Latest / FSU Football: Doak Talk / Louisville Insider Predicts FSU vs. Louisville | Can the Noles Keep Rolling?

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Louisville Insider Predicts FSU vs. Louisville | Can the Noles Keep Rolling? · FSU Football: Doak Talk

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It is C.J. Wilson here with Double Talk. Of course,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I am your host.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: FSU has a Friday night role game against the Louisville
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Cardinals to, you know, get in the midst of that
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: four-game ACC stretch that's being talked about so heavily for
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Florida State. Here I have Alexis Cubitt, a football beat
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  Speaker 2: writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
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  Speaker 1: Alexis, how's it going?
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  Speaker 3: Good, C.J. How are you?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Pretty good, pretty good.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Appreciate you taking the time out to join me and
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  Speaker 2: talk about the Cardinals a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: Get started.
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  Speaker 2: Make sure you guys hit that like button and subscribe
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  Speaker 2: to the channel if you haven't already. All right, Alexis,
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  Speaker 2: let's talk about Louisville for us. Well, first of all,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: what's the vibes around the program right now? You know,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: start of the season, you got to tell me about it, right?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: So the start of the season, you play Ole Miss
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: pretty tough. Put the nation on notice in that game.
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  Speaker 2: And you have a big win against SMU as well.
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  Speaker 2: Didn't lose the last two. So let's talk about the
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  Speaker 2: vibes around Louisville and the program right now. coming off
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  Speaker 2: two losses in a row and going into this on
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  Speaker 2: a Friday night game?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it's not great. I'll tell you that much
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: right now. You would think the sky is falling. Everyone
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: is very angry and irate. And, you know, in some
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: ways I kind of get it. All three of the
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  Speaker 4: losses have come by three points. With the last two
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  Speaker 4: opponents especially, that can be really frustrating just because, you know,
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  Speaker 4: you were expected to beat both teams. I think they
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: were like a 12.5 or 13.5 point favorite against Wake Forest.
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  Speaker 3: So, yeah, they're just really frustrating.
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  Speaker 4: I think it's a tough balance because they have so
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  Speaker 4: many good things happening on offense, but there's equally as
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: many bad things happening on defense. And that's where it's
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: really cost them. You know, CJ Bell had a career
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  Speaker 4: high in passing yards against Louisville last week. And, you know,
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  Speaker 4: then on top of that, the offense wasn't quite as
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  Speaker 4: sharp as it has been with five fumbles, three of
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  Speaker 4: which they lost.
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  Speaker 3: And NC State used that for 18 points.
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  Speaker 4: And that's been the most, I guess, glaring mistake maybe
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: for the offense. But I think at this point, everybody's really,
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  Speaker 4: really frustrated with the defense and Mostly just because of
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  Speaker 4: the fact that they decided to do an in-house hire
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  Speaker 4: for the DCs instead of like actively going and looking
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  Speaker 4: for one. You know, Mark Ivey and Steve Ellis have
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  Speaker 4: never been DCs at this level. And so I think
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  Speaker 4: we're starting to see that a little bit kind of
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  Speaker 4: come out. And yeah, people are just not very happy
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  Speaker 4: with what's happening defensively right now.
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  Speaker 1: I understand.
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  Speaker 2: It's kind of equal frustration to Tallahassee, although they had
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  Speaker 2: a really I guess you could say dominant game against
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  Speaker 2: Virginia in the previous week, but it's been the same
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  Speaker 2: kind of echoes as far as defensive performance.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I guess I got to ask off a real ball.
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  Speaker 2: Do you have any information in regards to Lincoln Kehoe's health?
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  Speaker 2: I know he was a little banged up coming into
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  Speaker 2: the game last week and leaving the game last week.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: What's the update on Lincoln and I guess his playing
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  Speaker 2: status this week, if any of that has even been
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  Speaker 2: revealed as of yet?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, he's going to play. As long as he's got
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  Speaker 4: two legs that'll hold him up, he's going to play.
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  Speaker 4: It was in doubt, like you mentioned, if he was
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  Speaker 4: going to play this NC State questionable game time decision,
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  Speaker 4: but Just what the kind of person Lincoln is. He's
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: that kind of like no guts, no glory kind of guy.
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  Speaker 4: Like I said, it's literally going to take him having
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  Speaker 4: like his foot cut off to not be out there
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  Speaker 4: because he's going to want to do, you know, the
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  Speaker 4: best that he can to be out there.
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  Speaker 3: Crazy because.
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  Speaker 4: Jeff Brown won't reveal what the injury is for whatever reason,
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  Speaker 4: but he did say that it's something that normally keeps
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  Speaker 4: guys out for two to three weeks. Lincoln came back
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  Speaker 4: and played within a week with that. I would say
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  Speaker 4: all signs point to him playing on Friday.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, good stuff. We want to talk about the run
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  Speaker 1: game for Louisville. I think.
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  Speaker 2: Some of the better backs FSU will see this season
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  Speaker 2: with the Brown and Brown law firm on, as I
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  Speaker 2: call them. Those guys are pretty good running backs. And,
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  Speaker 2: of course, you have Lincoln, who's a threat running football also.
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  Speaker 2: That ran for like 247 yards on Florida State. They
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  Speaker 2: made some adjustments to stop the run against the Virginia
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  Speaker 2: last week, which is pretty good, holding them to an
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  Speaker 2: impressive 37 yards on 40 carries. Kevin Wynn, a defensive
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  Speaker 2: tackle for Florida State. Has been excellent in the run
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  Speaker 2: game lately. Nose guy that's finally getting into shape and
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: getting the snap count and starting to grow. And, of course,
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  Speaker 2: Chris Jones, the transfer to Southern Miss, has been the
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  Speaker 2: life of the party from the linebacker room. So I
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  Speaker 2: say all that to say this. I think the run
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  Speaker 2: game for FSU or the run stopping for FSU has
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  Speaker 2: been an issue. But against Virginia, it was a pretty
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  Speaker 2: good outing. I'm not so sure. I guess I'm not
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  Speaker 2: too confident going in. I want to see what they
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  Speaker 2: can do against Brown and Brown. Let's talk about that
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  Speaker 2: run game and what they want to do against opposing defenses.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, no.
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  Speaker 4: Isaac has taken a little longer to kind of get
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  Speaker 4: going than maybe we would have expected, you know, coming
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  Speaker 4: into this season just because he's been so explosive the
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  Speaker 4: past two years. Obviously, injuries kind of slowed down a
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  Speaker 4: little bit last year, but he was still– you know,
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  Speaker 4: doing his thing, almost had a hundred rushing yards per game. Uh,
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  Speaker 4: he won has really come on this season. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: he's had her best, not almost 10 yards per carry. Um,
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  Speaker 4: It was like 70 or 80, I think, rushing yards
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  Speaker 4: per game. So, no, they're really doing well. I think
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  Speaker 4: at first they did kind of struggle to maybe find
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  Speaker 4: those running lanes. But it seems like, you know, the
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  Speaker 4: O-line has the continuity, whereas maybe early on their left
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  Speaker 4: tackle weren't sure they were going to have him, you know.
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  Speaker 3: This season. But he's back.
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  Speaker 4: And so they've been able to find some things where
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  Speaker 4: they're getting, you know, the blocking is there for them.
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  Speaker 4: So they're a dynamic, explosive running backs anyway. And so
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  Speaker 4: I think that, you know, they'll be able to have
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: some success this week because Kiwan got a little bit of,
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: you know, his confidence was shaken a little bit after
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  Speaker 4: those two fumbles against NC State. But I think they'll
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  Speaker 4: be able to kind of lean on each other. And
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  Speaker 4: that's the fun thing about Isaac and Kiwan is that
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  Speaker 4: They're very different in some ways, but similar. Isaac is,
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  Speaker 4: you know, a smaller guy, a little more twitchy. Kiwan
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  Speaker 4: is going to look to run you over. A bigger guy,
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  Speaker 4: more muscular, so he's got quite a few, obviously, yards
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  Speaker 4: after contact.
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  Speaker 3: Shaking off some defenders and stiff-armed defenders. somebody over the
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  Speaker 3: course of this season.
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  Speaker 4: So that's the thing is that, you know, they do
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  Speaker 4: offer such variety and even, you know, Marquis Davis, he's
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  Speaker 4: the Mizzou transfer. You know, he's made the most of
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  Speaker 4: his opportunities, but I think right now, like you mentioned,
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  Speaker 4: it will be the UPS and seeing what Brown will
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  Speaker 4: be able to do for the Cardinals on Friday night.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, most definitely. All right.
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  Speaker 2: Transition to the passing game from Louisville, of course, Lincoln,
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  Speaker 2: Ohio state transfer has put the ACC on notice. Close
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  Speaker 2: to 1,400 passing yards and 15 total touchdowns in 10.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sorry, one interception. He has taken 10 sacks, though,
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  Speaker 2: thus far this season, which is pretty interesting with FSU
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  Speaker 2: getting 10 sacks against Virginia. They're starting to get their
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  Speaker 2: feet wet in that game. Second most in program history.
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  Speaker 2: Had some pretty electric receivers to throw to, Trey Richardson. And,
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  Speaker 2: of course, FSU fans definitely remember Weezy McCoy during his
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  Speaker 2: time at Florida State, really a supposed playmaker and a
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  Speaker 2: tight end, Skinner. Let's talk about the passing game and
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  Speaker 2: what they try to do, because this is the second
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  Speaker 2: year for FSU that's given up a lot of opportunities
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  Speaker 2: through the air. Of course, last year against Virginia was
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  Speaker 2: pretty good, but SMU, Alabama, and pretty much a lot
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  Speaker 2: of teams they played have had a lot of big
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  Speaker 2: opportunities through the air, and they struggled on third down
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  Speaker 2: as well, too. Let's talk about what the pass game
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  Speaker 2: for Louisville.
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  Speaker 1: Brings to the table.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, versatility, right? Like you mentioned, you know,
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  Speaker 4: it might be Trey Richardson. It might be Lawayne Porter.
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  Speaker 4: Like you said, Florida State fans have seen a little
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  Speaker 4: bit of. You know, it might be Treshawn Hurdy, who's
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  Speaker 4: come along over the past couple of games.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Let's transition over to the defensive side of the ball. And,
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  Speaker 2: of course, stopping the run is going to be the
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  Speaker 2: main priority for Louisville. It's no secret FSU wants.
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  Speaker 1: To run the ball.
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  Speaker 2: We have a running back room led by Ustane Cromwell,
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  Speaker 2: one of the better running backs in the country.
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  Speaker 1: I believe he leads the FBS with 41 forced tackles.
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  Speaker 2: Trey Weiser from Texas has stepped in to help out
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: with the injury to Sam Singleton. Of course, Ashton Dames,
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  Speaker 2: he ended up breaking the record for most rushing yards
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  Speaker 2: in the game last year for FSU with five. With
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  Speaker 2: him keeping the defense honest as a running quarterback. And
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: of course, you have Dequan Clark and TJ Capers, both
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  Speaker 2: guys who are from Florida, Miami, Florida at that. Let's
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: talk about, and they're the two, leaders on defense from
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  Speaker 2: a linebacker standpoint. Let's talk about a run defense for
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  Speaker 2: Louisville and what they try to bring to the table
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  Speaker 2: against FSU.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that is the one positive from this defense right
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  Speaker 4: now is they are doing really well defending the run.
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  Speaker 3: You've got a strong D-line.
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  Speaker 4: You know, you look at front with like Clev Lubin,
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  Speaker 4: Daylon Russell, D'Amico Kennedy, those guys who have been really,
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  Speaker 4: really good as far as stopping the runs. No, if
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: there's one thing this defense has been good at, it's
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: been stopping the run. Past plays have been the Achilles heel,
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  Speaker 4: but they've done a good job. You look up front,
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: you know, Cleve Lubin obviously was one of the biggest
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: returners as far as that D-line goes. And then they had,
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: you know, D'Amico Kennedy, excuse me, and Daylon Russell, Tyler Thompson.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Those guys have been so huge and just kind of
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  Speaker 4: really winning the battle in the trenches when it comes
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  Speaker 4: to the run game. And like you mentioned, Stan. Kwan
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: and TJ there to kind of really help out. So
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: I would imagine they still have some success there. There
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: are some things that they want to tweak as far
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: as their defensive scheme. So, you know, that could mean,
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: you know, increasing, you know, whatever it takes.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: To be able to just.
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: Up their level of intensity because they have slipped a
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  Speaker 4: little bit in defending the run and did allow some
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: big plays, particularly I think it was against SMU where
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  Speaker 4: they had the 40-yard run to start the game and
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: then tightened up a little bit against Wake and NC State.
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  Speaker 4: But I will say right now, yes, that will be
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: the strength, and I do expect them to still be
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: good at the run defense and make some whether that
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: be coverage or man, whatever it takes to just be
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: a little better at the pass defense. And I think
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  Speaker 4: as a result, we'll make them even better when it
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: comes to defending the run.
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  Speaker 3: Interesting.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: Interesting. Well, let's transition to the pass defense, like you said.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: And the effort you tried to get the ball to
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: Deuce Robinson, one of the better receivers in the ACC.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: Of course, you have Makai Dancy, an all-world sprinter. And
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: you said that's been a struggle for her. a little
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: real as the past defense or what I guess what
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: are some adjustments you've been hearing that they've been trying
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: to make to try to fix those issues in the
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: past game.
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah they don't really they don't really give much but
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: what they did say you know Jeff talked about how
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: what they've done in the past is just not efficient
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: right now and I mean anybody who watches will agree
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: but I just don't think that the sorry not the
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: receivers they have a very fast secondary it just seems
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: like Like a lot of times they get caught lagging.
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: They just don't win the foot races against receivers, even
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: when it's, you know, man coverage. They just seem to
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: fall behind or the ball goes over their head or
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: they just seem really lost out there in the secondary.
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  Speaker 4: And that's going to be an issue, obviously. And then
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: it hurts that one of their starting safeties, Cone Etringer,
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: may not play this week.
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  Speaker 3: He's missed the past two games.
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  Speaker 4: And obviously as an experienced guy from Iowa, You know,
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: he helped it be not so bad.
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  Speaker 3: And now it's just really bad. And so I definitely think.
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  Speaker 4: It was kind of interesting because Jeff had made a
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: comment and said that, you know, they want to adapt
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: their scheme to their personnel, which was a little baffling
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: because you would hope that they did that in the spring.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: You know, that's the whole purpose of those spring practices
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: and fall camp is to see what your athletes are
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: really good at. and scheme around that and play to
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: their strengths. And it just doesn't seem like they've been
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: able to do that. And apparently that's something that has
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: just been really lacking. And they're going.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: To have to do that.
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: And I will say, at least offensively, Jeff did a
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: good job of making that adjustment. You know, when Isaac
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: Brown got to Louisville, because of course he's known as,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: you know, past heavy kind of guy. And then now
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: when Isaac comes in and Kiwan, you know, he adjusts
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: to opening up.
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: The run game more.
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: So, I would imagine, you know, even though obviously they
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: have a DC, he's still the head coach. So I
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: would imagine he's having conversation with those guys and seeing,
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: you know, what can we do? What's going to work
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: better to really capitalize on the athletes because they do
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: have good pieces on, on the defensive side.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: It's just right now they're not looking like it.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Alexis, you made a good point as far as adjustments.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: And I talk about this all the time on.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: My show, as far as coaches and, trying to make
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: players fit their scheme versus players versus coaches adapting to
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: players' skill sets and changing their scheme to get the
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: best out of their players. And Jefferson is investing in
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: business offensively. So it'll be interesting to see what they
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: can do defensively to bridge the gap. All right, let's
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: go ahead and get your prediction for this game if.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: You have them.
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I do think Louisville will be able to get
• 13:59
  Speaker 4: back on track against Florida State.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: I think that two losses is is enough for them.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: I think the fan outrage and just even maybe some
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: conversations that they're having within the building will be enough
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: for them to just kind of right the ship a
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: little bit.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Because if they don't, it's.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: Going to be a long second half of the season.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: And I agree with you.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: And that's kind of the issue with Florida State right now.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: You know, Martin Orville has been on the hot seat,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: so to speak, since the start of the season. So
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: every game kind of matters. I'm going to go FSU
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: 35-31 here. You know, I may be crazy to pick that.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: FSU hasn't won. And this is what I really want
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: to see. Blowing out Virginia is cool, but I want
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: to see how you respond on the road and play
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: on the road, which is something FSU has struggled in,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: haven't won a true road game since 2023, which is
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: crazy to say. I'm going to go 35-31 Florida State. Alexis,
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: let the people know where they can find you at.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so you can read all of my articles at courier-journal.com.
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: Click on sports and then click on Cardinals.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: And then you can also follow me on Twitter, X,
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: whatever you want to call it these days, at Alexis
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: underscore QBIT, A-L-E-X-I-S underscore C-U-B-I-T. And I'm also on TikTok
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: because that's what the youths are doing these days. So
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: you can same thing, Alexis underscore QBIT on TikTok.
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I most definitely appreciate you joining us. Make sure you
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: guys hit that like and subscribe button. We'll see what
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: the game brings to us on Friday.