Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Photo by Seth Bloom. Fitted

Louisville vs. Duke Quick Postgame Thoughts

Chris PersonOctober 14, 2016

** A win is a win. Albeit, this one wasn’t so great and give Duke a lot of credit for this as they really had great play-calling and execution. Their offense focused around a lot of gimmicky plays which is one of the only ways they could have kept this game close.

** Lamar’s accuracy and decision making were really a sore spot in this game. Yes, I am being critical of the Heisman frontrunner but expectations are very high and I don’t think the passing game looked good at all (minus the throw to Seth Dawkins).

** Brandon Radcliff and Jeremy Smith ran the ball extremely well and I feel there should have been more of a focus on establishing a consistent run game (Radcliff’s fumble was VERY costly, though). Going forward I really think Smith needs to continue to receive a good chunk of the carries and despite Jackson being such an electric playmaker, utilizing the backs to take some of the load off Lamar.

** Louisville’s defensive line really struggled this game. There was virtually no pressure, which was part Grantham’s less aggressive play-calling and part Duke doing their best to negate the run. Also, Louisville’s line was getting blown off the line of scrimmage by Duke’s o-line which could partly be due to Duke’s time of possession.

** This was about as low energy of a game I have seen the Louisville team play with and the crowd really didn’t do much better. Everything just seemed off. It was sloppy, it was boring, and it was frustrating.

** I absolutely despise writing this. I tried not to, but I have to. These refs the past couple games have made some TERRIBLE calls. That is all I will say about that.

** I’m going to be honest, writing about this game is very difficult. I will try to watch some film this week and break it down a little more as it can be quite difficult to see things from up in the stands. I will say this and if you take nothing else away from this post, please listen to this. It isn’t the end of the world by any means. Lamar is still the Heisman frontrunner, Louisville is still in a great position, and the team we saw prior to this game will be back. You can count on it.