Petrino previews season opener versus Auburn
August 31, 2015 | Football
Cards face Tigers on Sept. 5 in the Georgia Dome
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The wait is over for University of Louisville head football coach Bobby Petrino. After a long and grueling camp, the Cardinals are ready to face No. 6 Auburn in the 2015 Chick-fil-A game on Saturday.
Entering his second season in his return to the Cardinals, Petrino and his young football team are ready for the challenge of facing one of the top teams in the Southeastern Conference and a pick by many to be a part of the College Football Playoff. After 26 practices, the Cardinals are ready to tee it up this weekend.
"We are excited for it, "Petrino said of the opener. "I did like our camp. I think we got a lot accomplished. We did a nice job of working hard on our individual skills, working hard on understanding the schemes we want to utilize offensively and defensively."
For the second-straight year, the Cardinals are facing a a momentual game in the opener. Last season, the Cardinals were opening their first season in the ACC with a home game against Miami, and this year is the kickoff versus nationally ranked Auburn.
"I am excited at the fact it is a great opening game, we recruit a lot of players out of that area, we will have a great crowd there," Petrino said. "I think it will put our players in a huge atmosphere that will help us for the rest of the year. To be able to go down there and play in that type of atmosphere, loud, you know being able to communicate non-verbally, be able to not hear the cadence, it is only going to make us better for the rest of the year."
Coming into the Georgia Dome, the Cardinals understand the task at hand when facing a team with the skill set and talent of the Tigers, who are two years removed from winning a national championship. Petrino knows what his team needs to do to leave with a victory against a potent running attack.
"I think defensively we need to stop the run," Petrino said. "They have always done a great job running the football and working hard on the tempo. They go fast so we've got to be able to get lined up, get the call, and play our technique within the call at a very fast pace. Then when we do force them to throw the ball, we have to put pressure on the young quarterback, give him different looks and make him not exactly see what the coverages will be."
On offense, Petrino's young unit must be smart with the football and not make mistakes, which is the receipe for any team, but it's important for the Cardinals, who had to replace a lot of firepower on offense.
"Offensively, I think it's real important to eliminate stupid penalties, you know that we don't go backwards," Petrino said. "As long as you are moving forwards offensively you always have a chance to get first downs, move the sticks and keep them on the field. That is what you try to do, keep their defense on the field and you can't do that if you are hurting yourself. Then we need to be able to take care of the football, making sure that we don't turn it over and get some chunk plays."
One area of focus this camp has been on the offensive line, which had to replace three starters and was searching for depth. Petrino has worked many different combinations and is still searching for his five with five days left before the opener.
"There has really been great competition and we have rotated a bunch of guys in on Friday night so they all got looks with the 1's and worked hard with it," Petrino said. "One of our tackle spots, Khalil Hunter and Geron Christian have been competing to see who is going to be the guy there."
"Pedro (Sibiea) has been playing both guard and center so we have to figure out what the best combination for us there. Kioloa (Mahoni) and Kenny Thomas and Skylar Lacy have been working really hard at one of the other guard spots and getting a lot of work. Then both (Aaron) Epps and Kelby Johnson have been rotating at tackles too. The thing I feel good about is overall our depth is much better, we just have to distinguish who is the best five and which spots."
The Cardinals have spent a lot of time getting ready for the opener this summer and in camp, but being the perfectionist Petrino is, he knows there is still time work on a few other things.
"Well, we have worked hard on Auburn, we have had good preparation on them," Petrino said. Obviously, there are a few situations that we still need to cover and we need to hit but for the most part it should be a big review week for us. We're really focusing in and even dialing down the game plan a little bit because there were some things last week that we did that we just wanted to look at, see where we are with them so we will hone in on exactly what we want to do."
The Cardinals will begin fine-tuning on Tuesday when the team returns to the practice field at 3:50 p.m.
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