Bio Blast: Louisville Cardinals

Kentucky (4-7, 1-7) will return to Lexington and play in their eighth home game for Senior Day on Saturday. The program’s eight-year bowl streak has been snapped, but there is still plenty to play for in the final game of the season.

Jeff Brohm‘s second Louisville team isn’t in ACC title cotention but the Cardinals (7-4, 5-3) again posted a winning season in conference play and are just two victories away from a consecutive nine-win season and top 25 finish. Bowl projections have this program going to Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl. Despite having zero wins in the Governor’s Cup series since 2017, this program will enter this game as the betting favorite for the third time in four seasons.

There are stakes for both sides in this rivalry. Louisville enters this game with an electric offense, leaky defense, and a roster filled with former transfers.

KSR’s Bio Blast takes a closer look at the Cards.

Another transfer-heavy roster at Louisville

Scott Satterfield originally started the transfer portal movement at Louisville as this program loaded up in free agency prior to the 2022 season. That led to a 7-5 finish. The transfer usage has only increased under Jeff Brohm.

Louisville has decided to mostly punt on high school recruiting under Brohm. This is a portal program that places a lot of value on building a team through free agency.

Louisville has played 23 players more than 100 snaps on defense. The Cards added 11 of those players to the roster from the portal in the offseason. Louisville has played 21 players more than 100 snaps on offense. The Cards added 10 of those players to the roster from the portal in the offseason.

This is a program with multiple starters in the secondary, multiple starters on the offensive line, and plenty more high-level contributors who were all playing for someone else last year. That’s not even counting former transfers like starting safety M.J. Griffin (Temple), starting cornerback Quincy Riley (Middle Tennessee), and tackle Trevonte Sylvester (Houston).

Louisville is built via free agency.

Clear star power on offense

The win number has decreased, but the offensive production has increased for Louisville in year two under play-calling head coach Jeff Brohm. The Cardinals rank No. 8 in yards per play, No. 12 in EPA/play, No. 21 in points per drive, and No. 22 in success rate. Louisville has accomplished this while facing three top-25 defenses (Notre Dame, Clemson, and SMU) in ESPN’s SP+ rankings.

This offense is on the verge of hitting the triple crown with a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher, and 1,000-yard receiver.

Texas Tech transfer Tyler Shough owns a 63.3 percent completion rate with 3,067 passing yards on 8.3 yards per attempt. The super senior is averaging 8.3 yards per attempt and ranks No. 10 nationally in completions of 20-plus yards (47).

Alabama transfer Ja’Corey Brooks leads Louisville in targets (93), receptions (61), receiving yards (1,013), and receiving touchdowns (nine). The former top-50 recruit ranks No. 4 nationally in receptions of 20-plus yards (19).

True freshman Isaac Brown leads Louisville in carries (121), rushing yards (896), and rushing touchdowns (nine). The South Florida native has rushed for over 100 yards four times this season highlighted by a career-high 151 yards on 20 carries in the upset win over Clemson. Brown looks like a future star. Fellow true freshman Duke Watson has rushed for 410 yards on over eight yards per rush.

Louisville has upgraded on offense thanks to a good transfer portal haul and some instant hits in high school recruiting. This will be the fourth top-15 offense that Kentucky has faced this season.

Glitchiness on defense

Louisville’s offense leveled up this season, but the defense under second-year defensive coordinator Ron English has taken a step back. Despite having some clear star power returning and loading up in the transfer portal, there have been some bad moments for this group.

Five power conference opponents have scored 27 points or more against Louisville this season. Miami and Clemson each rushed for over 200 yards. Georgia Tech, Virginia, Miami, and Stanford each passed for over 300 yards.

The defense enters Week 14 ranked No. 61 in EPA/play allowed (-0.01), No. 72 in points per drive allowed (2.31), and No. 110 in red zone touchdown percentage (67.74%). Louisville does not have any glaring weaknesses, but there aren’t really any clear strengths, and there have been some bad moments in situational football throughout the season.

An argument can be made that this is the worst power conference defense that Kentucky has faced this year.