Alex Donno from Locked On Canes and Dalton Pence from Locke On Louisville break down the key matchups for this Saturday.
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00:00 - Let's talk about key matchups, Dalton.
00:01 And I'll start, 'cause from where I sit,
00:04 I see two teams that love to run the football offensively
00:08 and love to stop the run defensively.
00:10 So like right there, and I can definitely say
00:13 from a Miami point of view,
00:15 how much success Miami can have
00:17 against Louisville's top 10 rushing defense
00:19 against that vaunted front line of the Cardinals
00:22 is really gonna tell the story of the football game.
00:25 That's gonna take pressure off of Van Dyke's shoulders.
00:27 And we also, I don't know how Braum is
00:31 when it comes to injury news,
00:33 'cause Mario Cristobal gives you next to nothing, right?
00:36 Some weeks he'll say, "Oh, this guy,
00:37 he's good to go this week."
00:39 And then we don't see him for another two, three weeks.
00:41 So I am of the assumption that Miami's running back committee
00:45 'cause they really do go by committee,
00:47 is as healthy as they've been in a few weeks,
00:50 because I'm led to believe AJ Allen
00:53 has a good chance of returning this week.
00:55 Mark Fletcher will probably continue
00:57 to carry a heavy load, the true freshman.
00:59 Don Chaney was really good against Florida State.
01:02 So how much success can these guys have
01:05 against Louisville's front?
01:06 And Louisville with talented running backs of their own,
01:08 Miami's got a top seven rushing defense.
01:11 If they can try to force Jack Plummer
01:14 to try to win the game,
01:15 I think on both sides of the football doltan,
01:17 matchups like that could end up deciding this one.
01:19 - Yeah, for sure.
01:22 And I think one aspect of this,
01:25 and it's been a talking point
01:26 over the past couple of weeks for Louisville,
01:28 it was definitely shown last Thursday against Virginia,
01:32 is the health of Jawar Jordan.
01:35 Jawar has been battling a hamstring issue
01:38 over the past couple of games.
01:40 It held him out against Pittsburgh, all but two carries.
01:44 Got a little bit healthier in the bye week,
01:46 had some solid performances against Duke and Virginia Tech,
01:50 but showed that he's still not 100% against Virginia.
01:54 Looked a step slow, and that's one of his main features
01:57 is that electric speed that I can score
02:01 every time I touch the football type talent.
02:04 That's gonna be the main thing to focus on here.
02:06 I still think that regardless of who they come in against,
02:10 the focus is gonna be the same with either Jordan,
02:13 Isaac Grendel, Maurice Turner, a combination of the three.
02:16 That's to try to set the tone,
02:18 build the pass off of the run.
02:21 Now that is where things get a little bit tricky though,
02:23 because that is my biggest matchup,
02:25 is Jack Plummer against this defense.
02:29 Plummer, if you ask a lot of Louisville fans,
02:31 Plummer is a game manager.
02:34 And there's nothing wrong with a quarterback
02:36 that doesn't lose you games.
02:39 I mean, Louisville's nine and one.
02:40 You can't really complain too much.
02:42 He's top five in passing yards.
02:43 But I think if you asked a lot of people,
02:45 the ceiling of the team is sort of limited
02:47 with him as the quarterback.
02:49 The downfield accuracy has been an issue.
02:52 The hesitancy with reads here and there.
02:56 Going up against,
02:57 I wouldn't necessarily call them a pedestrian passing defense.
03:01 I mean, 66 in the country is not terrible,
03:04 especially when you're top 10 in generating sacks.
03:07 So I think that that's gonna be something for Plummer,
03:09 is being able to go to the pass.
03:12 Because one thing Virginia did, Alex,
03:14 is they laid out the blueprint on how you can beat Louisville.
03:17 You stack the box and force Plummer to beat you.
03:20 Now, granted the Cardinals did what they had to do
03:22 with big plays in the fourth quarter,
03:24 but that's where you start to look
03:25 as they're going up against a better team
03:28 with a very talented front seven.
03:30 There's going to be some pressure on the quarterback.
03:32 How's Plummer going to respond?
03:33 That's the main matchup here for me in this game.
03:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]