Two years ago I watched a Louisville football team move the ball almost at will over the first two weeks of the season. Then I watched as Brent Venables completely shut that same offense down as if it didn’t have a returning Heisman winder at quarterback. How did he do it? He spent the game rushing four guys with one of his defensive ends dropping into coverage and blitzing a linebacker. That was it. He was able to spy Lamar Jackson because he didn’t bring an extra guy and they just dominated that game with their defense.
Louisville is much more diverse on offense than they were with Lamar at quarterback but they still rely on play action a lot.