Louisville football: 3 takeaways from exciting win over Georgia Tech

Friday was a day of new beginnings, both on and off the field. Early in the day, it was confirmed that the ACC will be adding Stanford, Cal, and SMU to its ranks. The AFLAC Kickoff Game featured two coaches starting their first full seasons with their new programs at Georgia Tech and Louisville football.

As the first half came to a close in Atlanta, it looked like Georgia Tech may run away with the game. They had a 28-13 lead heading into the break and all the momentum in the world. Jeff Brohm’s Louisville football team didn’t quit, however, cutting the Yellow Jacket lead to just five points entering the fourth quarter.

Louisville took the 29-28 lead with 8:08 remaining, and they would never give it back. Haynes King and Georgia Tech looked as though they may have a counter-punch in them, but the Louisville defense put a stop to that, forcing a fumble after a huge Dezmond Tell sack.

A couple of plays later, Jawhar Jordan took the rock to the house on a 74-yard scoring run to put Louisville ahead 36-28 with 3:41 remaining, and a Brock Travelstead field goal with 2:37 put the game out of reach at 39-28.

Tech didn’t quit, finding the end zone with 1:07 to bring the score to 39-34, but it was too little, too late. Louisville retrieved the onside kick and hung on to take home the victory in an exciting Friday night affair in the ACC.

What’d we learn?

1. Louisville squashed Haynes King’s coming-out party

This game featured two programs that obviously have a ton of room to grow as their new coaches attempt to rebuild. For both Georgia Tech and Louisville, you could look at this game and poke a plethora of holes in their performances.

There were plenty of positive signs for each team, however. None was more positive than the play of Yellow Jacket quarterback Haynes King. He got off to a hot start, finishing the first half 10-of-15 for 206 yards and two touchdowns.

His play had many looking back at his former coach Jimbo Fisher and wondering how he couldn’t get the same production out of King.

It was a crowning night for the new Yellow Jacket quarterback until he was sacked by Dezmond Tell late in the fourth. The free rusher from King’s blind side ruined what was shaping up to be a game-winning drive for King and Co.

Still, even with the disappointing ending, it was an encouraging night for the Georgia Tech offense. They have a passer they can rely upon to make big plays and move the ball down the field. That’s more than a lot of Tech teams in recent years can say.

2. Georgia Tech’s defense has to improve

As Brent Key begins his first full year as Georgia Tech’s head coach, there was a whole lot to be excited about on Friday night. They made some big plays offensively, where they put their speedsters to use taking advantage of big Louisville mistakes.

However, there was also no shortage of mishaps from the Yellow Jackets on the defensive side of the ball. Their Friday night performance featured several blown coverages and running lanes left open for Louisville to take advantage of.

Georgia Tech has talent at spots, but they aren’t elite up and down the roster. For them to compete against a schedule that includes Georgia, Ole Miss, Clemson, and North Carolina, Brent Key’s team will have to eliminate so many of these mistakes.

Before halftime, Tech had a chance to make this game 31-13. Instead, they let a mistake-ridden Louisville team get back into this contest. The Yellow Jackets were in a position to put this game away, but blowing this lead, and this game, showed just how tall a task Key still has in front of him.

3. Even in a win, Louisville football made too many mistakes

Jeff Brohm talked about the Cardinals’ mental mistakes during his interview between the first and second quarters. Immediately after that, a Louisville defensive lineman was late onto the field, and then a Haynes King swing pass to Jamal Haynes went for 46 yards all the way down to the Louisville 12-yard line. The Yellow Jackets found the end zone just a few plays later.

There were multiple drops from Cardinal receivers and multiple misses from Jack Plummer. An especially egregious one came with 2:08 left in the first half. Georgia Tech had just gone up 21-13, and the momentum sat entirely with Brent Key’s team. On 3rd-and-8, Plummer threw a pass that was intended for Jimmy Calloway, but instead found the turf a couple yards in front of the receiver.

On the following drive, King found Chase Lane on a tunnel screen for a 48-yard touchdown pass, putting the Yellow Jackets up 28-13 heading into halftime. Even worse, it could have been 31-13 after a Plummer interception set up Georgia Tech with a chance to kick a 54-yarder as the clock expired on the second half.

Early in the third, Louisville had a chance to regain the momentum, finding themselves in a goal-to-go situation. On first down, tailback Isaac Guerendo ran into the back of his right guard. On second down, Plummer missed an open Nate Kurisky in the end zone. The third down play call was either a designed run for Plummer or an ill-advised scramble that got nowhere. The Cardinals had to settle for a field goal.

All night long, sequences like that made this game so much harder than it needed to be for Louisville. Brohm’s squad fields the more talented roster, according to recruiting rankings, but they didn’t look the part for large chunks of time on Friday night.