Florida State's backup QB torched Louisville's defense. Why that's a problem

A week ago, Louisville football's defense played hero with a second-half shutout that propelled the Cardinals to their first win of the season in a hostile road environment.

Handed a 21-14 halftime lead Friday night at home against Florida State, U of L got picked apart by a backup quarterback to the tune of 21 points on 238 total yards after the intermission and fell to the Seminoles 35-31.

When the dust settled, all redshirt senior linebacker Momo Sanogo could do was keep chasing the word that the team had printed on the back of its offseason workout shirts: "FINISH."

"It's what we trained all summer for," said Sanogo, a transfer from Ole Miss. "We weren't feeling tired, at least on the defensive side. I can't speak for everybody, but I know that we weren't feeling tired or lackadaisical. We were playing, so it's just going out there and finishing and executing plays."

It appeared Louisville (1-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) had FSU (3-0, 1-0 ACC) on the ropes when a left lower-leg injury forced the Seminoles' starting quarterback, Jordan Travis, out of the game with less than five minutes remaining in the second quarter. Enter backup Tate Rodemaker, a redshirt sophomore who had zero touchdowns and four interceptions to his name before taking the field at Cardinal Stadium.

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Rodemaker proceeded to complete 6 of 10 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns. He was sacked three times and threw an interception on a third-down heave with less than a minute to go until halftime but eventually settled down and looked more than comfortable leading the Seminoles' offense to a come-from-behind win.

"I knew we could win with Tate," Florida State head coach Mike Norvell said. "I've seen it in practice; I've seen him work; I've seen so much investment in being prepared for the moment. He got put in a challenging situation on the road, but he went out there and responded in the second half."

Both Sanogo and Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield said they noticed FSU switched up its offensive game plan after the intermission, opting for more formations featuring two tight ends to establish a ground attack and to keep Rodemaker upright. They credited Norvell by name for the adjustments but didn't say what they did to counter those changes when the Seminoles aired the ball out.

"It wasn't anything (Rodemaker) was doing," Sanogo said. "I think it was more a great coach getting him to where he wasn't just (going) straight drop-back. About every single play in the second half was a run play. Even if he threw it, it was a called run play. The line was run blocking."

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To Sanogo's point, Florida State out-rushed U of L during the second half (123-110) and won the time-of-possession battle (18:14 to 11:46) after the Cardinals handily won both in the first half. Redshirt sophomore tailback Treshaun Ward finished the game with 126 yards on 10 carries, an average of 12.6 yards per attempt.

No player had a bigger impact, however, than FSU wide receiver Johnny Wilson.

Wilson, a 6-foot-7 redshirt sophomore, caught seven passes for 149 yards and two touchdowns, including the decisive score with 7:54 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Pacoima, California, native proved to be a matchup nightmare for the Louisville secondary, which allowed 48 yards after catch to Wilson alone and 99 to the Seminoles as a team.

"Is that the big guy? Yeah, that's what made him difficult," Satterfield said. "He's a hard guy to cover. We were trying to get more guys down into the box to stop the run, and, when you do that, you're gonna be vulnerable. We gotta play better outside, and we had a couple of (pass interference penalties) trying to cover him on some of those skinny post routes that they were hitting.

"The last touchdown they hit, I mean, (Jarvis) Brownlee was right there. It was great coverage. They threw it way to the back of the end zone, and he caught it and barely had a foot in. That was a heck of a play."

Louisville's defense has nine more opportunities to prove its worth, but its opponents aren't getting any easier from here. The Cardinals, who gave up six plays of 20 yards or more against Florida State, still have to face the high-powered offenses of No. 23 Pittsburgh, No. 19 Wake Forest, No. 5 Clemson, No. 16 NC State and No. 9 Kentucky.

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Through three games, U of L has allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete 62% of their passes for an average of 212.6 yards and two touchdowns per contest. If Satterfield and co-defensive coordinators Bryan Brown and Wesley McGriff can't find a way to tighten up their coverage, those numbers could continue to climb, making wins harder to come by.

"It's just going out there and finishing and executing plays," Sanogo said. "We got to work on that in practice and attack and approach practice the right way every single day and go into every single game ready for blood."

Reach recruiting and trending sports reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Florida State football backup quarterback torched U of L's defense