Sept. 25, 2017: Louisville fans lead the way in laughing at Kentucky, whose head coach announces he’ll charge two staffers with making sure the Wildcats actually cover opposing wide receivers all the time. This comes after UK gave up two totally uncovered touchdowns against Florida, including one when the Cats had only 10 defenders on the field.
Louisville fans, did you enjoy seeing Kentucky give up crucial touchdowns with only 10 men on the field? Well, you might not like seeing your own team do it
The understaffed Cardinals gave up an NC State touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Oct. 6, 2017: In the fourth quarter of a one-score game at NC State, Louisville’s defense gives up a touchdown with only 10 defenders on the field:
ESPN
The Wolfpack would go on to win, 39-25.
Is the state of Kentucky just running low on defenders?
It’s not outside the realm of possibility.
Should these two teams pool resources, perhaps alongside WKU and EKU, to make sure each one has 11 on defense at all times?
Some sort of group fund might be wise.
Would an 11th defender have even made a difference here?
This is a nice play design by NC State, just considering what’s up front. The Cards are fine as far as raw numbers go, with seven in or near the box against six blockers and a running back. However, NC State’s option and excellent edge blocking negate one of those defenders and make it eight-on-seven, as No. 91 is forced to defend QB Ryan Finley and RB Reggie Gallaspy II by himself. By the time No. 10 realizes it’s a handoff and not a pass or keeper, Gallaspy’s basically in the end zone.
We can only guess where the 11th defender would’ve gone, but he likely would’ve been help over the top. Eight men in the box would’ve changed the math and made a run look less promising, as a safety could’ve immediately charged toward the line and perhaps stopped Gallaspy short.
Who are you to laugh at this?
My team, the Atlanta Falcons, just failed to score in the red zone against a defense that had only 10 on the field. If I can laugh at that, we can all smile at bloopers together.
Ah.
Yeah.
Did this end up deciding the game against Louisville?
Probably not. No matter what, NC State likely would’ve had second-and-1 or so after this, an almost certain scoring situation in a game it won by 14.
Does that mean Kentucky’s whoopsies are still funnier?
Minus the context of this happening to a fan base that’d already been laughing about it happening elsewhere, yes.
Ha! Go Cards.
Life is hard, and we have to enjoy what we can.
See More:
