win over Miami probably makes the conference championship game. And if it doesn’t, an 11-1 Louisville team with a road win over Miami and only an overtime loss to a top 25 Virginia team is probably right there in the mix for an at-large spot in the Playoff.
After a week and-a-half of feeling like we were in the midst of the proverbial all is lost moment, we’re right back to everything being right there for the taking for the Cards. And it feels amazing.
—For the last couple of years, all the talk about Chris Bell has centered around the idea that he is a “physical specimen with all the tools who just hasn’t been able to put it all together yet.”
Many people, myself included, compared Bell to former Cardinal Scott Long. Long was a specimen as well, a guy who always showed out in practice, jumped out to anyone watching pregame warm-ups, and who stood out when the team was getting off the bus. He’s also a guy who, despite having a very good college career, never made the jump from “all the potential in the world” to “legitimate NFL wide receiver.”
Chris Bell has made the jump to legitimate NFL wide receiver.
If we’re talking individually, no one did more for themselves on Friday night than Bell.
NFL Draft gurus on Twitter gushed over his combination of speed and size. College football diehards praised his ability to go over the middle and hang onto the ball time after time despite taking some vicious hits. Louisville fans brought up the offseason rumors of him turning down a seven-figure offer from Texas to stay true to the program that originally gave him a shot.
The guy is a certified superstar, AND the only 15-yard penalty he picked up in this game was an absolutely bullshit call.
We’re growing in all facets of the game.
—I didn’t catch this Friday night, but it’s hilarious.
—One of my favorite online things of the weekend has been Miami fans on Twitter showing the “illegal fair catch” call against Malachi Toney and having pretty much all the responses from the rest of the college football world being “yeah, you can’t do that.” It was close, but there’s clearly a half signal there, and Louisville’s gunners clearly stop immediately after it happens. You can’t let him get away with that.
Also, if the whistle went against anyone in this game, it went against us.
The call against Bell was atrocious and completely stalled a key drive for us that appeared to be headed for points at a time when we desperately needed so regain momentum. The roughing the passer call on Lubin is as bad as any you’re ever going to see. The lack of a pass interference call on Bell in the 4th quarter was embarrassing, etc.
At least Charlotte overturned the ridiculous spot on Miller’s 3rd down sneak. Baby steps.
—Speaking of Toney, the hype is real there. That is as dynamic of a freshman playmaker as there is in the entire country. Sheesh.
—This is how the offense was supposed to look all season. Not necessarily the gadget plays or the exotic formations, but having a dynamic running game to keep opposing defenses honest and allow the passing game to be complimentary.
I’m not making this statement for effect, I’m making it because I wholeheartedly believe it: Isaac Brown is the most naturally talented running back I have ever seen tote the rock for Louisville. The only other Cardinal I’ve ever seen with his combination of vision and the ability to change directions without seeming to lose a step is Lamar Jackson.
He still looked to be avoiding contact when he could, and we didn’t feed him as much as I think we would have in the same situation a year ago, but this was the closest we’ve gotten to seeing the “old Isaac Brown” (a funny statement to make about a true sophomore) this season.
If this is who Isaac is going to be for the rest of the season, then we have a real chance to go 11-1 and make the College Football Playoff. If things are going to be more like the first five weeks, then we probably don’t. It’s that simple.
The running game — spearheaded by a group of backs widely considered by national folks to be the best or the second best in the country coming into the season — was supposed to be the backbone of this team. When you consider that said backbone has been mostly non-existant for a month and-a-half, it’s a minor miracle that this team is currently 5-1 and ranked No. 19 in the country.
Yes, the fumble gave life to Miami and made all of us collectively shit our pants, but we don’t win that game without Isaac Brown being out there, playing the way he did, and making the Hurricane defense terrified that he was going to do even more. We’ve gotta have No. 1 healthy and happy for the next six weeks, and (hopefully) beyond.
—Having said that, Keyjuan Brown also deserves a major shoutout here for his willingness to take some shots in pass protection. Guy is a dawg.
—Seeing how much this meant to Miller Moss — especially after what happened against Virginia and knowing that he had an “emotional” conversation with Jeff Brohm afterward — was very cool.
He wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t have to be. He played the role he was assigned and did so (mostly) with poise and precision. He avoided the big mistake, he took the sack when he needed to, he threw the ball away when the moment called for it, and he took what the defense gave him when it was available.
Major props to Miller on having the maturity to turn in a performance like that after everything that was flying in his direction following the Virginia loss. Now let’s build on it.
—Even watching live, this was one of my favorite plays of the game.
Louisville is fully prepared for the quick throw to the outside (a Shannon Dawson staple), but they bait the Hurricanes into thinking they have a numbers advantage there so Carson Beck won’t check out of the play. Then, right before the snap, both Antonio Watts and TJ Quinn sprint to the sideline because they know that’s where the ball’s going. Jabari Mack blows up his blocker and makes the play, but even if he didn’t, the Cards are in great position to keep this to a minimal gain.
I will admit to being extremely skeptical when the explanations for last year’s defensive issues from both Ron English and Jeff Brohm during last season and the offseason revolved around the players simply not being able to grasp what they needed to do, not being great at communicating and maybe being a little bit selfish … BUT, now it certainly seems like nothing more than an extremely accurate explanation.
It’s one thing for a coaching staff to do the necessary legwork to scout an opposing offense to the point of knowing when a certain play is going to be called in a certain situation. It’s a second thing to be able to effectively communicate that information to your players. But the biggest thing is the players’ ability to go out there and utilize that knowledge to properly execute when the moment arrives.
A massive tip of the cap to the defensive staff and all the players on the defensive side of the ball. They have been a joy to watch throughout the first half of this season.
—Hand up. I wanted Ron English gone after last season, and I was 100% wrong.
Credit (and thank you) to everyone involved in the decision to keep him around.
—Would LOVE to know how the rest of this guy’s weekend went.
—It took about until the midway point of last season for Louisville to find the right group of five on the offensive line, and it appears that history is repeating itself in 2025.
After mixing and matching guys and spots all season long (except for Pete Nygra at center), U of L appears to have settled on a finally healthy Trevonte Sylvester at left tackle, Lance Robinson at left guard, Mahmane Moussa at right guard and Rasheed Miller at right tackle.
The group more than did its job on Friday night against a vaunted Miami front seven that, coming into the game, was being talked about like it was on par with the Eagles (both in terms of salary and on-field production). The star of stars for the Hurricanes —Reuben Bain — was being widely referred to as “the best player in college football” entering Friday night’s game. He finished the evening with one tackle, and zero plays behind the line of scrimmage.
—It wasn’t just the play of the offensive line that made that stat happen, however, it was also the offensive coaching staff absolutely taking the Miami staff to school.
Pro Football Focus graded Louisville’s pass blocking as a less than stellar 38%. So how in the world did the Cards keep Bain in check and allow just one sack for the entire game?
Quick throws. Misdirection. Quick throws. New wrinkles in the run game. Quick throws. Exotic formations. Quick throws. The occasional cut block scheme to at least put that thought in the Miami pass rushers’ minds. Quick throws. Finally having a dangerous run game with Isaac Brown healthy and performing. And finally, quick throws.
Miller Moss attempted 37 passes in this game, and I don’t think one of them was in the air for 30 yards or longer. The only throw that I remember being in the air for at least 20-25 yards was the throw down the middle of the field that nearly got picked off.
Jeff Brohm set up the perfect gameplan to neutralize what Miami does on defense better than just about any team in the country, and the Hurricanes simply refused to adjust. There was no pressing up by the cornerbacks, there was no “hey, you need to start getting your hands up because the ball is coming out quick” talk to the defensive line, there was no adjustment to the fact that No. 1 for Louisville was back early on to looking like his old self.
Flip that over to the other side, and Miami once again simply refused to believe that it couldn’t run the ball inside the tackles against Louisville. U of L consistently dropped eight and pinched in the A-gaps, daring the Hurricanes to run the ball anywhere else. They wouldn’t. Shannon Dawson just would not let his mind get off the idea that eventually the most physical team in college football would be able to win by out-physicaling the Cardinals. They couldn’t.
There was zero adjustment in Miami’s run game after getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage early and often, and the result was 24 carries for 63 yards (2.6 ypc) with a long run of 12 yards. Carson Beck going out there and having easily his worst game as a Hurricane is also directly related to this.
One side knew coming into this game that it couldn’t keep doing the same things it had been doing all season long if it wanted to win. The other side refused to acknowledge or believe that, even when they fell behind by two touchdowns.
Claims of one side being “out-coached” are typically overblown, but this was an absolute dog-walking of Mario Cristobal’s staff by Jeff Brohm and company.
—A coach once told me that after six games in any season, you basically have to re-invent yourself because there’s too much film out there. Again, one side seemed to recognize this and adjust appropriately. The other did not.
—Mary had a poorly timed girls night in Lexington on Friday, so my parents came over to help with the kids so I could watch the game in peace and do blog stuff. This basically meant my mom took care of the kids while dad and I watched the game outside. Don’t worry, she’s good with it.
It was the first football game that dad and I had watched together since Stanford last year, which, naturally, terrified me. But a texter into the radio show made a good point that put me at ease with the situation: If the seemingly impossible happened last year when dad came over for a game, why couldn’t it happen again this year?
Getting to celebrate such a massive win with my parents (mom made it out for the 4th quarter) was pretty awesome. I mean, this is like one of the five happiest I’ve ever seen my dad.
—We’re at the halfway point of the season and Louisville’s defense hasn’t allowed a single run of 20 yards or more.
Imagine what the odds against that happening would have been eight weeks ago.
—Everyone’s talking about the hands of the Louisville defensive backs (and linebackers … we see you, T.J.), and understandably so. But the interceptions weren’t the only wildly impressive parts of the night for the Cardinal secondary.
On multiple occasions, Miami clearly dialed up a deep shot downfield and Carson Beck was given ample time to let the routes develop and pick his favorite target. On virtually every one of these occasions, Beck pretty clearly had no one open, and had to either tuck and run or throw the ball into harm’s way.
Some of the plays that weren’t even picked up by the television cameras were the most impressive and most important of the night by the Cardinal secondary.
—D’Angelo Hutchinson, Tayon Holloway, Antonio Watts and JoJo Evans were all remarkably impressive, but how about the play of Jabari Mack? The guy was absolutely everywhere we needed him to be. I could not have been more impressed with the Jacksonville State transfer.
This secondary was widely recognized as the weakest unit on either side of the ball for Louisville coming into the season, and it’s wound up being one of its biggest assets.
It’s a good thing too, because the second half of this season features a trio of quarterbacks that are going to want to take their fair share of shots downfield.
—After 156 years of waiting, The MacGuffin — college football’s mythical championship belt — is now finally in U of L’s possession.
—I know the traffic down there is miserable and I know they’re playing in an NFL stadium, BUT … how do you not have more people in the stands as an undefeated second-ranked team hosting another one of the best teams in the ACC for a Friday night game on ESPN?
—After the Isaac fumble, the Miami touchdown, the Miami stop, and the Miami conversion on 3rd and 13, I would have put Louisville’s likelihood of winning that game at — let me crunch some numbers real quick here — negative 1.5 billion percent.
Once they got near midfield, I told my dad we needed to win in regulation or we were cooked. Once they got across midfield, I told my dad that either Beck was going to throw another pick or we were going to lose.
Thankfully, we’ll never know if I was wrong or right.
There are very, very few better feelings in life as a sports fan than winning after having the “I know how this story goes and I am about to have my heart absolutely ripped out of my chest” moment.
—Our defensive scheme doesn’t put them in a position to put up monster numbers, but Rene Konga and Jordan Guerad deserve some flowers from the fan base.
Guerad was all over the place on Friday, and Konga is consistently graded out as one of the best performing defensive linemen in the entire country (First Team Midseason All-American by Pro Football Sports Network). These guys have been monsters in the middle all season long, but doing what they did against the “best offensive line in the country” was beyond impressive.
—I touched it on it a little bit earlier, but one of the things that our defensive line did (and has done consistently this season) that Miami’s didn’t was bat down balls. When we blitz, our D-Line does an incredible job of knowing that a hot ball is probably coming out quickly and getting their hands up to knock it down. Miami, meanwhile, just kept playing bullheaded and football, trying to get to Moss even though it was impossible with how quickly the ball was getting out of his hands.
Again, coaching. The minutiae matters.
—This is going to get so much run.
—Keep wearing this exact uniform in road games against Miami until it doesn’t work.
—Cooper “Swaggy Coop” Ranvier might be the coolest and best kicker we’ve had since Art Carmody. The guy is dead center damn near every time he gets an opportunity, and his only miss this season was due to a bad snap.
We are truly blessed in the special teams department.
*whispers* — I’d still love to have one of those Aussie punters next season.
—It sure felt like every time our defense was in a 1-on-1 situation and we needed a guy to make a tackle to keep a 2-yard gain from turning into a 15-yard gain, TJ Quinn was there to make the play. He has been rock solid for a long time now, but Friday night may have been his Mona Lisa.
—Did anyone else not celebrate the TJ Capers INT until after they showed the replay confirming that he caught it? Don’t get me wrong, I definitely jumped out of my seat, but I refused to let myself go nuts until I saw the replay.
We may never see a better catch (or maybe even a more important catch) by a Cardinal linebacker.
—Every now and then when I’m writing a game preview there are some stats that really make it set in how little history our program has compared to the team we’re going up against.
This is the 113th season of Louisville football, and going into Friday night we had won a grand total of FIVE road games against ranked opponents. We had never won a road game against a team ranked in the top 10, and we had won just one game against a team ranked in the top two.
We can debate where the win over Miami sits on the list of “greatest Louisville wins of all-time” or “greatest Louisville upsets of all-time,” but all that matters for right now is that it’s on those lists. Unless it happens in a national championship game, the full impact of a marquee victory is never truly known at the time it occurs. Having said that, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Friday’s win has a chance to be one of the most impactful triumphs in the history of Cardinal football.
Even for fans of teams with more history, nights like Friday don’t come around all that often. I hope everyone fully soaked it up, and is continuing to soak it up on this glorious Monday.