Cards Travel to No. 12 Clemson for Key ACC Contest

Louisville (6-3, 3-3 ACC) at #12 Clemson (8-1, 6-0 ACC)
Nov. 12, 2022 • 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Memorial Stadium (81,500/Grass) • Clemson, S.C.
ESPN • 93.9 The Ville • Louisville Radio Network

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Winners of four-straight games, the University of Louisville faces its stiffest challenges of the season when it visits No. 12 Clemson on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on ESPN.

The Cardinals are looking for their first win over Clemson, dropping the first seven contests in the series. Louisville is making its first trip to Death Valley since 2018 and are 0-3 all-time at Memorial Stadium.

"Coach Dabo Swinney has done an unbelievable job down there at Clemson," Satterfield said. "It seems like they just continue to reload. They're coming off a tough loss last week against Notre Dame. We know we're going to hostile environment this week down at Clemson. That's one of the better home field advantages and venues to play. It's going to be loud, crazy, all of those things. They have a 38 game home winning streak, we know that. It's obviously a tough place to go play and try to get a win. So we'll have to prepare for that, particularly on offense. We've got to be ready for that.

"We have our work cut out for us going against this team. We know we're going to have to play a great game. We've got to win the turnover margin; we've got to win the big play side of the ball on both side of the ball. We should be ready to go. We came out of the game pretty healthy. Malik (Cunningham) did ding his hand, his non-throwing hand, but he's fine. He's going to be practicing this week, he'll be out there today. Luke Kandra should be back to practicing this week. He's an offensive lineman, one that we've missed the last two weeks. He'll still be a day-to-day, but he will be out there practicing this week, which is a great sign to be able to get him back out. I think he's been playing at a high level. Other than that, everyone else is ready to go. So, we're excited about it."

The Cardinals are one of the most confident teams in the country after producing four-straight double-digit wins. Louisville handled James Madison 34-10 last Saturday at Cardinal Stadium to produce its longest winning streak since 2016.

"We're certainly playing with a lot more confidence as a football team overall compared to a month ago," Satterfield said. "I think once you get after the first part of the season, you kind of get a good identity of your team. You kind of know where your strengths and weaknesses are after the first four or five games. We were inconsistent early on playing, and I think over the last four games, we've really found some consistency. That's been the biggest key, and when you do that, then you get confidence. It certainly still hadn't been easy, we're still battling every game. We're still going out there and it's taking four quarters, it's taken a lot of time to continue to stick with it. Our guys have been able to do that, and we do, we have a lot of confidence."

Last season, the Cardinals had their best chance to pull off its first win in the series. The Cards had the ball on the Clemson 2-yard line in the final minutes, but the Tigers held the Cardinals out of the end zone.

"Yeah, down inside the five in four plays that score, yeah it sticks with us big time," Satterfield said. "It's one of those games that you certainly had an opportunity to go in and get in there. I mean, if we scored, they still had some time, but who knows what would have happened. Offensively, it just really haunts you not being able to score right there. So, there are certain games that stand out more than others. That's certainly one that stands out and probably will, for a long time. Hopefully, we get that bad taste out of our mouths."

One of the key components that has sparked the Louisville offense has been Tiyon Evans, who has rushed for 233 yards over the last two games. He came off his most productive game of his Louisville career last week with 126 yards and a score versus James Madison.

"I still don't think he is 100% healthy," Satterfield said. "I think he's getting better each and every week. He's better this week than he was last, and so on so forth. So, hopefully we'll continue to see him elevate his game. He's got the juice in the legs when he gets to the second level, he can take it the distance. But also, the power in the box, we saw that last week as well. He's breaking tackles, he's spinning, he's getting up there and getting extra yards. He's becoming the back that we thought he could be over the last two weeks. For him, he's going back home to South Carolina, so it'll be big for him this week to be able to go back home and play Clemson. I know he will be excited and hopefully will continue to progress like he has the last two weeks."

University of Louisville Athletics

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