How Louisville football defense plans to rebound from historically bad start

Louisville football continues to search for answers on defense.

The Cards hit a new level of bad when the unit allowed a season-high 373 passing yards to NC State quarterback CJ Bailey. That's 37 more passing yards than Ole Miss quarterback and Heisman hopeful Trinidad Chambliss had in the 2026 opener .

Louisville consistently giving up big play after big play led to another loss , this time, to the Wolfpack , 31-28, on Oct. 3. After the game, head coach Jeff Brohm said things needed to change, which included players' efforts. And despite the season being almost halfway over, Louisville has yet to figure out how to tailor its defense to what works best for its personnel. Solving that will be of the utmost importance in turning things around against Florida State on Friday, Oct. 9.

"Some of the things that we've done in the past have not been as efficient," Brohm said. "So we have to adapt those calls and give our guys the best chance to succeed. There's been others that, we bust things. And so, why is it so hard to be on the same page?"

Communication issues have been an on-and-off problem for at least the past three seasons. The Cardinals cleaned some of it up last year, but the troubles have resurfaced this season.

"I think the focus needs to be on communicating louder and making sure that communication is effective and that we're doing it constantly," UofL defensive lineman Demeco Kennedy said. "And the reps in practice that we're not, then we need to repeat those reps and do it again until it gets right because it affects us on Saturdays. So definitely something that needs to get fixed, but I feel like it will."

If it doesn't, Louisville is on pace to have perhaps the program's worst-ever pass defense. The Cardinals' 266.8 passing yards allowed not only ranks 130th nationally but is the most the program has allowed since at least 1962. They're also allowing 423 total yards per game, the most since 2019 when they gave up 439.9 total yards per contest. Opponents are gaining 5.8 yards per play, matching the most since 2021.

Louisville Cardinals visit the NC State Wolfpack. See game photos

The Cardinals had a strong defensive showing in 2025 and were expected to be even better this season after adding key transfers, including North Carolina's Tyler Thompson , who ranked 35th among portal linemen. But the Cardinals also made changes to their defensive coaching personnel after losing defensive coordinator Ron English and defensive line coach Mark Hagen.

Mark Ivey was moved back to the helm of the defensive line after coaching linebackers for the past three years. He and cornerbacks coach Steve Ellis were then elevated to co-defensive coordinators, with Ivey in charge of calling plays. Adam Mueller and Brandon Sharp were elevated, as well, from analysts to linebackers and safeties coach, respectively.

Before the Cardinals' Week 3 game against SMU, Ellis said it took the first two games for he and Ivey to adjust to their new roles and "to get better and add up some wrinkles." But the inadequacies continue, and the level of competition won't get any easier Friday night against Seminoles dual-threat quarterback Ashton Daniels. Aside from his school-record five rushing touchdowns against Virginia , he's averaging 222.2 passing yards per game.

Louisville faced Daniels two years ago when he led Stanford to a 38-35 upset over the Cardinals. He had 298 passing yards with three touchdowns to one interception. Cornerback Tayon Holloway and linebackers Stanquan Clark and Ben Perry are the lone returners from that year's defense and will look to avoid another upset.

It'll start with getting more pressure on the quarterback. Louisville finished fifth in the ACC last season with 31 sacks; they were tied for sixth at 2.39 per game. This season? The Cards are 14th in the ACC, totaling just eight sacks in their first five games (1.6 per).

"I feel like half those big plays don't happen if we get more pressure, if we get in sacks, if we're getting our hands up. Just kind of taking the game into our own hands," Kennedy said. "Because honestly, football games are won up front. That's O-line and D-line. So just us being more disruptive and more dominant and truly taking games over can kill all of what's been happening, truthfully."

Louisville was able to get some pressure on Bailey, recording two sacks and eight hurries, according to Pro Football Focus. The week before, the unit had five hurries and two sacks against Wake Forest QB Gio Lopez. Daniels has been pressured 61 times but sacked only 12 times, and only three of his passes have been batted down this season.

But it's not on the Cardinals' defensive front alone. Louisville needs more from its secondary. At times, the group has lacked speed to keep up with receivers or given them too much space. Other times, they look out of place and confused — hence, communication issues — or the ball simply goes over their head for a big play.

The Cardinals have allowed more big passing plays than anybody else in the ACC. The defense has given up 13 completions covering at least 30 yards, six for 40-plus yards, and four going for 50 or more yards. Last season was the opposite — the Cards were the toughest ACC defense to complete a long pass against, allowing a league-low two completions of 40 or more yards.

They tried to throw different looks at the Wolfpack and, at one point, dropped more defenders in coverage. But it took away from the pass rush and gave Bailey, who only scrambled twice, more time to throw.

UofL hopes to have starting safety Koen Entringer back to help on the back end after he missed the past two games with an undisclosed injury. The squad has also tried to mix up its starting cornerbacks with four different combinations. Brycen Scott got his second start of the season against NC State alongside Holloway, who has struggled with injuries and missed the Wake Forest game in Week 4. Scott was the only defender to have a pass breakup, finishing with two in the game, in addition to having a team-leading three forced incompletions.

"We've got to continue to push him (Scott) to challenge routes and to be aggressive. But we've got to get all those corners ready to play," Brohm said. "... We've got to exactly know what each one of our guys can do when we're putting them in the game and make sure that we're aware of where they're at when we're making calls to help make them successful. So I think that's a big part of game planning and getting ready, is making sure we know who's in there, what they're good at, and adjust our calls accordingly."

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.