Photo by: Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics
Cards Ready for Road Trip to Face Boston College
September 27, 2022 | Football
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Scott Satterfield hopes that the mistakes that has plagued his team at times have disappeared. After entering last week's game versus USF averaging 10.0 penalties per game and averaging over two turnovers per game, the University of Louisville played an almost perfect game in the 41-3 win over USF last Saturday at Cardinal Stadium.
"We had to run for our mistakes that we had in that game, five penalties that we had there," Satterfield said. But I think we didn't have as many pre-snap penalties, that was the key. Going back to the Florida State game, I thought we played extremely hard. We didn't tackle as good as we needed to tackle. And I think that gave up some of those big plays. To me, that's the biggest thing, just focusing in each and every play. You can't take a play off. One play and you do the wrong thing, and all of the sudden it's a big play and we don't look good. It all fits like a puzzle, and everybody has to be on point with their assignment."
The Cardinals committed a season-low five penalties and turned the football over once against the Bulls. The offense was as sharp as its been all season, rushing for 283 yards and four touchdowns, and the defense shut down the USF offense, holding it to just 158 yards of total offense. With all the superlatives on both sides of the ball, it was the lack of self-inflicted wounds that made Satterfield the happiest.
"Well, it's something we have talked about and are focusing on, we are trying to stay disciplined," Satterfield said. "To me, it's the pre-snap penalties that drive me crazy where it doesn't take any talent, it's just focus and concentration. We did a much better job with that. The pre-snap (penalties) though, we are going to continue to focus on it. We have things that we are doing in practice that we talked about. If you have those penalties, you're going to run after practice just to try to keep them focused and know what we have to do because it is so huge and critical in games. We have seen how much it hurts us when we do those things. We just keep harping on it and hopefully we continue to learn that way because we are going to be a better team if we don't have those penalties."
Thanks to the large win, Satterfield was able to give time to many newcomers that he will count on to build depth as injuries continue to mount.
"There are some guys who we may see down the line but we have been cautious about only playing them just a few snaps since you do get those four games," Satterfield said. "I think it's week by week, an individual case basis to see where they can really help us. Chris Bell, for example, came out and was solid, he got one nice catch and took off down the sideline, he's a monster out there at wide out and can really run. So hopefully a guy like that would increase his roll a little bit more this week. We can give him some more opportunities to catch the football because a guy like him is going to get better and better every week. So, I do think its individually on a case by case basis to see where we are at with those guys."
"The other thing to think about is, and we told the guys Sunday in our meeting, that when you get to this point in the season we're getting ready for game five and injuries are starting to creep in, more and more guys are going to have to have roles in special teams. We have seen that every year. Some of those guys will start to increase their roles with that and then also increase their role on offense or defense. I think as we see how the season goes forward, we will see what we need to do."
Louisville (2-2, 0-2) returns to ACC play this weekend with a trip to Boston College (1-3, 0-2). Both programs are seeking to capture its first league win of the year. Kickoff is scheduled for noon, with the ACC Network providing the broadcast.
"Obviously a challenge when you play on the road in the ACC," Satterfield said during his Tuesday press conference. "But it comes back to us, focus on what we can control which is how we prepare. I thought we did a great job of that last week with being very intentional in how we prepared, so we've got to do that again this week. Our guys have to be focused in each and every day with the game plan that we're putting in and how to execute it, and then obviously go up there and play fast."
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"We had to run for our mistakes that we had in that game, five penalties that we had there," Satterfield said. But I think we didn't have as many pre-snap penalties, that was the key. Going back to the Florida State game, I thought we played extremely hard. We didn't tackle as good as we needed to tackle. And I think that gave up some of those big plays. To me, that's the biggest thing, just focusing in each and every play. You can't take a play off. One play and you do the wrong thing, and all of the sudden it's a big play and we don't look good. It all fits like a puzzle, and everybody has to be on point with their assignment."
The Cardinals committed a season-low five penalties and turned the football over once against the Bulls. The offense was as sharp as its been all season, rushing for 283 yards and four touchdowns, and the defense shut down the USF offense, holding it to just 158 yards of total offense. With all the superlatives on both sides of the ball, it was the lack of self-inflicted wounds that made Satterfield the happiest.
"Well, it's something we have talked about and are focusing on, we are trying to stay disciplined," Satterfield said. "To me, it's the pre-snap penalties that drive me crazy where it doesn't take any talent, it's just focus and concentration. We did a much better job with that. The pre-snap (penalties) though, we are going to continue to focus on it. We have things that we are doing in practice that we talked about. If you have those penalties, you're going to run after practice just to try to keep them focused and know what we have to do because it is so huge and critical in games. We have seen how much it hurts us when we do those things. We just keep harping on it and hopefully we continue to learn that way because we are going to be a better team if we don't have those penalties."
Thanks to the large win, Satterfield was able to give time to many newcomers that he will count on to build depth as injuries continue to mount.
"There are some guys who we may see down the line but we have been cautious about only playing them just a few snaps since you do get those four games," Satterfield said. "I think it's week by week, an individual case basis to see where they can really help us. Chris Bell, for example, came out and was solid, he got one nice catch and took off down the sideline, he's a monster out there at wide out and can really run. So hopefully a guy like that would increase his roll a little bit more this week. We can give him some more opportunities to catch the football because a guy like him is going to get better and better every week. So, I do think its individually on a case by case basis to see where we are at with those guys."
"The other thing to think about is, and we told the guys Sunday in our meeting, that when you get to this point in the season we're getting ready for game five and injuries are starting to creep in, more and more guys are going to have to have roles in special teams. We have seen that every year. Some of those guys will start to increase their roles with that and then also increase their role on offense or defense. I think as we see how the season goes forward, we will see what we need to do."
Louisville (2-2, 0-2) returns to ACC play this weekend with a trip to Boston College (1-3, 0-2). Both programs are seeking to capture its first league win of the year. Kickoff is scheduled for noon, with the ACC Network providing the broadcast.
"Obviously a challenge when you play on the road in the ACC," Satterfield said during his Tuesday press conference. "But it comes back to us, focus on what we can control which is how we prepare. I thought we did a great job of that last week with being very intentional in how we prepared, so we've got to do that again this week. Our guys have to be focused in each and every day with the game plan that we're putting in and how to execute it, and then obviously go up there and play fast."
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