Louisville Cardinals (2-5, 1-5 ACC)

Head Coach: Scott Satterfield (61-34, 10-10 at UL)

Series: UL leads the all-time series 5-3

Last Meeting: Louisville defeated UVa 28-21 at Cardinals Stadium last year

Performance: Louisville needed a lot of work when Satterfield took over before last season, but the improvement has been evident since the beginning of last season. The Cardinals averaged 33.1 points per game last year, a staggering 14 points per game improvement from the year prior. This season the offense hasn’t been quite as effective but Louisville still has weapons all over the field that are more than capable of putting up a significant number of points in a hurry.

The offense is now averaging 29.4 points per contest and 6.6 yards per play. Despite a 2-5 record, the Cards have scored 30+ points in four of their seven games. They are relatively average on 3rd down, converting 42 percent of their attempts (55th nationally). In the red zone, Louisville ranks 28th nationally with 24 scores on 26 tries, but the touchdown rate is below 70 percent, meaning the Cardinals have to settle for field goals far more often than they would like. Their offense is built on creating big plays and they have been successful at doing that this season. They rank No. 8 nationally in plays of 20+ yards (45), and 6th in 40+ yard plays (12).

Louisville is capable of making headway on the ground or through the air, but the run game is its primary strength. The Cards average 5.1 yards per carry and have 1,296 yards and 12 touchdowns on the year. Only Notre Dame held them under 100 yards rushing, and they have three 200+ yard rushing performances on the year, including a 291-yard, four-touchdown game a few weeks ago against Florida State.

Through the air, starter Malik Cunningham is completing 63.4 percent of his throws in his second full year as QB1. Cunningham’s 15 TDs to eight INTs ratio is solid, and the junior signal caller is averaging just under 250 passing yards per game.

Scheme: Louisville has quite a bit of skill talent on offense and its scheme emphasizes that ability by creating favorable matchups. The offense runs a lot of pistol and shotgun sets that allow the Cardinals to run a few basic looks off of those alignments. The staple of their scheme is their run game and out of the pistol they will hand the ball off between the tackles often, occasionally on stretch plays, and also counter runs.

This play is a counter run to star back Javian Hawkins, who takes it the distance for a 75-yard touchdown.

As they did on the play above, the Cards like to use pre-snap lateral motion with wide receivers as a misdirection in their running game, but also to open up other opportunities. They aren’t afraid to hand the ball off on a jet sweep, or use the motion to set up play action or standard passing looks. Receiver Tutu Atwell is the player most often used in motion and is one of the nation’s most dangerous weapons in open space.

On this play against Miami, Atwell takes a handoff and uses his speed to elude the first would-be tackler, and eventually pick up a first down.

Operating out of the pistol also allows Louisville to do a lot of creative quarterback runs, using read-option looks. Cunningham is a dual-threat quarterback with 220 yards and three touchdowns on the ground this season. He also rushed for 97 yards and a score on 11 carries against UVa last year.

On this play, he fakes the draw handoff and rolls out to the flat before running in for the score. Louisville will also run plays that look like this with an option pitch man alongside, giving the defense one more element to defend in space.

Louisville’s passing game is set up off of the run action, which can be seen on the play below. This touchdown throw from Cunningham combines a few of the concepts illustrated above, with Atwell going in motion and a fake draw baiting defenders. Cunningham has an easy throw to the flat off of the motion and fake, leading to a walk-in touchdown.

Finally, when Cunningham has time to throw he is capable of hitting deep down the field. And Virginia’s ability to get pressure could have a major impact on whether or not these deep shots work.

When pressured, he completes just 34.5 percent of his passes with three touchdowns and five interceptions. When he isn’t pressured, Cunningham has completed more than 66 percent of his throws for more than 1,000 yards, with eight touchdowns and three interceptions.

The play below is a great example of what Cunningham can do when he has time. This is a play-action look out of the pistol, with Atwell running a deep post. He easily beats FSU’s zone coverage, making a catch deep down the field resulting in a touchdown.

RB Javian Hawkins

Louisville’s star running back is one of the best in the conference and in the nation. Now a sophomore, Hawkins has rushed for 822 yards and seven touchdowns, averaging more than 6.2 yards per carry. He has hit a bunch of big plays this year, so Virginia’s ability to slow him down at the line of scrimmage will be key. In last year’s meeting, Hawkins rushed 28 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns against the Wahoos.

WR Tutu Atwell

After seeing a bunch of them already this season, Atwell is the latest dangerous receiver that the Cavaliers will have to contend with. On the season, he leads the Cards with 40 catches, 528 yards, and five touchdowns. Virginia’s defense should need no reminder of Atwell’s ability, however, having allowed him to go for 142 yards and a long touchdown on six catches in the Derby City last fall.

Performance: While the Cardinal offense is potent and has kept them in many games, the defense has often held them back. Louisville has allowed 29.6 points per contest and has surrendered 40+ points on three occasions. The Cards have put together a few decent defensive performances, holding Pitt to 23 points in a close loss and just 12 points to Notre Dame in a 12-7 slugfest. But opponents are having little trouble moving the ball against them most of the time and it has led to some sloppy performances.

Opponents are rushing for 5 yards per carry when facing UL, scoring 15 touchdowns and racking up 1,407 yards. Through the air, opponents haven’t been quite as successful but the numbers aren’t skewed hard in Louisville’s favor, either. The defense has allowed 1,362 yards through the air on the season, with 10 touchdowns.

One of Louisville’s biggest issues has been its inability to create turnovers. Opponents have thrown just two interceptions on the season, one coming in the loss to Pitt and the other in a blowout win over Florida State. Fumbles haven’t come easy, either. Their opponents have coughed the ball up six times on the year but the Cardinals have recovered just two of them.

Scheme: Louisville’s defense runs a 3-4 scheme in the second season under defensive coordinator Bryan Brown. The defense features linebackers that can really move around the field and almost have defensive back traits playing a different position. And that shows in where their production comes from as well. Louisville’s top four tacklers are all LBs, led by C.J. Avery (51) and Rodjay Burns, a former defensive back (36).

Having smaller, quicker linebackers allows Louisville to use these players dropping back into coverage, but also get after the quarterback with creative blitzes. The Cardinals have 16 sacks in seven games played, which is middling, but seven of them have come in the last three games.

Like the Cavaliers, they create a lot of pressures off the edge, and athletic linebackers Dorian Ethridge and Monty Montgomery lead the team in tackles for loss, with 16.5 combined.

LB CJ Avery

Avery is Louisville’s top defender and will need to be accounted for on all plays tomorrow. The senior linebacker is far and away the team’s leader in tackles with 51 after recording a team-high 93 stops last year. Avery also has five tackles for loss to his credit and two sacks as well. He can play the pass too and recorded an interception this year in the loss at Pittsburgh.

LB Monty Montgomery

Montgomery is reportedly ready to return for the Cardinals this weekend, having missed the game two weeks ago against Virginia Tech. Had UVa and Louisville squared off last weekend as expected, he probably wouldn’t have been available. Having Montgomery back would be a huge win for the Cards. On the season, he has recorded 33 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, with four sacks and one QB hurry.