Louisville started the fourth quarter headed for an easy win, but finished it in dramatic fashion. I clipped a handful of big plays from the quarter below.
It took four quarters, but Miami finally adjusted to Chris Bell running a drag route. However, Bell not only didn’t seem bothered, but he also made one of the most savvy plays I’ve seen from him. Before he catches this pass, he settles his feet before bouncing to his right as he receives the ball. He makes the linebacker miss the tackle before he even catches the pass. The run after the catch is impressive, but none of it happens if Bell doesn’t set it up with the initial move.
Carson Beck looked lost at this point in the game, but we know that wasn’t the case, as he was a factor in Miami getting back into this game late. But, on this play, the pass rush gets him uncomfortable, which leads to the pick. Rene Konga does such a good job in a one-on-one matchup against the left guard. He wins with a nice move with great hand placement. He gets his right arm on the guard’s left elbow, which pulls him forward and off-balance. Konga finishes with a swim over him, and he forces Beck to fall back as he throws. For the second straight year, Konga’s play has been a very underrated part of the performance of the defense.
This was a very “young guy” mistake from Isaac Brown in the situation Louisville was in. They were going to start leaning on Miami with the running game, and he does a poor job of getting the ball tight into his body as he tries to turn up the field. He should have expected guys to try to strip him, even though that’s not what happened here. He has the ball loose from his body, and Keionte Scott gets his helmet right on the ball to force the fumble.
Two weeks ago, I called out the receivers for not blocking for Caullin Lacy, so it’s only fair that I call him out here for a really poor effort to block Scott on this play. He allows himself to be pushed away with almost no resistance, and Scott is able to make the play with ease. I’d love to see Lacy put the effort he put in to chase this play down into his blocking on the play.
This play looks simple, but I love the design of how they add misdirection to it. Malachi Toney is in motion, which would normally force the defense to flow with him. However, the run action keeps the eyes of the linebackers and safeties in the backfield. The offensive line blocks to the right as if they are running the ball, and Toney is a decoy. But the ball goes to Toney, and he rides the good blocking of the tight ends to the edge.
TJ Quinn, TJ Capers, and D’Angelo Hutchinson all take a false step or freeze on the play due to the run action, and that gives Toney enough time to put them into a chase scenario, which he’s going to win more times than not.
I actually hoped the Cards would drop 8 on this play because Miami had struggled so much throwing the ball outside of screen plays. Beck was also pretty erratic at this point, so it made sense to force him to make a good throw. He ends up dropping a dime to CJ Daniels on the run here. The angle on this throw and catch is pretty crazy.
As for the defense, Jabari Mack gets caught chasing Toney out of his zone, which is the goal of the route combination. There is a safety behind Mack on this play, so he should just pass off the route and maintain his spot in the intermediate zone. As soon as he vacates the area, Beck steps up and hits Daniels right around where Mack should be. Not a major mistake, but it’s easy to see what happened here.
The catch that TJ Capers makes on this interception gets rightful attention, but I was more impressed by how he gets there. UofL mugs up the linebackers again with simulated pressure before backing out. The Cards rush five with man coverage behind it. Capers initially backs out of the blitz look before immediately headed towards the tight end who he is responsible for.
If you watch Capers, he reacts to the tight end looking back for the ball by deciding to play the ball instead of the man. It is similar to Jabari Mack’s interception because it’s natural to panic in this situation, because he’s technically beat on the play. Instead of panicking, he looks to Beck and instantly turns into the receiver on the play. The catch is a cherry on top for me. This is the type of play you hoped you would see out of Capers when he signed.