Louisville Football: Defense shines in win over Florida State

1. Is that a defense?

The Louisville defense is the reason the Cardinals have had their season take a turn for the worse. Lamar Jackson has shown up week in and week out but he’s had to score touchdowns in bunches. With Jackson doing what he does on the offense it’s not like he needs a lot of help. The Cardinals have scored at least three touchdowns in every game this season.

Entering their Week 8 game against Florida State the Cardinals’ defense ranked 10th in the ACC against the run (148.6 yards per game), 12th against the pass (231.9 yards per game) and 11th in scoring defense (29.6 points per game). There wasn’t any part of the Louisville defense that had found consistent success so far this year.

The struggling Florida State offense was the jolt in the arm that this team needed. The Cardinals forced three turnovers and won the line of scrimmage and the battle in the secondary. Louisville finished right on their season averages on defense this week. They allowed 155 rushing yards 248 passing yards and 28 points.

This isn’t the Clemson defense or even NC State, but it’s better, and that’s a step in the right direction. If they aren’t going to limit the yardage, they need to take the ball away. That worked against the Noles on Saturday.