By Derek DeBurger

This Friday, the Louisville Cardinals will travel to Raleigh, N.C. to face the N.C. State Wolfpack at 7 p.m. This will be the Cards’ toughest test thus far into the season. For context, Louisville’s strength of schedule is currently ranked as the 112th toughest in that nation by Jeff Sagarin.

The first big test

Looking closely, Louisville has taken tiny steps forward in each outing this year. This culminated in an offense that looked near perfect against Boston College, but a defense that needs to take another (tiny) step forward for the Cards to keep building. Louisville has struggled to get pressure in the backfield this season. The Wolfpack, however, have one of the worst offensive lines in the ACC which should assist the Cards in getting behind the line of scrimmage.

NC State also has limited firepower in its offensive skill players. The running backs have done next to nothing for the Wolfpack this year leaving quarterback Brennan Armstrong to have to pick up the slack, and then some, on the ground. Armstrong’s targets through the air have also been lacking in production. The Wolfpack’s best threat, highly touted freshman wide receiver Kevin Concepcion, has yet to see his true potential on the field.

The Wolfpack have played three FBS opponents in their first four games. The only game that they were able to put more than 24 points up on the scoreboard was against VMI — the only FCS team on their schedule.

The NC State defense, however, is a completely different story. For years now the Wolfpack have fielded a stout defense, and this year is no exception. There were some key departures from the lineup but the core is still intact led by returning ACC defensive player of the year Payton Wilson. Seemingly the only hole in this defense is the safeties group. Devan Boykin and Sean Brown are first-year starters at the safety positions, so there’s been a bit of a learning curve.

Keys to Victory

The Cards will need to do three things to have a decisive win in Friday’s contest.

First, the defensive front seven needs to pressure Armstrong, forcing tackles for loss, sacks, and errant throws to limit this already ineffective offense. Second, running back Jawhar Jordan needs to get the ground game established early and often to set the tone for the offense, and give balance that needs to be respected by the Wolfpack defense. Finally, quarterback Jack Plummer has to attack the safeties, put stress on them, and force them to make a play.

This is probably the toughest test yet for the Cards this season. Based on how much the team has improved and how lackluster the Wolfpack has looked as of now, it feels like an easy pick for the Cards to improve to 5-0 for the first time since the 2013 season.

Photo Courtesy // Photo by Annabelle Merz, Louisville Athletics