Louisville's Defense: Some basic info, but who has seen them & can comment?

[pittpitt]

Lville's offense is unspectacular in every facet, but they win (or at least hang tight with undefeated Clemson and Houston) with their defense.

The basics about that defense:
--They're great at intercepting the ball (15 Ints, 1st in ACC, all 4 DB's are top-10 in picks in ACC)
--They're great at sacking QB's (2.8 sacks/gm, 4th in ACC, within 0.3 sacks/gm of all 3 in front of them)
--They're great at tackles for a loss (7.6 TFL/gm, 3rd in ACC)
--They're great at rush defense (109 yds/gm, 3.1 yds/carry, 2nd in ACC in both)
--Their passing efficiency D is decent (119 rating, 5th in ACC, 39th nationally)
--They're great at total defense (311 yds/gm, #14 nationally just ahead of Iowa)

Their scoring defense is much worse than their total defense, however (22.3 pts/gm, 34th nationally), so I'm guessing the penalties kill them (63 yds/gm, 95th) and having 3 kicks and 1 punt blocked (tied for 98th and 70th) and losing 23 turnovers (117th) and giving up scores on 87% of opponents' trips into the red zone (88th) and giving up 23.9 yards/kick return (107th).

So who has seen Louisville and can flesh out their defense better than me looking up some stats?

 

[PushupMan]

I've seen them a few times ...!

My Cards are tough to run on up the middle. DT Sheldon Rankins (#98) is being projected as a first round pick next year. NT DeAngelo Brown (#97) may also go pro this year. Behind those two is junior MLB Keith Kelsey (#55). He is freed up to make a lot of tackles, and he does. DE Trevon Young (#91) is a great athlete who has capitalized on the attention shown to Rankins and Brown to rack up a bunch of sacks this year.

Teams have had the most success running stretch plays and sweeps on us. Young and the other DE (Devonte Fields #92) have not set the edge particularly well this year. Plus when teams get to the edge, our DBs tackling in space is not nearly to the level of what we had under Coach Strong (more on that in a bit).

There are a few reasons for the interceptions. All of the defensive backs seem to have great hands - very few drops when they are in position to intercept the ball. DC Todd Grantham really drills his defensive backs with many reps in this area. Plus, he has a reputation for being one of the best at disguising coverages, which helps create opportunities.

The DBs are weaker in tackling, which accounts for some big plays given up. Both of Wake Forest's TDs were due to the Wake QB throwing the ball over the CBs head and the safety then missing the tackle (taking the cornerback out of the play in the process).

We do have a low rank in red zone efficiency defense, but we counteract that by allowing a really low number of red zone possessions. So there you go.... We do have a good defense - not the 85 Bears, but definitely still a lot of great players left from when Coach Strong was here.