Louisville's Defense Deserves Some Respect

After hanging with Notre Dame well into the fourth quarter, and after a complete dismantling of the Eastern Kentucky Colonels, there is plenty for fans and critics to chew on and dissect. While most conversations have centered around the quarterback battle and whether or not Puma Pass has what it takes to lead Louisville this season, there has strangely been very little talk about the vast improvement Louisville’s defense has made.

For a unit that drew such ire ever since the 2016 Houston game (nightmare fuel), the defense hasn’t gotten enough praise for just how far they have come. We all thought Peter Sirmon was bad. We had no idea it could possibly get any worse until it did. We are not even 12 months removed from Georgia Freaking Tech hanging 66 on us. Yes, the same Georgia Tech that until this year ran the same offense Rutgers ran against Princeton in 1869.

I am not sure that we’ll ever be able to fully wrap our heads around just how horrendous last year’s defense was. This is usually where I would bombard y’all with a bunch of stats and data to try and illustrate just how gross the defense was last year, but none would do any justice. The best example that comes even remotely close to explaining whatever the hell last year’s defense was is this: If every touchdown that Louisville’s opponents scored last year were only able to count as field goals, Louisville still would have lost half of their games.

Let that marinate for a second. Even if Alabama, Virginia, Clemson, Syracuse, N.C. State, and Kentucky were only allowed to score field goals, they still would have won by an average of 12 points.

One day someone will write a book on the curse that is Brian VanGorder, but today is not that day. Instead, I choose to relish in the dramatic improvement that UofL’s defense has made in roughly 9 short months.

Right out of the gate, against CFP Semifinalist Notre Dame, the defense showed signs of life that we hadn’t seen in years. The defense held Heisman candidate Ian Book to just 14 of 23, less than 200 yards, and a QBR of 76.8. Since the game ended, Ian Book’s Heisman odds have dropped from 30/1 to 50/1.

The defense, which ranked 104th in the nation last year in 3rd down defense (34.84% stop rate), stopped Notre dame on 7 of 12 3rd downs, good enough for a 58% stop rate. And 3 of Notre Dame’s 5 conversions came on their last scoring drive late in the 4th quarter when the defense was finally showing signs of exhaustion.

While UofL still struggled to stop Notre Dame’s run game, which ranked 21st in ypc last year, there were still too many signs of improvement name. What happened this last Saturday against EKU was even more impressive in some ways.

Let’s get this clear, EKU is still EKU, but any college football defense being able to pitch a shut out on 4-days-rest is remarkable. Satterfield was not alone last week when he expressed his fears of a let down performance due to a short week after such a physical season opener. But the defense stepped up and held the Colonel’s stable of running backs, who had rushed for 333 net yards the week before, to just 130 yards on a hefty 43 attempts.

Though Louisville has only played two games against vastly different opponents, the signs of improvement are so exciting for so many different reasons. Louisville’s SP+ defense efficiency rating has already improved from 102nd at the end of last year to 56th, which ranks ahead of teams like Kentucky, Texas, and Miss St. To think that this defense could potentially be the breadwinning side of the ball after the hell they went through last year is absurd, but it’s very possible. I’m trying to tell you all that it’s safe to be excited about this defense and no amount of jinxing can possibly come close what BVG did to us last year.

So go celebrate, be excited, and get behind this defense, because God knows they deserve it.