LOUISVILLE SHOULD RUN AWAY FROM JERMAINE JOHNSON
One of the very smart things we saw Lousiville do against UCF was running to the opposite side of Markaviest Bryant. They should look to do the same this weekend with Jermaine Johnson. In my opinion, Johnson is a better player than Bryant and he can cause more havoc with his athleticism and motor.
Sometimes you hear people say that you should go right at guys like Bryant and Johnson or try to utilize screens to try to counter their pass rush. I call those people stupid. UCF wasn’t nearly as good on the other side of the field so UofL took advantage of that. Louisville should have the same mindset with the game plan this week. Run the ball to the opposite side of Johnson and look to use misdirection to slow him down as opposed to screens.
LOUISVILLE CAN’T ALLOW FLORIDA STATE TO GET BIG PLAYS
Florida State has real issues on offense. They don’t run the ball consistently and I don’t know if anyone could explain why that is. They also don’t throw the ball down the field all that often because their Offensive Line doesn’t block well enough. But they do have speed at the skill positions and they can create a big play if given the opportunity.
Louisville cannot give them that opportunity. The FSU receivers are averaging 8.9 yards per catch outside of their two biggest plays of the season. McKenzie Milton is barely averaging 6 yards per attempt on the year. This is an offense that can’t do the things that they want to do but they have the speed and talent to do it if they meet a little less resistance. Louisville needs to continue to keep things in front of them and put teams in long third down situations.
FLORIDA STATE COULD MOVE ON FROM MCKENZIE MILTON IF THEY LOSE THIS GAME
Florida State will need a miracle to turn their season around whether they win this game or not. At this point, it makes more sense to develop the players that will continue to be a part of your program going forward. McKenzie Milton doesn’t fit that criterion but the other Quarterbacks on the roster do.
Jordan Travis is in his second year as a part-time starter and he has tools that could be polished up to make him a quality starter for the Noles. He has the arm strength to make every throw and he has the ability to extend plays, scramble, and run by design. He is extremely inconsistent but he is also playing behind a terrible Offensive Line and playing in an offense with no identity.
Then you of course have a supposedly now-healthy Chubba Purdy and Tate Rodemaker waiting to finally get some playing time.
MALIK CUNNINGHAM WILL TAKE SOME SHOTS DOWN THE FIELD
While UCF came into the game last week with a scheme built around man coverage, FSU takes it a step further. They will press on the outside and they don’t back off the line all that often. They trust that they have better athletes and typically they do. However, they get beat a lot. Wake Forest made multiple contested catches on top of just getting behind the defense. Jacksonville State did the same a couple of times.
Lousiville doesn’t throw the ball deep down the sideline very often but I think they could look to do so this weekend with Jordan Watkins having great speed outside and Justin Marshall having a size advantage over most corners. Lousiville also had a lot of success with their play-action passing game last season to help protect Malik while deep routes developed. This week should be another game where I stop complaining about the lack of a quick passing game in hopes that they take a few shots down the field.
SCOTT SATTERFIELD WILL LIKELY CONTINUE USING MISDIRECTION
Scott Satterfield has taken plenty of heat for his play calling in the first two games of the season but he really killed it against UCF. The other huge positive from that game was the execution of the offense from the players. Players were in the right spots, timing was there, and players made plays when their number was called.
With the aggressive scheme that FSU runs, we should see a lot of the same misdirection that we saw last week. They did a good job to run receivers underneath the play to get them out into space and give malik the option to pass or run. They did that on the goal line as well as out in the field. I could also see more of the speed sweep stuff we saw with Tutu Atwell. It gives the defenders more to worry about. Putting the defense on their heels really should go a long way this weekend.
NOTES
- FSU’s punter can punt with either foot.
- Bryan Brown should break out the Amoeba defense this week.
- FSU may try to go faster this week seeing as Ole Miss had a ton of success and UCF struggled to run their offense without their normal pace.
- FSU looked like they were over it once they got down a couple of scores to Wake Forest last week.