Petrino Prepares his Team for Fighting Irish
November 18, 2014 | Football
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- The University of Louisville's first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference has provided a lot of excitement and provided the Cardinals with some interesting experiences.
One of the best experiences might come this weekend when the Cardinals make their first visit to Notre Dame, a game that probably wouldn't have happened without being in the ACC.
"Being here in Louisville, with the Catholic community we have, and Paul Hornung, and all the ties that the city of Louisville has to Notre Dame, I think that's significant," head coach Bobby Petrino said. "I think we'll have a good crowd up there. I know that everyone was talking all summer long about they've got tickets and on their way up there."
The Cardinals and Fighting Irish will meet for the first time in school history when the two teams square off on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on NBC.
After a grueling stretch of games, the Cardinals are coming off their second bye week before their final two contests. The Cardinals used the week off to get healthy and rebounded from a tough, physical season.
"I think it was good for us in the sense that, you know, we've had a long year," Petrino said. "We've had a lot of game in a row. It was our time to have a bye, and a time to refresh with two real difficult games coming up back-to-back."
One of the injuries the Cardinals won't be able to rebound from is the loss of quarterback Will Gardner, who suffered a knee injury in the win over Boston College. Gardner started seven games before being injured last week, and will now turn over the keys to the offense to true freshman Reggie Bonnafon.
"I think you have to play to his strengths," Petrino said. "He's a great athlete and he did a really nice job the other night of running with the football. At the end of the day, when you look and you get 86 yards rushing from your quarterback, that's a significant difference in the game. We are asking him to be smart, to make sure that he gets the first down and takes care of himself, knows how to get out of bounds or get down on the ground."
Bonnafon is coming off one of his most complete games in the win over Boston College. He was 4-of-5 for 69 yards throwing the football and was the team's leading rusher with 76 yards on 13 carries.
He's a really, really good athlete," Petrino said. "In those runs the other night, he never got hit hard one time. It was great to see, something we really look at. But he's also a good thrower, I think he can do a good job of, particularly, throwing the ball down the field."
The Cardinals will be facing a wounded Notre Dame team that has lost its last two games, including a 43-40 defeat at home to Northwestern last Saturday. However, Petrino knows his team will face one of the best teams in the country on Saturday.
"They're a good football team," Petrino said. "When you watch them on video they're very, very physical on defense. Their defensive front does a good job against the run and rushing the passer. They have a linebacker that is really active, that can run and make a lot of plays against the run and against the pass."
"Then offensively, they just keep going and scoring points. They have turned it over, but they keep scoring points, so you know that you're going to have to move the football and get it in the end zone. Even when you look at the Arizona State game, who jumped way up on them, they came back and got it back 34-31, so it's a situation where you know you have to continue to move the ball and get it in the end zone."
Despite losing two games in a row, Petrino isn't worried about Notre Dame, his focus is on getting the Cardinals to win the next game.
"You know what you really do is concentrate on ourselves," Petrino said. "We just need to have a great week at preparation, good week of focus, understand our game plan and go out and play our game, play the game we know how and I think we will have an opportunity to win the game. You focus on the schemes and what other people are doing but basically it comes down to doing our job in our preparation."
The Cardinals will face one of the most iconic football programs in the country and will play in front of 80,000 fans, but the Cardinals will be ready for the moment.
"We've been able to play in a lot of big stadiums and be a part of it and I guess the only concern is I understand they don't have a jumbotron, so we won't have anyone on the sideline looking up at replay," Petrino said. "We've kind of got used to that, on the sideline when you're trying to coach your guys and they all keep looking up at the replay, so we'll have a little bit more focus on the sideline."
That's good the Irish don't have a big video board, because the Cardinals will need all their focus and attention on the Irish, who have one of the most explosive offenses in the country and will be looking to stop a two-game losing streak.
