Louisville Defense Knew Pitt Would 'Self-Destruct' on Offense
It’s suffice to say that the Pitt offense has plenty of issues that need corrected, and for the Louisville defense, it knew exactly how to keep the Panthers off the board in the second half.
Going into halftime, Pitt scored 20 points on offense with a pair of explosive touchdown passes from quarterback Eli Holstein to Cataurus Hicks and Raphael Williams to go along with two field goals.
In the locker room, Louisville co-defensive coordinator Ron English told his unit how to defend against Pitt. Those adjustments led to a shut out in the second half.
“What I told them at the halftime, ‘Hey, look man, this is the deal. If they can’t score on a chunk (play), they ain’t scoring because they’re going to self-destruct before they get to the end zone anyway, so let’s just keep the ball inside and in front and not give them chunks,” English said during a press conference Monday.
After a 56-yard pass play by Cataurus Hicks midway through the third quarter, Pitt opted to throw on first-and-goal from the 4-yard line. The Eli Holstein pass was intercepted by Antonio Watts.
While English made the coaching observation, Louisville safety D’Angelo Hutchinson made another one from the field.
“We looked at Pitt and they didn’t want to play anymore. We took that and ran with it,” he said Monday.
In the second half against Louisville, Pitt opened with a three-and-out and then proceeded to throw three interceptions and turn the ball over on downs twice.
Pitt’s offense compiled just 100 total yards of offense in the second half, including 15 yards on the ground. Pitt was 1-of-4 on third downs and 0-for-2 on fourth downs.
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