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5 reasons the Louisville Cardinals can win the ACC Atlantic division

By Geoffrey Knox

Sep 17, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) hands the ball off to running back Brandon Radcliff (23) during the first quarter against the Florida State Seminoles at Papa John
Sep 17, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) hands the ball off to running back Brandon Radcliff (23) during the first quarter against the Florida State Seminoles at Papa John /
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Sep 17, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals running back Jeremy Smith (34) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the Florida State Seminoles during the second quarter at Papa John
Sep 17, 2016; Louisville, KY, USA; Louisville Cardinals running back Jeremy Smith (34) runs the ball in for a touchdown against the Florida State Seminoles during the second quarter at Papa John /

4. This team is more physical than we’ve been told.

When the Cardinals come up, you hear words like “tempo”. You hear phrases like “finesse offense”. You think about players like former Cardinals quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, and you think about the explosiveness and dual-threat ability of current Cardinals standout quarterback Lamar Jackson. What many forgot to mention to us was the fact that this team is extremely physical.

What Louisville did, pretty much, all day was actually what we expected to see done to them by Florida State. This team didn’t look for ways to run around people. They looked for people to run over. They didn’t try to run out of bounds. Instead, they lowered their shoulders, turned up field and took defenders on head on. Yes, this team is talented on offense. Can Jackson can beat any program with his arm or his legs? Absolutely he can, but this team doesn’t try to choreograph their way to victory. They line up and they run downhill.

We haven’t even brought up the defense yet. They caused pressure, they made plays in coverage and they seemed to get to the quarterback at will. The only question is, after such a dominating performance, what do they do for an encore?

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