Thoughts In Brief: Louisville Explodes on Wake Forest, 44-12

• The defense was insane through three quarters.  Holding Louisville to 3 points in the first two quarters and only 7 in the third is bonkers.  That's not to mention the 3 forced turnovers.
• I find it kind of amazing and hilarious that Wake "held" Lamar Jackson to approximately 300 all-purpose yards, 14-26 passing with 1 TD, 7.0 YPC with a long of 55, and that's probably one of his worst games of the season.  If that man does not win the Heisman it is absolute highway robbery.
• As ineffectual as our offense was in scoring, we did well to dominate pace for most of the game.
• Props to Mike Weaver for being flawless.
• No one who looks at the box score will know how much of a fight this game really was.
• I still think going for it on fourth was the right call.  First of all it was perfectly done, it was just a flat-out drop.  Second, hindsight is 20-20 and for all we know, if it had worked, it may have been all but a knockout punch.  I'd rather have a coach gamble and lose than play it safe 100% of the time, especially in games like tonight where no one in the world gave us a chance (nor should they have, on paper).
• I think it's disingenuous to suggest missing that fourth down was solely or even mostly responsible for the offensive explosion.  It was going to happen, period, and I think the logic of trying to build enough of a point firewall to weather the storm is relatively strong.
• I really hope the team can get at least mostly healthy in the next couple of weeks.  Cripes, guys were dropping like flies.
• Watching John Wolford get sacked is just depressing at this point.
• The OC is between a rock and a hard place.  The constant running is admittedly predictable, but it's also probably our most effective strategy, especially with a banged up line.  The most pass-heavy game of the season was Army.  Need I say more?  I don't want to throw John under the bus, as I'd probably have been reduced to a gibbering puddle long ago with the abuse he takes, but the fact is he panics more when passing than running, and when John panics, bad things happen.  Kendall Hinton is out for the year and the staff is probably wary of negatively impacting Kyle Kearns putting him in action for the first time against nasty defenses with the worn out line.
• I think we really missed Ryan Janvion this game which says a lot given that the defense was beastly even without him,
• I'm not upset by the "style points" scoring, but it was a little annoying in the sense that it belies how close the game was.
• Jessie Bates is another bad, bad man.  There are going to continue to be many more Deacs in the NFL than there were in the, say, pre-2008 years, I'd wager.  Our football program is probably catching up to hoops in terms of next-level prospects, which feels insane to type.
• Assuming guys can heal up, I still think we handle BC at home and finish 7-5 regular season and guarantee a winning record, which is all I could've expected coming in, really.  Good stuff.

Barring something insane, expect a return to 3U3D after the Bucknell game tomorrow.  Let's get it.

On to the next.  Go Deacs.

--SF