Takeaways from Scott Satterfield's Press Conference

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville returns home looking for their third-straight win when the Cardinals face No. 2 Clemson on Saturday at noon. The game will be televised by ABC.

Louisville is coming off a 62-59 win at Wake Forest, the second-straight conference win for the Cardinals. Head coach Scott Satterfield reviewed the Wake Forest win and previewed Saturday's game against the defending national champions.Here are some of his takeaways from his Monday press conference.

The Cardinals' special teams units have been spectacular this season, especially last Saturday when Hassan Hall accounted for 220 return yards, including a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
"Keion (Wakefield) had three pancake blocks on the big return plays," Satterfield said. "Tremendous. Justin Marshall did as well. special teams are huge for us. We said this day one that, we don't treat special team as an afterthought. We spent a lot of time on it. Coach Holt does a great job with that with the special teams and they're a big part of what we what we want to do. I want to be a complete football team and we are in three different phases the other night. We're really good special teams and offense and we get to the point where all three phases are clicking on all cylinders, we will be hard to beat. We want to be that football team.

You know, we don't shy away from putting starters on the on the on those teams. I mean, if you look on our kickoff return team, our top two running backs are back there in the back and they're very productive in what they do. Tutu Atwell and Rodjay Burns returns in a punt game and we've had some big punt returns this year. So, we know what Mason (King) can do and Blanton (Creque) can do in the kick as far as kicking goes and so we feel that we got to win the kicking game. We feel like we have strength and we have good speed where we can put out there to cover and, and then those can be an advantage for us and it certainly wasn't this game was huge. We got to the point where they're not even kicking it anymore they're trying to pop the ball up and that plays in our favor."

Wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick has recorded three 100-yard receiving games after catching five passes for 125 yards and two scores. The Michigan native moved into a tie for seventh place all-time in school history with 17 touchdowns.
"It's a combination of his size and he does have speed," Satterfield said. "That combination is hard to defend. For a corner out there, he can kind of overmatch some of those corners with his size and then his speed to get away from them and that's two things that have helped him in a great run here. We're going to try to find ways to get him the football more in space where he can make some moves and use his strength to break tackles.

"I love the way he blocks and right now he is a complete receiver, I love the way he is playing, and he is doing exactly what we are asking him to do. He has been able to do it. We got a holding penalty on one of those great catches which was unfortunate, but I love sitting back and just watching him. I got a great view right there on the sidelines for those plans. Hopefully he will continue to finish out this season and end with a great year. He is fun to be around on and off the field, the practice and he is exactly what you want in a wide receiver."

The Cardinals are one of the top programs in the country when it comes to getting the ball down the field. With the emergence of Javian Hawkins, who has rushed for 622 yards, the Cardinals are third nationally with 15 plays of over 40 yards and sixth with nine plays of over 50 yards.
"We have some explosive guys, Satterfield said. "When you look and see what both of those guys have been able to do. They're not huge but they get one little crease then they are able to make plays. Hawkins didn't have a great game, but he had some really good runs. He made some guys miss in the hole. He's able to bounce it outside and make some big plays. It all starts up front though."

"I think that's the key, having those offensive linemen trying to get those blocks. I thought Wake did a good job of stopping our run game at times on Saturday night. But it allowed our quarterbacks to run also. Our quarterbacks had over 120 rushing in that game between the two. You can't stop it all, is the thing. If you're going to stop one part of the offense then something else should be able to have a lot of yards. That's how we want our offense to be. If you're shutting down the run game, then we should be able to throw it or vise versa. We have enough weapons, if you look at our wide receivers, tight ends, running backs, and then what our quarterbacks can do. There are enough weapons to where they can't just dial in on one thing. There are multiple things offensively that move the ball."

University of Louisville Athletics

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Rodjay Burns

Dez Fitzpatrick

Hassan Hall

Javian Hawkins

Justin Marshall

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