Third-and-Lang: FSU hoping to avoid the Garnet and Golden Sombrero

Going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts happens all the time in baseball.

But in football, in Tallahassee?

1974 is the last time it happened. First-year FSU head coach Darrell Mudra lost his first eight games, all just weeks after Richard Nixon waved goodbye to America outside of a helicopter in Washington, D.C.

So as Florida State looks to avoid going winless in its first four games -- and wearing a dreaded Garnet and Golden Sombrero for the first time in nearly 50 years -- the Seminoles welcome Louisville to town.

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Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield was treated to a riveting, if not clean, Week 3 win over UCF this past weekend. Louisville stunned the Knights with a pick-six in the game's final minute, paving the way to a 42-35 win and some much-needed momentum for its first ACC road game of 2021.

Last year’s matchup between these two teams saw Florida State beaten into humiliation. What waits for us all this Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2)? Let's start with the quarterback.

Before we get to the clips, a word from your writer...

Sadly, our friends at the ACC have kindly (not really) requested (uh ... demanded) that we not use animated GIFs from games because they are in violation of the conference's television contracts.

We hope to reach an agreement to use those clips in the future, but in the meantime, here are your course materials for today. Use this video embedded below, and I'll let you know what timestamp to head to for certain plays. Pro tip: Use the arrow keys to rapidly scroll back or ahead by five seconds. I use this all the time to re-watch key plays a bunch.

Now back to our regularly scheduled feature:

A “super junior” in 2021, Cunningham’s danger begins largely with his speed and ability to create time and throwing angles. Some notes on Cunningham:

* He is still a more consistent runner than passer, but when hot, some of the throws he can make are breathtaking.

* Cunningham is used almost exclusively in shotgun or pistol looks, with rollouts and runs designed in any direction or situation -- like on third-and-long at the :52 mark above.

* He sometimes cheats on throws, like the one at 5:54 in the video. As you can see, Cunningham's read was correct -- he had a linebacker covering a speedy target in trail -- and he can get away with iffy fundamentals at times.

* No matter if it's in the shotgun or pistol, Cunningham's first move in most situations is to drop deeper into the backfield. This can sometimes backfire against a speed rush around the tackles, but generally it gives Cunningham more time to let routes develop (usually shorter patterns, since he's creating greater distance for his throws).

For more on some of the routes and how the Satterfield offense works, let's pivot to the offense as a whole.

Louisville consistently keeps a defense honest by attacking both sides of the field, even if the formation suggests there is no leverage to do so. Let's take a look at one of the formations that Satterfield loves to use.

Note the backfield more than the receivers and tight ends. This offset pistol formation creates all sorts of angles for Satterfield's offense. From this formation, Louisville will run anything from straight handoffs between the tackles, to zone-reads, to counters and quarterback speed options.

Here's one wrinkle they threw at UCF last week.

* The receiver to the boundary (top of the screenshot) begins the play in motion, swooping behind the tailback as the snap is delivered.

* Cunningham now has a bona fide triple-option. He can give on the run up the middle, or keep and run toward the wide side of the field with a receiver to pitch to.

* The other receiver, to the bottom, takes off along the sideline on a go-route, forcing the corner to vacate that side of the field.

* The back to Cunningham's left comes across the formation to lead block.

* Cunningham chooses to keep the ball himself, does his dynamic thing in the open field and Louisville has a gain of more than 25.

Obvious matchups, easy reads

Though Louisville runs a lot of its offense out of the gun as well, the specific pistol formation above generates the kinds of matchups that are simple to see and low-risk to execute.

Isolating backs and receivers on linebackers and safeties is a primary goal, and Louisville will use Cunningham's ability to drop deep, roll out and extend plays in order to create the time necessary for his skill players to come open in space.

The unique thing about a lot of those chunk plays is how horizontal/near the line of scrimmage the targets are. For a perfect example, head to the 3:01 mark in the video above.

Through formation and alignment, Satterfield is trying to make defenses declare firmly what they're doing.

That was an issue for Florida State last season as Cunningham's reads were way too easy. An example: This shot play to burner Tutu Atwell:

If your brain successfully burned this play from memory, you can skip ahead a couple of paragraphs. The read before the snap, along with many others that day, was obvious.

Cunningham can see Travis Jay (lined up just under the top set of hashmarks) aligned in man with Atwell (who is now on the L.A. Rams). There was no help for Jay on this play, and after carrying out a run fake, it was pitch and catch for an ugly touchdown. Heck of a way to lose the play on 2nd-and-24.

Because of the way Louisville attacks from all angles, its players have a mentality to look for defenders who are napping. It's never a good idea to lose contain on the back end of a play, but it really isn't a good idea when you go against an offense that will inevitably reverse field through design or improvisation.

We all remember this example at the :45 mark. Stay at home, always. The good news for Florida State fans is the 2021 defense has been a lot better in this area. We'll see if the discipline holds through three losses.

Here are some observations from the Pro Football Focus crew regarding Louisville:

* Louisville's highest-rated player not named Malik Cunningham is guard Caleb Chandler. Wearing No. 55, Chandler grades out above 74.0 in both pass- and run-blocking.

* According to PFF, the Cardinals' defensive starters are anywhere from mediocre to below average at tackling. Outside of safety Kendrick Duncan (No. 27) and linebacker Monty Montgomery (No. 7), every player who has been on the field for at least 90 snaps has a tackling grade lower than 70.0.

* Special teams-wise, Louisville's kicker James Turner was 5-for-5 from 40-49 yards last season and 1-for-3 from 50-plus yards. This year, he has not tried a kick over 38 yards. Freshman punter Mark Vassett (another Australian punter) has a long of 53 yards this season, but an average of just over 40 yards. He has not pinned opponents inside the 20 yet.

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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council