CRAWFORD | 3 games, 3 wins, but we're still waiting for a statement from Louisville | Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Three games in, and it feels like we should know more about this Louisville football team. They are unbeaten, yes, but also unverified. And unranked.

They came into the season No. 29 in the Associated Press preseason balloting. Heading into Week 5, they're No. 32 in the AP balloting. I'm not saying they've gone nowhere, but, in a sport that moves fast and reacts even faster, let's say they haven't covered as much ground as expected.

Not that they've done anything wrong. Louisville beat EKU without much trouble. Had more than it expected to turn back James Madison. And it piled up points on Bowling Green without quite raising eyebrows. The team has done what it was supposed to do. What it hasn't done is make a statement.

So, instead of talking about dominance, we're heading into the last game of September talking about what we don't know. And we aren't the only ones.

Louisville coach Jeff Brohm seemed to have some questions of his own heading into the team's ACC opener at Pittsburgh on Saturday.

"I like our team," Brohm said Monday. "I think we've worked hard, we've prepared hard. I think we've had a good plan. We've shown good signs, and we've showed some signs where we need to improve. You know, it's yet to be determined. I think playing good competition, as we're getting ready to, will determine where we're at and what else we need to get better at. But I'm always, deep down, until I get to the game, fearful of losing. So, you've got to prepare."

Louisville quarterback Miller Moss approaches the line before a goal line play in the Cardinals' win over Bowling Green in L&N Stadium.
ERIC CRAWFORD

Maybe that was going to be the story of this season's start, regardless. Once Indiana backed out and Louisville couldn't land Ole Miss or Tennessee for non-conference games, this perhaps was what it was going to be.

But it's still tough to get a handle on a team that lost both top running backs to lower leg bye-week injuries. Brohm said he won't have a good idea of whether Isaac Brown or Duke Watson will be available until later in the week. (Louisville will be required by the ACC to update their status Thursday, Friday and two hours before Saturday's game.)

Miller Moss has completed 66 percent of his passes — but thrown for only two touchdowns and two interceptions in three games. He's been sacked six times. And Louisville hasn't exactly been playing the '85 Bears.

The Cardinals have a preseason All-American at running back in Brown, and he ranks second in the nation at yards per carry with 13. Mysteriously, he carried the ball one time in Louisville's win on Saturday, went 18 yards, then didn't get it again.

And as a team, Louisville ranks No. 76 in rushing offense. In the red zone, Louisville has five touchdowns in 10 trips. That percentage is tied for No. 111 nationally. Only five Power 4 teams have a worse red zone touchdown percentage.

Of course, it's entirely possible that this team will rise to the level of its competition. We've all seen it happen.

"I hope it happens," Brohm said. "This week it's going to have to happen."

He said every year is different. He prefers to have a better test of his team early on, but this is how it went this year.

"Sometimes you have some good early competition that kind of sees where you're at," he said. "And you make adjustments, which is what I like. And other times you ease into it, so to speak, with the level of competition, and now you're getting into conference play. So we've got to just understand that it's going to be a four-quarter game. Every possession matters, how we execute, how we play, the cleanliness of it, and the ability to be crisp. Everything we're doing is important."

In Pittsburgh, Louisville won't face the kind of all-out pressure James Madison brought, but it will face a team that keeps pressure on the quarterback in a variety of ways, loads the box, and brings a number of different blitzes.

A year ago, Louisville played perhaps its best all-around game in a 37-9 win over Pittsburgh in L&N Stadium.

"To be quite honest, we played as good as we could play," Brohm said of that effort. "It was a really well-executed game plan by our guys on both ends. We were able to defeat the blitz early on, which really helped us move the ball and get points. And once we got a lead, which is always important, we were in the driver's position the rest of the way."

Brohm hopes that blueprint unfolds again on Saturday. But hope doesn't beat the blitz. He still needs some answers.

That doesn't mean Louisville isn't a good team. It just means we still don't know. Which, this far into the season, does say something.