College Football’s 5th Quarter: 5 reasons Week 6 was awesome
4. Paul Johnson having fun
Love him or hate him, Paul Johnson is one smug dude when the triple option is working. Johnson picked apart Brian VanGorder’s defense as Louisville gave up 66 points to Georgia Tech. The Jackets only needed to throw twice on Friday night to dominate the Cardinals. Johnson’s running game put up 542 yards of rushing offense with eight touchdowns. They carried the ball for a team average of 8.8 yards per rush led by quarterback TaQuon Marshall. Freshman quarterback Tobias Oliver came in and ran for 12.9 yards per carry and two scores as well.
VanGorder had a long history with Johnson having replaced him at Georgia Southern. Some commentary about the triple option was made by VanGorder and Johnson has held a grudge since. The curmudgeonly Johnson usually only flashes a big smile after games where he has a personal stance against the coach across the sideline. This was a 12 year old wound healed with 66 points against the former Notre Dame defensive coordinator who could be going down with the Bobby Petrino ship at Louisville.
Louisville quarterback Jawon Pass actually had a good game behind center averaging 8.5 yards per attempt while throwing two touchdowns and 299 yards. The Cardinals defense ended the night with no sacks and only one tackle for loss while the Jackets defense had a 95-yard interception returned for a touchdown and two sacks on the evening.
It will be an interesting off-season at Louisville as far as Petrino is concerned.