Empire Lindy Breaks Down Louisville

1. Defense. Louisville's defense last year was not good, but showed something against Kentucky. Was that a mirage, or has the defense improved that much?

Empire Lindy: From a technique standpoint, you really have to be optimistic about this year’s D unit if you are a Louisville fan. With head coach Ron English coming on board from Michigan, there is an intensity and effort in protecting the end zone that we haven’t seen in Louisville for at least a couple of years. The grain of salt to be taken, however, is that the Cards have yet to play a really good offense and especially a good quarterback. Mike Hartline, who started for Kentucky in that opener, is already sharing snaps with freshman Randall Cobb and could lose his job before SEC play begins. Hartline missed a lot of open receivers in that game and could have made Louisville’s secondary pay for a blown coverage or two. Facing Josh is going to be the first real test of the secondary’s new pass coverage philosophy and ability.

2. Tell us a little bit about Louisville's new defensive coordinator. What kind of schemes does he like to run?

Empire Lindy: Ron English, as many football fans know, was the former defensive coordinator at Michigan before Lloyd Carr retired. After spending three years coaching the UM secondary, he took over as coordinator in 2006 and 2007 and helped the Wolverines rank in the Top 25 in total D both seasons. He is known for a very aggressive style of play and is using a 4-3 look with Louisville, but with the talent drain on his side of the ball it is very difficult to give an accurate assessment of his style. The Cards graduated all three linebackers and the defensive line suffered a critical career-ending injury to Peanut Whitehead (he was a 4-star recruit out of Alabama). One of our DB’s was charged with armed robbery over the summer. Close to 30 players have been dismissed or left since Krag took charge. In short, it’s been a crazy, difficult 18 months for the D unit and really the entire team.

3. Three kick offs out of bounds? Ouch! How will Louisville's kicker improve this week after a rough week versus Tennessee Tech?

Empire Lindy: That’s a really good question and one a lot of Louisville fans would like to know. After having a reliable guy like Art Carmody the past 4 seasons, the Cards are going through some growing pains on special teams while trying to break in a true freshman place kicker. His start has been shaky at best with a field goal and a point after already having been blocked in addition to the kickoff problems you noted. Philpott’s back-up, barefoot K Ryan Payne, actually took over PAT duty in the second half of the Tennessee Tech game, so it will be interesting to see if the coaching staff makes a change at the position. Really, though, the bigger issue for the special teams unit is the punting game. With an offense that has struggled to move the ball, P Cory Goettsche has done the team few favors with his inconsistency. Goettsche has the leg to bomb punts and pin an opposing offense, but also apparently has the narrow foot to shank more than his fair share of attempts. I know the K-State has a very good return unit, so this will be an area to watch when the teams meet.

4. Hunter Cantwell is a pro quarterback by all accounts. But it seems the receiving corps is sorely depleted. What happened? How many of those guys are going to be back?

Empire Lindy: What hasn’t happened to the receiving corps (are you noticing a theme yet?)? The Cards lost their top two receivers from last season in Harry Douglas and Mario Urrutia. Douglas was in a lot of ways like Jordy Nelson to the Cats. He was the guy Brohm relied on in tight spots and must-catch possessions. Urrutia was the deep threat and a guy you could rely on to just throw a jump ball in the corner of the end zone and have him go get it. Losing both of those guys would be more than enough of a challenge to prepare for the 2008 season.

But the really difficult part so far this season is what has happened to the returning starters. Scott Long, Trent Guy, and JuJuan Spillman were all projected as starters during spring ball. Since then, Long has broken his foot and is expected to be out until the UConn game. Trent Guy was shot in the back during a disagreement in a Louisville club in July… he has played both games, but isn’t the same speedster just yet. JuJuan Spillman was a disciplinary casualty of the Kragthorpe program after being arrested for the second time on DUI charges and marijuana possession.

In the absence of these guys, though, we have seen some promise in the emergence of Josh Chichester and Doug Beaumont. Chichester is a 6’8” match-up nightmare for opposing DB’s that could replace Urrutia in a lot of ways as he develops and gains confidence. Beaumont is a 5’9” battler who is unafraid to take on bigger players and fight for the ball… he has won most of those battles to-date and leads the team with 160 yards receiving.

I would add one comment on Hunter as well. A lot of his “pro” accolades were built on being the second fiddle and filling in for three games as a freshman and a sophomore. He barely threw any passes in 2007 and has looked lost so far this season. Folks are already questioning his slow release and ability to put anything out there to a receiver but a 95 mph fastball. The guy is going to have to learn to give his guys a more catchable ball and not lock in on a target as he has shown a tendency to do so far this year. He has the physical skills, but needs to develop more than just a big arm to make it to the next level.

5. What is the status of the offensive line? A couple guys got dinged up last week.

Empire Lindy: The offensive line should be fully intact and ready to go Wednesday. Wood and Bussey, who are our two best linemen, both took a bit of a hit in the Tech game and were held out of the second half. It was more of a precautionary measure, however, as the style of play was a bit discomfited along the line and you could even argue dirty on the Tech side (Wood, who is usually a very cool competitor, got into it twice with a Tech D-lineman after taking offense to his style of play). With the game already out of reach at halftime, there was no reason to keep our best two guys on the field and further elevate any hostilities or risk injury from the style of line play Tech was employing.

6. How tested is your secondary? Who are the standout players K-State should look out for?

Empire Lindy: If our first two games were test, they were on colors and shapes. Simply put, neither of the quarterbacks that Louisville has faced this season are anywhere close to the talent Josh Freeman is going to bring to PJCS. While you have to be pleased with the sure tackling that the corners and safeties showed against Kentucky and Tennessee Tech (they were BAD last season and often allowed much bigger games simply because they couldn’t wrap up a receiver after a short catch), it’s very hard to say how a good QB-WR duo will exploit holes in the coverage or missed assignments deep (Tech burnt us for a long completion when the safety failed to come over the top and help his DB).

As far as who to watch, I have been very impressed so far by the play of S Richard Raglin. He had a big game against Tech, and I would argue was assigned to spy on TTU’s dual-threat RB Henry Sailes. Sailes had accounted for 104 total yards and a TD in the team’s opener, then managed a -6 (yes, that’s MINUS) with Raglin usually harassing, stuffing, and pounding him every time he touched the ball. The kid has always been able to hit, but his sure tackling so far this season has been a nice surprise.

7. Louisville had a big junior college class. Who are some of the guys that are making names for themselves already?

Empire Lindy: The three guys to note are LB’s Jon Dempsey, Antwon Canady, and Chris Campa. All three have shown flashes of promise in the opening two games, with Dempsey starting both and Canady/Campa each getting a start at MLB. Canady was a highlight in an otherwise painful UK game, stuffing the run with several solo tackles right up the gut of the UK O-line. Dempsey was all over the field against the Cats, totaling 9 tackles in his debut and leading the team with 10 so far this season. Campa had a big game against Tech, forcing a fumble and intercepting a pass that set up a Cardinal touchdown in the second quarter.

8. How good is the Louisville run game?

Empire Lindy: It’s better, I think, than it has shown so far this season. The Cards piled up a bunch of yards on TTU last weekend, and were OK against Kentucky, but I believe can and should be much better. From my amateur perspective, it seems like we have not put our runners in the best position to succeed so far this season and haven’t gotten very good run protection from the O-line. We have a big bruiser like Brock Bolen (6’0”, 240lbs) who we are trying to make a feature back and run all over the place instead of giving him the ball on 3rd-and-short and running it right up the gut. Bilal Powell (6’0”, 210lbs) had a fumble early in the Kentucky game that was returned for a score and seemed to shake his confidence. He proceeded to jog out a pair of late kick returns against the Cats and saw little of the field against TTU as a result. Victor Anderson (5’9”, 182lbs) enjoyed a nice day against TTU, but I’m skeptical if he can really be a threat at his current size. It’s one thing to run for 100 yards against a mediocre I-AA team and to do it against a BCS conference foe.

9. Generally, what do you see as the overall strengths and weaknesses of Louisville?

Empire Lindy: The strengths of this team so far this season are definitely in the play of the front seven on defense and the POTENTIAL of the offense. Ron English has brought Louisville a much more technically sound unit that has shown the ability to bring down a runner with a first attempt instead of the arm tackles and big chunks of additional yardage we seemed to witness so much in 2007. Kentucky was supposed to have a very good running game, but we held them to just 63 yards on 33 carries. Offensively, there is promise with Hunter Cantwell under center and a talented trio of running backs in Bolen, Powell, and Anderson. Powell in my opinion HAS to become the go-to back and show the skills he put on display in last year’s season finale against Rutgers (91 yards and a score, all in the second half). Powell has that wiggle that you want to see from your RB and needs to find the confidence he lost with his early fumble against UK.

On the other side, there has to be concern about the special teams play, depth issues, and still-untested secondary. Louisville hasn’t seen a kicker who could really drive the ball into the end zone in years and we give too many good returners too many great opportunities. Deon Murphy and Aubrey Quarles scare the bejesus out of me and will get more than a couple of opportunities to burn our coverage team because of poor punts/kickoffs.

Depth-wise, you are going to feel the impact of losing nearly 30 guys since your new coach came on board 18 months ago. We have talent left over from the Petrino Era and a bit from Kragthorpe’s first two recruiting classes, but injuries at almost any position could absolutely doom an already-shaky season. We just can’t afford to lose a starter like we absorbed the loss of Michael Bush (a Heisman candidate no less) in 2006.

The secondary is a much-maligned unit in recent seasons, one that has been burned by the mediocre likes of Syracuse last year and a run-first Rutgers team in 2006. I’m sure most fans across the country recall the blown coverage against UK that led to their game-winner last year. That kind of gaff has become the norm for the unit in the past couple of seasons and there is little evidence to this point that it won’t be the same with someone like Josh Freeman airing it out. There just isn’t a lock-down corner on the roster that can blanket his man in single coverage. Unfortunately the communication necessary to play zone or bring safety help hasn’t been much better. This, for me, will be one of the most interesting things to watch in next week’s game. I’d like to believe that English – a former secondary and specifically safeties coach – can improve this group more than any other on the defensive side. But until we play a good passing team, this will remain largely unanswered.