Blitz the Blitz: How Louisville Replaced Pressure with Points
On a Friday night in October, Louisville shocked Miami. It was a win that only grew more impressive after Miami’s run to the College Football Playoff Championship Game. While the Cardinals’ defense deserves credit for intercepting Carson Beck four times, this breakdown focuses on the offensive approach that allowed Louisville to control the game against an aggressive Hurricanes defense.
Miami defensive coordinator Corey Heatherman did an outstanding job in his first season installing an attacking scheme built around athleticism and multiplicity. The Hurricanes consistently utilized:
Five-man pressures
Secondary blitzes
Simulated pressures
Run-game disruption paired with dropback pressure
Their identity was clear: force the quarterback to feel bodies around him and speed up his clock.
Louisville’s response? Simple.
Replace the blitz with the ball.
No panic. No over-complication. Just built-in answers.
Let’s look at how they did it.
The Slant: Throw Where the Pressure Came From
When you get edge pressure to a single-receiver side, the answer doesn’t need to be exotic. Run a slant.
Louisville aligned in empty and motioned the running back into the backfield. Into the boundary, they left a single wide receiver. Miami dialed up five-man pressure, bringing an extra defender off the edge.
Louisville didn’t check. They didn’t slide away. They threw directly into the vacated area. The slant replaced the blitzer. Easy throw. Easy catch. First down.
For high school coaches: If you see consistent edge pressure from a one-receiver side, build in the slant as your automatic answer. Teach your quarterback to recognize leverage and trust the timing.
Shallow Cross: Horizontal Stress Beats Vertical Pressure
From the end zone angle, notice Miami’s alignment: defensive line slanting toward the field, linebackers matching the wing and running back.
Louisville anticipated boundary pressure, so they kept both the tight end (wing) and running back in protection to the boundary.
Now look at the route structure:
Single receiver condensed to the boundary runs shallow across the formation
Field receivers run dig/post to carry defensive backs
Protection secures the pressure side
The result? Open grass.The shallow route runs clean through vacated linebacker space. The corner does an excellent job chasing across the field, but it’s still an efficient first down.
Horizontal stretch defeats vertical aggression.
Shallow Variation: Same Concept, New Result
Earlier in the game, Louisville ran shallow with a small tweak:
Wing chips the defensive end
Releases to the flat
The corner and linebacker collide in traffic. The shallow comes free. Touchdown.
The lesson: You don’t need new plays, just minor adjustments. Same core concept. Different stress points.
Shallow from the Field
Later, Louisville flipped the presentation.
Shallow comes from the field
Flexed tight end releases vertically
Miami shows simulated pressure with zone behind it
The dropping defender positions himself well, but once the receiver catches the shallow and turns upfield, the leverage advantage wins.
When pressure structures change, the answer can stay the same. Teach your players the concept, not just the play.
Double Screen: If They’re Bringing Five, Let Them
Another five-man pressure.Louisville dials up double screen. The quarterback connects on the swing route. First down.
Screens are the ultimate “pressure replacement” tool. When defenses commit bodies to the rush, they remove bodies from pursuit leverage.
High school application: If a defensive coordinator insists on heating you up, make them tackle in space.
Coaching Takeaways for Friday Nights
Have built-in answers to pressure. Don’t rely on sideline adjustments.
Teach “replace the blitz with the ball.” Make it a weekly theme.
Marry protection with route design. Protect where they pressure.
Carry concepts, not plays. Slant, shallow, screen and reps make them lethal.
Force aggressive defenses to defend width.
When defenses turn up the heat, offenses must have answers ready. In Louisville’s upset win over Miami, the Cardinals leaned on simple, repeatable pass concepts to neutralize aggressive five-man pressures and simulated blitzes. For high school coaches, the takeaway is clear: you don’t need a thick call sheet, just built-in answers. This article breaks down how Louisville consistently “replaced the blitz with the ball” using slant, shallow, and screen concepts that can easily translate to your Friday nights.
You don’t need 200 plays in your call sheet. You need clarity. Louisville didn’t out-scheme Miami with complexity. They out-leveraged them with simplicity. And on Friday nights, simple and fast beats complex and late every time.