Louisville football definitely feels the noise. How Cards play at another level at home
The third quarter has just ended at L&N Stadium on Saturday. Louisville is up, 27-3, on Virginia Tech, and the fun is just beginning.
“The Joker and the Thief” by Australian-based rock group Wolfmother starts blaring through the speakers. Cardinals offensive lineman Renato Brown turns one of his crutches into an air guitar as the offensive linemen gather in a group resembling a small mosh pit.
"My family and friends have always said, ‘That was one of my favorite parts of the game, just seeing that and how involved the players are into it as well as everyone’s in the stands (and) on their feet,’” U of L quarterback Jack Plummer said. “Definitely something that's really cool.”
Mostly everyone from the team and coaching staff starts dancing to the music farther down the sideline, with coach Jeff Brohm declining the opportunity.
“We still have a lot more games to win before you might see me dancing,” he said.
Louisville’s tradition of playing the song before the fourth quarter has been just one part of the 11th-ranked Cardinals’ joy of being on their home field. Another part is that the squad has won 10 consecutive games at the stadium and will go for its 11th against Virginia at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. It ties for the third-longest home winning streak in program history and longest since Louisville won 20 straight home contests between 2003 and 2007. That streak ended with a 38-35 loss against Syracuse on Sept. 22, 2007.
While teams generally have more success at home, the Cardinals’ performances have been significantly better than their road games. Playing with a higher level of energy and intensity in their five home games, they’ve averaged an overall grade of 80.7, according to Pro Football Focus, compared with a 73.4 overall grade over the four away games.
Louisville has played only two top-25 teams in Notre Dame and Duke, which were ranked 11th and 21st, respectively, when the Cardinals played them. Getting both at home, U of L outscored the two opponents, 56-20, including a 23-0 shutout of the Blue Devils.
Home-field advantage has been strongest for the Cardinals’ run game, which is averaging 237.6 yards per game on its home turf compared with 127.8 yards per game in other stadiums. Over the last two games, U of L is averaging 232.5 rushing yards and 28.5 points per outing.
Louisville’s success running the ball at home could be on display even more Thursday. Virginia’s rushing defense ranks 112th in the country, allowing 180.3 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry. The Cavaliers may be without linebacker Kam Robinson, the team’s fourth-leading tackler whose status will be a game-time decision.
Defensively, U of L hasn’t seen as much of a difference, but the Cardinals have been more effective getting into the backfield at home. The surging unit is averaging 6.6 tackles for loss and 3.8 sacks per game at L&N Stadium compared with five tackles for loss and one sack in the four road games. Its highest-graded overall defensive performance against an FBS opponent was Virginia Tech (78.6). The Cardinals kept the Hokies out of the end zone and allowed only 140 total yards of offense.
The Cardinals credit the crowd’s noise level as a source of energy to help them play better.
“The crowd's amazing,” Louisville safety Cam Kelly said after the Virginia Tech win Saturday. "Being at home, having these types of fans, I feel like they're out there with us. It's definitely a plus for us, and it just helps us tremendously, so any time that fans show up and be rowdy and contribute, it's gonna be a great day for the Cards.”
This season, Louisville is averaging more than 50,982 fans, including a sellout against Notre Dame with a record attendance of 59,081. U of L hopes to keep that going with home games left against Virginia and Kentucky in the Governor’s Cup.
“Any time you're on the road, you've got to adjust your cadence; you cannot maybe change the play as much,” Brohm said. “You could have a few more false starts than you want to. There's just a lot of small things that can go into it … and here with the noise on our side, it can affect it the other way, so it is an advantage. We need to use it as an advantage. We need to make sure we're continuing to keep our crowd into the game because they can definitely be a very helpful factor to help us win the game.”
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Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football: Jeff Brohm team perfect at home ahead of Va. game
