The Birds Eye View – S2F1
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Season Two of the Weekly Newsletter covering the Cards most recent contest. Double clicking on the newsletter will allow for full screen viewing and zoom functionality on mobile device.
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After waiting so patiently all offseason, we finally got real live Louisville football on Sunday night, and before the first thirty minutes of the season had been played, we already had folks packing up their proverbial tailgates and driving home. I tried to warn people that Week One against a very strong opponent, with a quarterback starting his first game, a defensive coordinator calling his first game, and more transfer players than nearly 90% of college football, it could look rough. It did. Outside of a spectacular defensive effort in the first half, the offense and special teams looked like a team that wasn’t ready and had yet to figure things out. Comparisons of last year’s quarterback and the same old lack of discipline trope were being thrown around with greater accuracy than what we saw from Kienholz in those first two quarters, but thankfully, they play a full sixty minutes. While not without error, the second half looked like the two phases of the ball swapped jerseys, and suddenly the offense had some life, and the defense was reeling on nearly every drive. While fans like seeing the points, I could tell in spots the defense was likely gassed from extended PT due to longer drives, and injuries. It took the entire roster and coaching staff to lift the bus off of Kienholz that the fanbase had run over him with earlier, but once out from underneath, dude put on a show. Dropping over 300 yards passing, nearly 70 yards rushing, three touchdowns, and a stiff arm heard around the world, the Cards have their QB1, and I think we all know he will get even better.
OFFENSE
Thank goodness there is no way of knowing what was going through my head in the first 20 min or so of this game, because while I knew it might be ugly, I was going into some dark places quickly with a complete lack of any offensive unity being displayed. How could we be in a similar spot as last season with a Coach who has a track record of developing QBs and getting them a shot at the next level? I was concerned. Concerned about what I was seeing and concerned that another delay of game penalty would send me to an early grave. The halftime adjustments, and what I assume was a bit of a reset button from Brohm and Lincoln, made the difference. Kienholz came out with eyes downfield, looking for guys to be schemed open, he spread it around to seven different players and he let the weapons do what weapons do, Richardson using his speed, McCoy using his elusiveness, and Skinner using his strength. And when those guys weren’t open, he used his legs to create a threat in the running game. Moving forward we know the offense can’t live and die off chunk plays, but we also know Brohm has success when he weaves in the big hitters with the ground and pound. The offensive line needs to be a bit more consistent, as Isaac never got going, and Keyjuan didn’t get the reps he needed because they were playing comeback most of the night. Not perfect but encouraging.
DEFENSE
Coming into the game my concern was that the Cards would never really put a ton of pressure on Chambliss because his line was solid, and he was elusive enough he could scramble out of most direct pressure or blitz packages. That much was true. But the way they schemed the first half had Chambliss on the run, and he made some uncharacteristic decisions for a guy who likely could be taking preseason snaps in the NFL about now. Even though we didn’t see a sack we saw QB hurries, a forced fumble and an interception from Chambliss in the early returns. I was very pleased with that they were doing in the passing game, and in the run game, holding Lacy to roughly 50 yards and the only TD coming from a short field turnover on the poor snap. Then, in the second half Ole Miss started reading the cover three and slicing up the seams like a fashion designer gone mad. In the second half Ole Miss had seven total drives, they scored on five of them, and had four touchdowns. I know the defense had a couple injuries, including a late scratch in Tayon Halloway and Demeco Kennedy only playing 19 snaps in the middle, but we must have depth so we’re not running these guys all day. Watching it back Lubin was a disruption, beyond the hurries and forced fumble, pulling in some extra protection from the backs and tight ends at times. He must get used to this.
SPECIAL TEAMS
First and foremost, excellent job from the local kicker Carson Hilbert going 3-3 in his debut in a tough environment. I think he can be another good one. Also, after the first one, Niall Hayes settled in and averaged about 40 yards a punt, effectively flipping the field as needed. The rest of the special teams….I’ll withhold full comment. At some point doing the same things over and over with different players has to fall at the feet of someone. I’m not a ‘call for coaches job’ kind of guy, but there better some real accountability for another year with special teams blunders contributing heavily to a loss. Botched snap, running into kicker, ball hitting off foot on punt and losing 20 yards of field position, penalties, running ball out of endzone for poor field position…and so on. Fix it. Now.
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