Takeaways from Scott Satterfield's Press Conference

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the first time in three weeks, the University of Louisville returns home Saturday to face Florida State at noon on the ACC Regional Sports Network.

The Cardinals dropped their fourth-straight game last Saturday, losing 12-7 to No. 4 Notre Dame in South Bend., Ind. Louisville sacked Notre Dame four times and held quarterback Ian Book to 106 yards through the air, but a 13-yard run by the signal caller provided the difference in the game.

UofL head coach Scott Satterfield addressed the media on Monday. Here are a few takeaways from what Satterfield said to the local media.

The Cardinals have been held to less than 300 yards of offense in two of the last three games, including 233 yards in the loss to Notre Dame.
"I think we have players that can make the plays, for whatever reason, we have not had the big plays that we had last year. We have to continue to find ways to get the ball in space to our play makers, particularly, Tutu (Atwell). It is important to find ways to get our guys the ball to where they can make those big plays. He (Atwell) is very explosive player so I have to do a better job with the getting the ball in, in certain situations, to our guys. For example, this weekend, against Notre Dame, there were lot of the first downs, where they were loading up the box, so we got do a better job of getting the ball outside and win in those scenarios. There were too many times where we got in long yardage scenarios. On a bunch of third down and longs, Notre Dame had their defense back so you can't get the plays down the field, so you have to take the completions underneath."

After giving up 46 points to Georgia Tech, the Cardinals allowed one touchdown and just two field goals to the fourth-ranked Fighting Irish.
"I was extremely encouraged. Going into the Notre Dame game, everybody was talking about their offensive line. They were very impressive on film. Notre Dame is very good up front, coming into the game they were averaging around 270 yards a game rushing, but very encouraging with what our defense was able to do. I thought they we did a good job of containing the run. Notre Dame had a lot of a lot of time of possession, ran a lot of plays, and occupied the ball, but we didn't give up the big plays. I thought that that was a huge part of the game. We forced a lot more contested balls whenever they did throw the football. I thought that our pass defense was a lot better. We also got in the backfield. We ended up with four sacks on the game."

The Cardinals recoerded four sacks in the loss to Notre Dame, which was a season best for the Cardinals.
"We talked this last week about getting more pressure on quarterbacks, so I think the encouraging play and those things go hand in hand. With getting more pressure; the throw is more rushed, and the corners are able to contest on the back end. Therefore, not giving up those big plays was absolutely encouraging. To hold Notre Dame to twelve points. We continue to improve defensively, if you look at the numbers, we have compared to last year, it has been an improvement, and last year defensively has been an improvement from the year before. Right now, the biggest thing on defense is being able to get off the field on third downs. We have to do a better job with that on defense, important to not to give up big plays, but third down defense is an area that we have to get better at."

In the first five games, the Cardinals have struggled on third down, converting under 40 percent of their attempts.
"Well, anything over 10 yards makes it really difficult, because if you do run a normal pattern – like, for example, a curl pattern – when you catch that, you're going to be right around 10 yards. Anything after that, you're going to have to break some tackles. If it's past 10 yards, most defenses are going to play a little bit off there knowing you have to get to those sticks. If it's past those 10 yards, it's tough to run by them. So, you have to run something underneath, and you have to make guys miss. You have to find a way to run after the catch. So, I think anything past that, it makes things a lot more difficult. Then you start thinking, okay, do we want to run routes that are further down the field? Well now you're going to have to protect longer. Now you run the risk of getting sacked. Is this calculated risk one you want to take with the ball in our hands? All of those things are coming into play. It just makes it hard."

University of Louisville Athletics

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