Louisville's defense has been its backbone, but Brohm wants more from his base

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For two drives Saturday, Boston College looked like it had cracked a code and hacked into Louisville's defense.

Short passes, moderate gains, inside runs that slipped through the cracks — nothing spectacular, just enough to stay (and stay, and stay) on the field.

It was football by 1,000 paper cuts. And Louisville's base defense was the papier-mâché. The Eagles ran 23 plays in the first quarter. Louisville ran three. Boston College scored on its fist two drives and led 10-7.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

This is Jeff Brohm's dilemma. He's an offensive architect who devoted a good bit of offseason time to the defense. He recruited and helped to build a defensive front that he believed would be next-level. And it largely has been.

But like a politician, he'd like to be getting just a bit better performance from his base. Instead, on Saturday he and defensive coordinator Ron English had to break out some wrinkles.

VIDEO | UofL's Jeff Brohm looks ahead to Saturday's game against Virginia Tech

Louisville's defense has been its backbone, but Jeff Brohm wants more from his base.

"We were a little more vanilla than we had been," Brohm said. "We didn't get off the field on third down. We let them convert a third and long the first time around on a completion that we should not have, and then we kind of busted a couple things that cost us. From there, I thought we ramped up the intensity on the quarterback, got a little more creative in what we were doing, and got a little bit more on the same page, and that helped us."

After completing its first six third-down tries, Boston College went 0-for-9 the rest of the game. The pressure package did its job, and Louisville's defense began to assert itself.

The episode welcomes a larger look at Louisville's defense. It isn't keeping Brohm up at night, but maybe a touch of late-night clipboard therapy.

"Would we like to play more efficient early on with some of those calls? Yes, we would," Brohm said. "So we've got to work on being able to play some regular defense more soundly and crisply and get off the field on third down."

Louisville's front has been disruptive enough that opponents have had to account for it. Quick passes. Extra blockers. Run schemes that minimize risk and chew up clock. Teams know the Cardinals can't feast unless you let them set the table.

And they've kept the front off of their quarterbacks, to a point. After a fast start, Louisville's sack rate has slipped to 60th nationally (2.29 per game). Tackles for loss have dropped even lower — 97th in the country. That doesn't mean the line isn't good. It means opponents are treating it like it is.

The discomfort shows up on the back end. Even without racking up sacks or splash plays up front, this defense is causing damage — because the pressure is making quarterbacks nervous. And nervous quarterbacks throw the ball to the wrong team.

Louisville ranks No. 4 in the country in interceptions (12). It's No. 15 in passes defended (5.86 per game). When it wins the early downs and forces a must-pass situation, the secondary doesn't just defend — it feasts.

And no one breaks that down quite like cornerbacks coach Steve Ellis, who explained the strategy like he was coaching a buffet line.

"Third down is the cheesecake," Ellis said. "But you can't eat dessert until you've had your vegetables."

The vegetables are the run fits. The first-down contain. The two-yard stuffs on first and second down. That's the work. That's what sets up the fun. If you don't eat your vegetables, you never get to third-and-long. And that's where this defense is best — crouched at the table, fork in hand, ready to dive in.

Brohm would like for it to be able to get there with a minimum of fancy scheming.

But if scheming is what it takes, he might have to keep adding wrinkles.

One piece of good news — as good as Louisville's linebacker unit has been, it may be getting better.

Stanton Clark has progressed much more quickly in his injury rehab than expected. He could hit the practice field this week. Could return to actual action even faster.

Louisville's defense this season has been its backbone. While it ranks only 42nd in scoring defense, some of that is because of offensive turnovers leading to opponent points.

For all the offensive fanfare, Louisville's defense has been the backbone — the dependable one. The adult in the room.

And whether by force or finesse, it's a unit still finding ways to improve, one wrinkle at a time.