Game Day: Louisville vs. Villanova

· Yahoo Sports

October 01 2016: Louisville Cardinals flag team run across the endzone after a touchdown at Memorial Stadium in Clemson,SC. Clemson leads 28-7 over Louisville at halftime. (Photo by Dannie Walls/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

NO. 24 LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (0-1) vs. VILLANOVA WILDCATS (1-1)

Game Time: 7 p.m.

Location: L&N Stadium: Louisville, Ky.

Visit truewildgame.online for more information.

Television: ACC Network

Announcers: Cooper Boardman (play-by-play), Charles Arbuckle (analyst) and Ashley Stroehlein (sideline)

Favorite: Louisville by 37.5

Series History: First Meeting

Statistics:

Depth Chart:

Not released.

Louisville Uniforms:

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Villanova Uniforms:

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Game Day Guide:

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Game Promotions:

Salute to Service
Ville’ns Appreciation

Relevant Videos:

About Villanova:

via Keith Wynne

OFFENSE

Louisville starts their home slate this season on a Friday night against Villanova from the FCS ranks. The Wildcats finished last season 12-3 with a semifinal loss in the FCS playoffs. This season has not started off as well as last year, as they have dropped a game to William & Mary before struggling to beat Bucknell 17-16 this past weekend.

Villanova was one of many teams this offseason that had to plan around a court case to figure out what their roster would look like this season. Pat McQuaide had to battle the Patriot League to play this season, but he was cleared shortly before the first game of the season to lead this offense.

McQuaide is a very good pocket passer who has thrown for over 7,000 yards in his career. He is the key to this offense, and he led the team to a strong finish last season with over 3,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. However, this season has started pretty rough with a three-interception game against William & Mary before bouncing back with a strong performance last week. McQuaide can make all the throws you want from a senior quarterback, but he is not very mobile and can struggle with accuracy at times.

The Wildcats use two running backs who play with a similar style. Isaiah Ragland is listed as the starter for this team, but he shares carries almost evenly with Ja’Briel Mace. Both players are smaller in stature, but Ragland has some size to him at 205 pounds. Mace has shown some power as well, with both backs doing a good job handling things in the Wildcats’ inside running scheme. The Cards will need to have another strong week stuffing interior runs as the Wildcats’ offense uses their running game to unlock their strong play-action passing game.

Nova spreads the ball around in the passing game between three receivers. Jake Hilton is the top target so far this year and stands at 6-5/205. Braden Reed is the most dynamic player in this group, and the offense uses him in different ways. He can make plays down the field as well as take handoffs on jet sweeps and other misdirection plays. While he hasn’t made big plays so far this year, he is the guy I would expect to stress the defense on Friday.

Braden Binkowski is another big outside receiver who the Wildcats like to get the ball to. While this passing game isn’t overly dynamic, they do like to push the ball down the field. Binkowski is averaging 18 yards per catch this season while Hilton is putting up 26 yards per catch. The Cards were beaten deep once last week, and they also gave up another long catch-and-run. It would be good to see the secondary lock down this solid group of receivers.

Villanova has allowed their quarterback all the time in the world to make throws this year. The entire offensive line has only allowed 7 pressures over their two games. For context, UofL had 17 pressures on Trinidad Chambliss on Sunday, and we all saw how rarely he looked rushed. Both running backs have been able to average over 5 yards per carry also, and they have only been stopped for a loss one time. This group has great size, and they play extremely well together. This will be a good test for an improved front seven for the Cards.

DEFENSE

The Villanova Wildcats’ defense has started the year off with mixed results after a rough loss to William & Mary, followed by a strong performance against Bucknell. The defense seemed to struggle with W&M’s mobile quarterback as he extended plays with his legs. This defense plays aggressively, which can bite them in some moments. The Cards will have an opportunity to improve on some of the things that worked against Ole Miss.

Ratu Delano Navoti heads things up for the defensive line at his nose tackle spot. He has two sacks this season with 14 pressures overall. At 6-3/290, he is undersized for his position, but he plays with good quickness, which shows up when he rushes the passer. The Cards will have an opportunity to clear space for the running game if they can control the middle of the line.

Nova is also undersized at defensive end for their 3-3-5 scheme. They don’t have many players over 255 pounds, but that hasn’t been a major issue with their run defense. They are only allowing 2.7 yards per carry on the season, with no big explosive plays allowed in the running game. Ugo Nwotite is the player to watch out of this group. He is a good pass rusher with 7 pressures on only 49 snaps.

The star of this defense is Omari Bursey at linebacker. He leads the team with 29 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss. He does it all for this defense as their best “downhill” defender while also being able to make plays chasing down plays at the second level. Bursey also had a very nice interception against Penn State last year, so this moment won’t be too big for him. It’s a small sample size, but I would not be surprised to see him hit the portal and end up at the FBS level next season.

The Nova secondary has not had a great start to the season. Opposing teams are completing 65% of their passes, with their starting corners being beaten multiple times. Mikey Allen and Newton Essiem will provide the Cards with an opportunity to open up the passing game early after they struggled to start the Ole Miss game. This group has been the weak link in the defense so far.

Motivational Tweets:

There is legitimately nobody tweeting about Villanova football or using the Villanova football hashtags besides the official Villanova team account.

Excitement Level: 8.0

This seems abnormally high for the only non-power conference opponent game of the year, but I’m pumped to see these guys go back to work after the thriller against Ole Miss. First home game of the year, new lights, new intro … we only get six of these this year. Gotta enjoy the moment.

Game Attire: Red Louisville polo

Classing it up a little for the first home game of the season.

Pregame Meal: TBT

Either something quick after radio or something on the fly during the game.

Bold Prediction: Freshman QB Briggs Cherry tosses a touchdown pass

Tough miss last week, so taking an even bigger swing in week two.

Jeff Brohm Tick Play Alert Level: Eggplant (Lower than it’s ever been)

If he does it in this game, I’ll be legitimately pissed.

Predicted Star of the Game: Isaac Brown

Doubling down here. Let’s get some mojo back before SMU.

Notable:

—Louisville has won 26 consecutive games against FCS opponents, with their last loss against an FCS foe coming against Marshall in 1987. Their last loss against a current FCS opponent was a 45-21 loss to Eastern Kentucky in 1985.

—Louisville is 38-7 all-time against FCS opponents.

—Louisville is 71-33-3 all-time in home openers, including 3-0 under Jeff Brohm. The Cards are 20-8 in home openers inside of L&N Stadium.

—Under Jeff Brohm, Louisville is 6-5 in games immediately following a loss.

—Villanova is 4-24 against FBS teams since 1985. The wins have come against Rutgers (2002) and Temple (2003, 2009, 2018).

—Louisville is the fourth AP Top 25 team that the Wildcats have faced since 1985. They are 0-3 in those contests.

—All-time, Villanova is 1-19 agaist teams ranked in the AP Top 25, with the lone win coming against No. 18 Detroit Mercy in 1937.

—Louisville is in the AP Top 25 (No. 24) with an 0-1 record for the first time in program history.

—Louisville had won six consecutive Friday night games before last season’s loss to Clemson. The Cards are 20-14 all-time in Friday contests.

—Louisville has not gone undefeated in home games over an entire season since 2006.

—Under Jeff Brohm, Louisville is 10-2 in games played in the month of September, with both losses (2024 Notre Dame and last week vs. Ole Miss) coming away from L&N Stadium.

—Louisville is 5-1 all-time in games played on Sept. 11. Their most recent appearance on the date was a 30-3 win over Eastern Kentucky in 2021.

—Louisville is 88-38 all-time when playing as a team ranked in the AP Top 25. The Cards are 9-10 in such games under head coach Jeff Brohm.

—This is the 168th week in program history that Louisville has been ranked in the AP poll.

—Louisville is 2-1 all-time in games against current members of the Patriot League. The Cardinals split two contests against William & Mary in 1977 and 1978, and defeated Richmond in 1982.

—Villanova has won double-digit games each of the last three seasons, including a 12-3 mark last year that ended with an appearance in the FCS semifinals.

—Louisville is 5-2 all-time when playing as the 24th-ranked team in the AP poll.

—Louisville is one of just five FBS programs scheduled to play 11 power conference opponents in 2026.

—Louisville is 154-108-6 all-time in games played in the month of September.

—Louisville is one of only seven power conference programs to win at least nine games in each of the last three years.

—Louisville has won 50 consecutive games when shutting out its opponent in the second half.

—Under Jeff Brohm, Louisville is 14-1 in games in which it rushes for 200 yards or more.

—Louisville is one of eight FBS teams to score in every game it has played for the last 26 years, joining Boise State, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska, Southern California, Texas Christian, and Virginia Tech.

—Louisville is 13-1 under head coach Jeff Brohm when it doesn’t commit a turnover, with the lone loss coming last week against Ole Miss.

—Louisville is 17-1 under Jeff Brohm when it wins the turnover battle and 11-12 when it doesn’t.

—Louisville had an 18-game winning streak when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent that was snapped last week against Ole Miss. The Cards committed no turnover while forcing the Rebels into two.

—Louisville is 25-3 over the past five seasons when shutting out its opponent in the first quarter. One of those losses came last week against Ole Miss.

—Louisville has won 39 of its last 44 games when holding teams to less than 300 yards of offense.

—Louisville has won 18 straight games when holding its opponent scoreless in the first half.

—Since 2019, Louisville is 36-5 when winning the turnover battle, and just 8-27 when losing it.

—Louisville is 25-3 under Jeff Brohm when allowing fewer than 30 points.

—Louisville is 210-17 all-time when scoring 35 or more points in a game.

—Louisville is 142-4 all-time when scoring 40 or more points in a game, including an 83-3 mark since 2000. The Cards are 6-124 all-time when allowing opponents to score 40 or more points.

—Louisville is currently riding a consecutive game scoring streak that spans 328 games dating back to a 31-0 loss to Florida State during the 2000 season. The streak ranks as the second longest in the ACC behind only Virginia Tech, and the 8th-longest nationally.

Quotable:

—“I want to see our team compete hard, like this is the Super Bowl. (Villanova)’s the most important game on our schedule. Be dialed in and locked in, focused, and ready to you know play as clean as we can while we’re trying to make plays. And that’s in all three segments.” —Jeff Brohm

—“Nameless, faceless opponent. It’s not who we’re playing, it’s how we’re playing.” —Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante

—“I don’t see too many weaknesses when I watch (Louisville). We only have one game to go off of from this year, but we’re also studying games from last year and looking at schematic things because they have the same coaches. I haven’t found any weaknesses.” —Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante

—”I definitely think we put some things on film that, if we don’t fix, Villanova looks to attack. So, I think our concern would be fixing those things that we busted on and didn’t do our best job on this last week to make sure it’s ready to go into (this) week.” —T.J. Capers

—“From my perspective, from the head coach’s perspective, and that hopefully trickles down through their assistants, I approach every week the same. I approach every season the same. People ask me that all the time, ‘So what do you think about this year?’ Well, one year to the next is never going to be the same. I enter every season, every game the same way, cautiously optimistic. I always feel if we play our brand of football and we play clean and we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot, and we’re not our worst enemy, we’re not the opponent, then I don’t care who we’re playing. I think we can go out there and compete with anybody.” —Villanova head coach Mark Ferrante

—”Doesn’t matter who you play, you can get beat any given day. James Madison came in here and took it to us last year. We found a way to squeak by and win. That’s how the game works. There’s a lot of talent across the country.” —Jeff Brohm

Card Chronicle Prediction: Louisville 44, Villanova 14






















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