Louisville Football: 3 reasons the Cardinals will struggle in 2020

2. Pass defense could be far from stellar again

Louisville’s pass defense again ranked among the worst in the nation a year ago. The Cardinals allowed an average of 250.2 yards per game through the air a year ago, which placed 96th in the nation and fourth-worst in the ACC.

The Cardinals 2019 secondary actually was significantly worse than the group from 2018 despite a 2-10 record. Louisville’s 2018 pass defense allowed 221.6 yards per game, which ranked 53rd in the nation. Thus, the team allowed nearly 30 additional passing yards per game despite a six-game improvement in the win column.

Part of their struggles were due to their inability to pick off passes. The Cardinals grabbed just seven interceptions and did not have a single player snag multiple.

Some of their worst performances included allowing 423 passing yards and five touchdown passes to Wake Forest, 382 passing yards to Florida State and 304 passing yards and four touchdowns against Boston College.

Perhaps the silver lining that could help the Louisville pass defense improve in 2020 is continuity.

Chandler Jones, who made a team-high 10 pass breakups, Anthony Johnson, who had six pass breakups, and Russ Yeast, who had four, will be back and look to improve with experience.

If that experience does lead to improvement, Louisville’s secondary has the potential to be just fine. If not, it could be a real weak link, especially with Trevor Lawrence, Ian Book, Terry Wilson and Hendon Hooker all set to challenge the pass defense.