Bridgewater an enormous challenge to Cats’ defense
September 12, 2013
By Alex Forkner | Football columnist
Over the summer, the Ohio River Bridges Project closed several bridges in Louisville, causing countless headaches for commuters.
But that’s nothing compared to what the Cats are facing on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.
UK’s defense has the even bigger headache of trying to shut down Louisville junior quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
Through the first two weeks of the season, the Heisman contender has completed 46-of-60 passes for 752 yards and nine touchdowns to just one interception. Not too shabby, right?
Granted, those numbers could be slightly inflated considering they came against Ohio and Eastern Kentucky, but consider how Bridgewater fared against No. 4 Florida in January’s Sugar Bowl upset: 20-for-32, 266 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.
Furthermore, let’s look at what Bridgewater has done to UK the past two seasons.
In 2011, freshman-version Bridgewater entered the game for the injured Will Stein and completed 10 of 18 passes for 108 yards. Not monster numbers, but Bridgewater’s two touchdown passes were enough to secure Louisville’s first Governor’s Cup victory in four years.
Last season, Bridgewater displayed his surgical accuracy, completing 19 of 21 passes for 232 yards. None of those lasers found the endzone, but Louisville’s running backs scored four times that day.
UK now faces its third matchup with Bridgewater, who is in contention to be selected No. 1 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft.
“He’s obviously very athletic, but then he’s just got a tremendous arm. He can get the ball to all the spots on the field, make all the throws. He’s got great vision, he sees everything on the field and he seems to always get the ball to the open spot,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said of Bridgewater.
“He sees what you’re doing very quickly and obviously that comes from the experience that he has. He’s played an awful lot of football games. And then, he’s just very poised. He’s moving very quickly and all that, but it seems like the game’s in slow motion for him.”
So how does UK stop this football-playing cyborg with telescopic eyes and a howitzer arm?
“They are a very multiple offense,” defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot said about the Cardinals. “You’ve got to make sure that you’re sound in everything you do within your game plan, because you’re going to get a lot of different looks.”
Bridgewater presents a challenge for all three levels of a defense. He can elude the initial pass rush, buying himself more time to throw or tucking the ball and running when necessary. He’s able to find holes between linebackers in zone coverage. The secondary is tasked with tracking wide receivers for extended amounts of time and must try to defend pinpoint passes.
Members of all three levels of UK’s defense offered keys to successfully defending one of the best QBs in the nation.
“The main thing us defensive linemen have to work on is our rushing lanes,” senior defensive tackle Mister Cobble said. “Just keep him in the pocket, keep him contained, keep him pressured.”
“You’ve got to take good angles when you’re blitzing,” senior linebacker Avery Williamson said. “You’ve got to disrupt his throwing pattern; that’s the biggest thing.”
“Execute, fly to the ball,” sophomore cornerback Cody Quinn said, who will see his first action of the season on Saturday after missing the last two weeks with a high ankle sprain. “Just playing with an edge and doing that for all four quarters.”
Bridgewater poses a major challenge for a UK defense still working to find its way. Progress was made last week, strength of opponent notwithstanding.
Come Saturday, the Cats are hoping their play will take its toll on Bridgewater.