2019 Opponent Series: Louisville

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2019 Opponent Series

• Aug. 29 vs. Georgia Tech
• Sept. 7 vs. Texas A&M
• Sept. 14 at Syracuse
• Sept. 21 vs. Charlotte
• Sept. 28 at North Carolina
• Oct. 12 vs. Florida State

Life comes at you fast, and the same can be said for Scott Satterfield as he ended up the new head coach at Louisville in the blink of an eye.

Satterfield was coaching Appalachian State in the Sun Belt Conference Championship against Louisiana Lafayette on Saturday, December 1, 2018. One day later, he met with Louisville athletic director Vince Tyra before accepting the job offer to be the Cardinals’ head coach on that Monday.

While it was a quick decision, the Hillsborough, N.C. native said at the ACC Kickoff in July that the opportunity to coach in the ACC was “a tremendous honor for him.”

“It was a great opportunity — a lot of good tradition there. I said, Let's go do it. You can't look back. You take it (and) run with it. We've had a great seven months thus far. But for me to be able to play in this league and to be able to come back, play in Raleigh, play in Winston (Salem), coming back to where I grew up, it's pretty cool for me,” Satterfield said.

Satterfield is an offensive-minded coach and will bring an up-tempo approach with an emphasis on running the football to the Derby City. Either Jawon Pass or Malik Cunningham will start at quarterback and returning wide receiver Seth Dawkins said both are ‘real competitors.’

“They love each other. Competition only makes you better. They're not shying away from it. They love it. We love it, too. Just excited to get started August 4th and see who eventually wins the battle,” Dawkins said.

Although the run may be the focus, Louisville’s wide receiver group should still have plenty of opportunities to catch the ball on play-action passes with Dawkins, Dez Fitzpatrick, Tutu Atwell, and Devante Peete all returning.

Louisville’s defense struggled immensely in 2019, ranking 122 out of 129 teams in the FBS allowing 483.5 yards per game. New defensive coordinator Bryan Brown brings a new scheme and with ten returning starters, including linebacker Dorian Ethridge, the vibe is that the Cards will be more aggressive to slow down offenses. Ethridge says the buy-in from the unit came on the back-end of spring practice.

“When things started getting tougher, we had to make the decision we are either going to get better or worse. Towards the end of spring ball, we all kind of came together, said, This is going to be it, we have to, like, run with it.

The now-former App State coach has work to do to turn around a Louisville program that has fallen on tough times since quarterback Lamar Jackson departed the program for the NFL, but he has loved on them from day 1, and now the hope is that can translate to wins.

“We have a great core of leaders on our team, great guys that want to be good. They've worked extremely hard this off-season. I'm excited about getting them on the field and let's see what we can do.”

Louisville Cardinals

Head coach: Scott Satterfield, first year

Last season: Finished 2-10, lost to Kentucky 56-10 in season finale

Returning starters: 7 offense, 10 defense

Players to Watch

• Dorian Ethridge (Linebacker, Jr.) - The Charleston, W, Va. native battled injuries during the 2018 season as he recorded 55 tackles in 10 games. Look for him to come back strong as a leader of a new defensive scheme.
• Dez Fitzpatrick (Wide receiver, R-Jr.) -- The wide receiving core at Louisville could be on pace for a big year. If that happens, expect Fitzpatrick to be heavily involved. He returns as the leader in production with 31 receptions for 422 yards and three touchdowns in 2018.
• Khane Pass (Cornerback, R-SR.) - It certainly helps that Louisville returns ten starters, including Pass to a defense that is looking to rebound from last year. Despite the struggles, Pass was active in the Cardinal secondary, with three games where he had five or more tackles in 2018.

Last Meeting vs. Clemson: 2018: Clemson put up 77 points in their fourth-highest scoring game in school history blasting the Cards 77-16 as the run game exploded for the Tigers.

2019 Schedule

Sept. 2 (Mon.) - vs. Notre Dame

Sept. 7 - vs. Eastern Kentucky

Sept. 14 - vs. Western Kentucky (in Nashville, Tenn.)

Sept. 21 - at Florida State

Oct. 5 - vs. Boston College

Oct. 12 - at Wake Forest

Oct. 19 - vs. Clemson

Oct. 26 - vs. Virginia

Nov. 9 - at Miami

Nov. 16 - at NC State

Nov. 23 - vs. Syracuse

Nov. 30 - at Kentucky

**Home games in BOLD