Louisville Football: 5 reasons why Cardinals will stink in 2017

3. Middle-of-the-road defense can’t match championship aspirations

The Louisville defense allowed just 322 yards and fewer than 24 points per game last season. But those numbers are somewhat deceptive. They held Deondre Francois and Florida State in check for a resounding 63-20 victory.

But the Cardinals also gave up 42 at Clemson, 36 at Houston, and 41 at home to Kentucky. Derrius Guice gashed the Cardinals defense for 138 rushing yards and touchdowns by run and catch. Even teams like Syracuse, Marshall and Virginia were able to put up 25 or more points on Louisville’s defense.

Louisville was great at stripping the football and picking off passes. They were also decent at restricting opponents’ opportunities to gain yardage both on the ground and through the air. But when opponents got into the red zone, they almost always put points on the board. While teams didn’t gain a lot of yards through the air against the Cardinals, they did gain yards efficiently.

That defense lost starters at every level, including safety Josh Harvey-Clemons. Harvey-Clemons was Washington’s seventh-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. Also gone are defensive tackle DeAngelo Brown and linebackers Devonte’ Fields and Keith Kelsey. New defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon will have to get new players up to speed quickly to fill the gaps in the two-deep.