Louisville bounced back from a heart-breaking loss to Florida State, by thrashing South Florida 41-3.

Even in a lopsided game, there are things to note and point out, so here are three takeaways from what we saw on Saturday afternoon.

South Florida isn't some over-arching formidable opponent by any stretch of the imagination, but there are some really positive developments from Louisville's defensive performance.

USF came into the game against Louisville averaging over 200 yards per game on the ground. Louisville's defense held the Bulls to 48 rushing yards, and only 1.4 yards per rush. Additionally, Louisville held South Florida to 2.5 yards per play.

Louisville's defensive line and front seven continue to cause havoc behind the line of scrimmage. Louisville racked up nine tackles for loss and three sacks. A big part of Louisville's success in that department is the improvement of YaYa Diaby. Diaby has doubled his tackles for loss compared to last season --- already.

Louisville is now 13th in the country in sacks per game.

Miami transfer Dee Wiggins went down with a season-ending injury in last week's loss to Florida State, which made an already thin position group even thinner. Louisville moved Ahmari Huggins-Bruce outside some to offset the loss of Wiggins, but two reserves showed that they can make plays.

Local product Jaelin Carter was just put on scholarship this year, and the Eastern Kentucky transfer is going to get opportunities. Carter made a spectacular diving-catch in the end zone and looks to be more than capable of playing meaningful snaps.

True freshman Chris Bell didn't see the field until the game was well out of hand, but he looked the part when he did get reps. Bell showed off his physicality by making a contested grab along the sideline and then showed what he can do after the catch.

Louisville's coaching staff should feel confident giving Carter and Bell more looks as the season progresses.

Louisville's special teams have quietly improved, and that needs to be talked about. Punter Mark Vassett has been extremely reliable, and he was once again on Saturday. Vassett averaged over 44 yards per punt against South Florida, and is in the top 10 nationally in punting average. Vassett and the Louisville punt team also didn't allow hardly anything in the return game as USF only managed 11 yards on punt returns.

James Turner has done what he's needed to do as well. Turner was 2-of-2 on field goals, connecting from 29 and 25 yards.

Brock Travelstead has been consistent kicking off, too. USF only brought out two of Travelstead's kickoffs, and the only decent return was in garbage time where Louisville was rotating backups.

The offense put up 41 points and the defense nearly pitched a shut out, but don't forget about special teams.