Louisville football welcomes FCS and in-state foe Eastern Kentucky to town for the home opener.
Can we all just pretend Monday night didn’t happen for Louisville football and that Saturday’s home opener against EKU will actually serve as the season opener? Anyone? Anyone?
Okay, so Monday night was a pile of flaming hot garbage. Despite having no head coach on the sideline, Ole Miss was able to completely outdo Scott Satterfield and the Cards, torching the defense all night long.
Overreactions are the name of the game in sports so it’s no shock that there’s mounting pressure for Satterfield. Luckily, he’ll get a chance at redemption against FCS in-state foe, Eastern Kentucky.
The last time the Cards and Colonels matched up, Louisville was in a similar situation. Coming off of a season-opening loss against Notre Dame, albeit much more competitive, the Cards got their mojo shutting out EKU 49-0. After a horrible first half, the Louisville offense will be looking to pick up where they left off in the second half. Despite being too late, they outscored the Ole Miss offense and put up numbers more in line with how we thought they’d look.
Here’s everything you need to know about Louisville football vs. EKU.
First down: Need to know
Who: Eastern Kentucky (1-0) vs. Louisville (0-1)
Where: Cardinal Stadium | Louisville, KY
When: September 11, 2021, at 7:00 PM ET
TV: ACC Network-Extra
Last meeting: 2019 | Louisville 42, EKU 0
Uniform check:
Second down: What to Watch For
What to expect from EKU
A heavy dose of Da’Joun Hewitt early
You hear a lot of talk about how the non-power five schools are being ravished by the transfer portal, and deservedly so. The new pathway of transfers from the lower level’s moving up has hurt a lot of schools. However, what’s talked about less is the players who benefit by moving down. Case in point, Da’Joun Hewitt, who left Purdue after one season and transferred to EKU.
Read now: Letting the cake bake: Is Louisville football fan reaction warranted
In the Colonel’s season opener, Hewitt was electric against Western Carolina. He finished with 22 carries for 78 yards and added three rushing touchdowns all within the first three-quarters of the game. It’s likely that EKU will attempt to model their game plan after Ole Miss, which will mean a heavy dose of running the ball and…..
Building on Ole Miss’ game plan
Louisville’s defensive coordinator Bryan Brown essentially shot himself in the foot on Monday night playing so deep in coverage. Early and often, Matt Corral was able to hit quick strikes for big yards to the likes of Dontario Drummond, Henry Pearson, and Jerrion Ealy. While EKU won’t have near the firepower of Mississippi they still can catch the Cards slipping if they aren’t careful.
Mississippi was unstoppable through the air throwing for 381 yards on what was supposed to be a pretty good secondary. What made it worse was that the majority of those yards came on short throws down the middle of the field. I’m not talking 10-15-20 yard throws. It was 3-7 yard passes that receivers got in full stride and YAC that made things so bad for Louisville football.
Look for QB Parker McKinney, who threw for 233 yards in the opener, to try and get weapons Mo Edwards Jr., Jaden Smith, and Matt Wilcox in the mix early.
A bad defense capable of forcing turnovers
EKU was lucky to walk away with a 31-28 victory over Western Carolina after giving up 501 yards of total offense and an average of 6 yards per play (Louisville gave up 7.8 YPP just for comparison). They did so because of their ability to force turnovers, specifically interceptions. Even as WCU’s offense was marching up and down the field, both EKU’s Jaden Smith and Roy Barker nabbed interceptions.
Giving up the same type of yardage without the turnovers will have the Colonels back on the bus faster than Stanley Hudson in pursuit of pies. Louisville’s offense will be looking to get back on track after the poor showing against Ole Miss and they’ll definitely have the opportunity. However, EKU is capable of making plays in the blink of an eye.
EKU couldn’t stop much of anything against WCU, at least until late, and it exposed some of the flaws that Louisville can take advantage of. Look for lots and lots of big plays from Louisville.
What to expect from Louisville football
Hunger
There are only two ways a team can respond after an ass whooping in front of millions (3.2 mil. roughly); punch back or wallow in misery. I expect the former out of Louisville against EKU.
It’s the season opener at home, and while fans are certainly upset about what they saw on Monday night, the hardcore fans (and those who just want to get out and watch a football game) will be in attendance. It’s going to be a beautiful night with kickoff at 7:00 and I expect a loud and energetic crowd.
Louisville returned a ton of veterans with leadership in 2021, something Satterfield discussed over and over this offseason. Their leadership will be tested early in the 2021 season as Louisville needs to get their confidence right. We heard things like “iron sharpens iron,” “player-led program,” “guys picking up guys,” and so on and so forth. The guys did fight late against Ole Miss but with all the off the field noise can CJ Avery, Cole Bentley, Marshon Ford, Malik Cunningham, Kei’Trel Clark, and others get this thing going back in the right direction? Or are we headed towards another 2018?
Big plays & forced turnovers
As we discussed on this week’s episode of From The Pink Seats, forcing turnovers and converting on big plays will be the goal. EKU has talent, as evident by the multiple offensive and defensive players named to all-conference preseason teams. But it’s not the talent that should be competing against what Louisville has (despite Satt competing with EKU in recruiting ;)).
The lack of forced turnovers and big plays against Ole Miss was the ultimate demise and in order to become who they want to be this year, Louisville needs to use tonight to get right. The defense was heralded as a group capable of finishing in the top 25-30 in all major statistics and turnovers were supposed to be the driving force.
Things weren’t pretty Monday night so it’s on Bryan Brown and this veteran-laden group to figure it out.
Boo birds if things go poorly
Whether it’s warranted or not, Scott Satterfield is officially on boo bird warning. Louisville fans have never been the crew to bite their tongue when dealing with displeasure and tonight will be no different.
If the offense and defense continue to struggle and EKU remains even remotely close in this game, watch out. I’m talking no consecutive three and outs. No being stuffed on third and short. No missed tackles and no big plays given up. A lot of people are looking for a reason to not support the head coach right now and the team can’t give them any more reason to do just that.
I think Louisville comes out hot tonight but if not it may be a rather 2018 WKU/Indiana State type game.
Third down: What the coaches had to say
Scott Satterfield
On a short week (From Louisville Report): ” It’s hard to put a game plan in, it’s short, and then really kind of relay that to your players. So you have to keep it simple, for sure, as we head into this week. The other thing is, I want my guys to play fast and play physical, so you want them fresh. The best thing to do is not to go as long and hard to hit. We’ve just been going with helmets this week, with spider pads on the shoulders, and hopefully, we’ll be fresh on Saturday.
On finding playmakers: “We’re still figuring out who’s gonna be those playmakers, and who’s gonna be those guys. We’ll work that out the rest of this weekend, and see where we’re at on Saturday”
On Shai Werts’ injury: “Shai’s got a lower-body sprain, and he will not be available this week. It remains to be seen how long he’ll be out. I would anticipate a couple of weeks probably, and then we’ll reevaluate where we are. He got rolled up pretty good in the game there. But he was the only one, fortunately for us, the only one that got dinged in that game.”
Fourth down: Predictions
Jacob L: 59-13, Louisville
Presley Meyer: 56-6, Louisville
Matt McGavic: 52-7, Louisville
Nick Conner: 52-17, Louisville
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