Louisville Defense Presents Similar Challenges that Vanderbilt Exploited

The Kentucky offense got wrecked at Vanderbilt. On the first four possessions, the Wildcats had only 16 total yards. Kentucky could not run the football, mustering only 31 yards on the ground in Nashville.

“That game can’t bleed into this game, if you will, and we’ve got to learn what we learned from that game for us to go play well this week,” said offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan.

At Kentucky, Big Men lead the way. The Wildcats simply got blasted at the line of scrimmage. The hot offense that used tempo to wrack up yards at Kroger Field was nowhere to be found. Vanderbilt brought pressure that blew up plays before they ever had a chance.

This week, Kentucky will face a Louisville foe who has exceeded expectations because of their exceptional defensive front. Clev Lubin, Rene Konga, and Wesley Bailey create havoc for a unit that ranks No. 16 in points per drive and has forced 17 turnovers. Their play in the trenches has helped them win games, particularly the slobber-knocker in September against James Madison.

“I think presentation is different (from Vanderbilt), but definitely Louisville is very aggressive, an in-your-face kind of defense that we have to be able to respond to and do a better job,” Mark Stoops said earlier this week.

“There are things systematically – I don’t care to get into right this minute – but we have handled all of that before. Sometimes, we have done it well, and other times we haven’t. We have to make sure we put a good plan together and be able to execute.”

They say the eye in the sky doesn’t like. The Louisville football coaches saw what worked well for Vanderbilt. Jager Burton and the Kentucky offensive line are preparing to see something similar on Saturday in the Governor’s Cup.

“You never really know what people are going to do, especially this late in the season. You can watch however many games we’ve had up to this point, and then they come out — it’s happened a couple of times this year — and they come out and just run something completely different, something that they saw someone else do that worked,” said the Kentucky center.

“So we’re spending some extra time this week. Me and the guys after this, we’re going upstairs. We’re gonna watch all Louisville games, all that stuff, all their pressure cut-ups, and just try to be ready for stuff that we haven’t been good on in the past, because that’s what people like to do.”

Kentucky’s offense can’t get bogged down away from home. They’re preparing for Louisville to throw the kitchen sink at the Cats, after all, it’s the last game of the year. Can’t hold anything back now.