What To Watch For: Florida State Seminoles

MONTY MONTGOMERY WILL BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER ON LOUISVILLE’S DEFENSE

Monty Montgomery finished the Notre Dame game with 13 tackles and 2 sacks. While he was a star in that game, he will be unbelievably important against Florida State. Jordan Travis is a very elusive runner and he uses his legs very well to extend plays outside of the pocket. That’s where Monty comes in. I think that Louisville will use him as a spy in passing situations to try to keep Travis contained.

Montgomery has been great this year at using his speed to close space and make tackles outside of the pocket. The more important thing is that he hasn’t overrun the play or been shook in these moments. He does such a good job of playing things inside out where he’s behind the player in a sense which makes it hard to cut back on him. He also runs through his tackles and doesn’t lunge. If he can contain Travis’ legs, he could force FSU to rely on Travis’ arm which hasn’t gone well so far.

FLOIRDA STATE WILL SELL OUT TO STOP THE RUN

Florida State is allowing 5.17 yards per carry this year and it’s causing issues for their entire defense. FSU is giving up a bunch of rushing yards on first downs and Louisville prides itself on running the football to set up the pass. Something has to give there, right. I think that FSU will do all they can to stop UofL’s rushing attack because the passing game is at it’s best when it can run play action off of an effective run game.

There have been a lot of complaints about UofL running the ball too much on first downs but I don’t know that the numbers back that up. Either way, FSU is nearly as bad on first downs against the pass so it may not matter how UofL choses to attack them. UofL has to make sure they get yards because things get tougher on third and long with FSU having talented pass rushers to deploy.

SCOTT SATTERFIELD AND DWYANE LEDFORD HAVE TO UTILIZE A QUICK PASSING GAME

This one is obvious but it still needs to be said. UofL hasn’t done enough to implement a quick passing game. My memory isn’t what it used to be but I can only remember one quick screen this year and I don’t remember a single slant route. Louisville has done well to add some deep comebacks to the passing attack but those can take time to develop. They need some plays where Malik Cunningham can rise up and get rid of the ball.

There’s nothing I saw from FSU that made me think of this but I do expect them to bring extra guys to stop the run and I expect them to blitz a lot. That should provide ample opportunity to get UofL’s talented receivers in single coverage and it could lead to some opportunities to get the ball to some of the speedy guys with space to work.

FLORIDA STATE WILL LOOK TO HIT BIG PASSING PLAYS

FSU threw for 191 yards last week against UNC. They had their best offensive game of the year and got out to a big lead early on. 166 of those yards came on 4 completions. They weren’t efficient in the passing game from a completion percentage standpoint but they did max out every completion. I’d be shocked if they didn’t try to do the same this weekend.

Louisville has had plenty of issues stopping big plays in the passing game but they have held two opponents under 10 yards per catch. That’s something that bodes well for them but they have also given up big passing plays against Miami and Georgia Tech where guys just got beat or receivers were able to find holes in the zone. If UofL can put FSU in long third downs, they could have some success getting home with pressure if they can cover like they did against Notre Dame.