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Louisville Football: What’s a realistic outcome for Cardinals in 2019?

By Michael McDaniel

CLEMSON, SC - NOVEMBER 03: Jawon Pass #4 of the Louisville Cardinals drops back to pass against the Clemson Tigers during their game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
CLEMSON, SC - NOVEMBER 03: Jawon Pass #4 of the Louisville Cardinals drops back to pass against the Clemson Tigers during their game at Clemson Memorial Stadium on November 3, 2018 in Clemson, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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LOUISVILLE, KY – NOVEMBER 24: Lynn Bowden Jr #1 of the Kentucky Wildcats runs with the ball while defended by C.J. Avery #9 of the Louisville Cardinals on November 24, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY – NOVEMBER 24: Lynn Bowden Jr #1 of the Kentucky Wildcats runs with the ball while defended by C.J. Avery #9 of the Louisville Cardinals on November 24, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

Let’s discuss the defense, shall we?

Boy, it was ugly last year.

We just broke down how bad the offense was for Louisville, but somehow, the defense found a way to be even worse.

The Cards could not stop a nosebleed under Brian VanGorder. As Ethan Moore of 93.9 The Ville recounted on Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast, Louisville played a “swiss cheese defense, holes everywhere.”

The numbers certainly back that assessment up.

  • Louisville ranked 128th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 44.1 points per game.
  • Louisville ranked 127th against the run, giving up 277.3 yards per game.

The defense was ironically, 40th, against the pass, yielding 206.3 yards per game. It doesn’t look too terrible on paper, but when considering that the opposition did most of their damage on the ground, this statistic in particular needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

That’s the bad news, and there was plenty of it a season ago. The good news is that most of the defense was very, very young. The Cardinals return nine starters from last year, and many of those players enter the year as juniors and seniors.

It’s hard to get much worse than what the defense was last season, so improvement should be expected almost by default. In addition, the trials and tribulations of last season will help many of these young players on the defensive side of the football heading into this year, where the offense should be better and will allow the defense a bit of a longer leash.

It is not expected that things will be drastically better, but under a new coaching staff, the effort should be there, which will go a long way towards improving, at the very least, how this thing will look for many Louisville fans this year.

The strength of the defense is in the linebacking corps, where C.J. Avery, Dorian Etheridge, and Rodjay Burns all return. Having the heart-and-soul back in the middle of the defense should help a great deal, but don’t expect this side of the football to be any better than middle-of-the-pack in the ACC.

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