After falling out of the Top 25 with back-to-back seven-point losses, Louisville will visit a surging Virginia squad Saturday afternoon for an Atlantic Coast Conference contest in Charlottesville, Va.
Coach Jeff Brohm believes that better communication on defense is crucial if his Cardinals (3-2, 1-1) hope to keep the Cavaliers (4-1, 2-0) from running up and down the court, er, field.
“Just like when you’re playing defense in basketball, you have to talk,” Brohm said. “It’s going to be loud, so we have to be better at communicating.”
Louisville climbed to No. 15 in the Associated Press poll before losing 31-24 at then-No. 16 Notre Dame on Sept. 28 and 34-27 at home last weekend against SMU.
After falling behind 21-7 in the first quarter vs. the Fighting Irish, the Cardinals trailed by 11 at halftime against the Mustangs.
“I think it’s a hodgepodge of things that happen here and there that need to be cleaned up to make sure we don’t put ourselves in those situations,” Brohm said. “We all need to play better. We all need to coach better. It starts with me and goes all the way down.”
While Louisville’s rallies have fallen short, Virginia successfully engineered another comeback last weekend against Boston College. The Cavaliers scored 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 24-14 victory.
It was similar to Virginia’s ACC opener on Sept. 7 at Wake Forest, when the Cavaliers outscored the Demon Deacons 14-0 in the fourth quarter for a 31-30 win.
Picked to finish 16th in the 17-team ACC in the preseason after consecutive three-win campaigns, Virginia began this week as one of five unbeaten schools in league play.
“It’s a great feeling, obviously, to be 4-1,” defensive end Chico Bennett Jr. said. “But overall, we know what we’ve got to do, because Coach (Tony) Elliott always emphasizes reload, recalibrate and attack. And so that’s the mindset.”
Louisville has won the last two meetings to take a 7-5 lead in the series. The Cardinals outscored the Cavaliers 17-3 in the fourth quarter to pull out a 31-24 home win last November.
