Stopping UGA's Chubb first U of L priority
The only other time the University of Louisville football team faced one of the nation's top-30 rushers this season, the Cardinals' defense limited Miami's Duke Johnson to 90 hard-earned yards in a season-opening 31-13 win.
They shed blocks, closed off running channels and made sure, strong tackles. Two of Johnson's 20 carries accounted for 45 of his 90 yards.
Almost four months later, Louisville's third-ranked rushing defense squares off against another top-30 runner in Georgia's Nick Chubb, who might just be the most important player in the Dec. 30 Belk Bowl matchup between U of L and UGA in Charlotte.
Chubb ran for 1,281 yards and 12 touchdowns, averaging 6.9 yards per carry as the engine of the Bulldogs' offense in the second half of their season.
"He's a good running back and he's going to be great in the future," said Louisville linebacker Keith Kelsey, who leads the Cards with 78 tackles this season.
"We've just got to come up and hit him."
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Chubb wasn't "the guy" to start the year. Georgia (9-3) first lost star running back Todd Gurley this season to a four-game suspension in October after the NCAA determined that Gurley accepted improper benefits from autograph signings.
He returned for Georgia's 34-7 win over Auburn in November, but tore his ACL after running for 138 yards and a touchdown.
The Bulldogs didn't miss a beat.
Chubb's run for 100 yards or more in seven consecutive games, and won Southeastern Conference freshman of the year honors. He and Gurley are two of only three UGA running backs to run for 1,000 or more yards as true freshmen. Herschel Walker did it in 1980, too.
"Georgia loves to run the ball, and they've run the ball a lot this year," Kelsey said. "Todd Gurley's hurt, and they still have been running the ball."
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No one knows the threat that a potent UGA rushing attack presents better than U of L defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
Grantham held the same position at UGA for four years before joining Bobby Petrino's Louisville staff in January. But he's maintained since the bowl matchup was announced that he can't make tackles or execute plays, no matter how much he knows about Georgia's offensive tendencies. That's up to his players.
"They're big, they're thick and they can run through tackles," Grantham said of UGA's tailbacks. "They can make the first guys miss. They can really hurt you if you don't take good angles to the ball … We understand that and we have to tackle."
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As good as Georgia's been at running the ball, Louisville's been equally as good stopping the run.
Only five opponents have cobbled together 100 rushing yards or more in a game against U of L. The Cardinals (9-3) have only allowed two opponents this season average four or more yards a carry – Florida State and North Carolina State.
They've done it with a combination of speed and simple fundamentals. They mostly use a nickel package, mixing between speed and bulky defensive linemen as the front three and then three speedy linebackers to track down runners out of the backfield.
What's more, defensive backs James Sample (76) and Terell Floyd (46) are among the team's top five tacklers and huge helps with run defense.
"Just an outstanding bunch of ball players," Richt said. "They play really hard, and they've had a lot of success, obviously."
But Floyd was quick last week to echo what he and his teammates said back in November when they faced Boston College, one of the nation's top running teams.
They can't spend so much energy on stopping Chubb that they forget about Georgia's passing game.
"He's one man, and one man can't beat you," Floyd said. "They've got other guys on that team we've got to worry about. We can't just worry about him and forget about other guys."
Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).