By Derek DeBurger

Louisville will have easily their toughest test of the Jeff Brohm-era when they travel down to South Beach to take on the No. 2 Miami Hurricanes.

Generational

Miami has fielded a potent offense this season led by one of the best offensive lines in recent memory.

Miami’s O-line has given up only six sacks, with several of them in garbage time. In the run game the big uglies are getting a staggering 4.5 yards per attempt.

Louisville has a good counter to the Canes’ O-line in the third ranked front seven by Pro Football Focus. The Cards have a pressure rate of 41%, and they’ll need to keep that up to make Carson Beck uncomfortable. The Georgia-transfer is off to a great start, averaging over 200 yards and two touchdowns a game.

His top target has been receiver Malchi Toney. The freshman phenom leads the team by over 100 yards with 375 yards on the year and adds three touchdowns.

CJ Daniels leads his team with five scores through the air, but only four receivers have touchdowns on the season.

Typically when the Canes get into goal-to-go situations, they lean on Mark Fletcher Jr. and the ground game. Miami as a team has a total of 12 rushing touchdowns on the year, again showing the dominance of the O-line.

It will be easier said than done, but Louisville is going to have to live in the backfield to try and slow down the Miami offense.

Sure fire

While the Cards may have the third ranked front seven, Miami holds the tops spot.

Leading the nation’s best unit is Rueben Bain Jr., an obvious future-NFL player and the highest graded defender nationally by PFF.

Bain may only have good-not-great stats—26 tackles and two sacks—but he impacts every play he’s on the field for.

Opposite him is Akheem Mesidor, who is another dominant pass rusher. He leads Miami with 3.5 sacks.

Louisville’s O-line has been one of the worst in power football, there’s no way around it. Their ability to play above their mean will make or break Louisville’s chances.

Brohm has begun to call more spread looks to take some pressure off Miller Moss, but the lack of effectiveness in the run game has stifled the potential of the Cardinals offense.

To make matters worse, every major running back has missed time due to injury, with Duke Watson already being ruled out.

On his coach’s show Tuesday, Brohm said there would likely be two quarterbacks to receive snaps Friday. That second quarterback is almost certainly Deuce Adams, as he brings something different to the table than Moss. Adams doesn’t have any real game experience, so how he’ll react to such a situation is a complete mystery.

But looking at the positives, he is the most athletic QB on the roster by a mile. He has a canon for an arm and the ability make plays with his legs. He will probably be in for run-based packages, but don’t be surprised to see him take a deep shot down the field.

Against Clemson a season ago the Cards O-line did a high number of chop blocks to negate their dangerous pass rush. Louisville might have to do that to give Moss time against Miami, but he’ll need to remain calm and make quick, decisive decisions if this is the approach taken.

Louisville will have a tough uphill battle. But if big game Brohm can show up, the Cards might be staring down the biggest upset in program history.

Photo by Harrison Plank / The Louisville Cardinal