Perhaps the largest complaint Louisville football fans have had about the first half of the Cardinals’ 2021 season has been defensive coordinator Bryan Brown’s reluctance to bring more than three pass rushers, particularly on third downs.
In razor thin losses the last two weeks to Wake Forest and Virginia, the U of L defense was woeful on third downs, allowing its opponents to convert on a whopping 19 of 29 opportunities. On several of those plays, a slight and ineffective Cardinal pass rush allowed the opposing quarterback to calmly spend several seconds in the pocket before finding an open receiver to pick up the conversion.