The State of Louisville

Louisville football wide receiver Tutu Atwell scores touchdown

From The Pink Seats Podcast: Louisville football season in review, part 1

A closer statistical look at the Louisville football offensive performance in 2020.

Jacob Lane and Matt McGavic talk Louisville football’s offense in the first part of a four-part series looking at the 2020 season. Despite finishing with more than solid numbers, it’s clear that the season didn’t go the way anyone wanted. Finishing 4-7 wasn’t even in the picture but due to problems on offense, things went south.

From a consistent turnover problem to struggles controlling the line of scrimmage – the 2020 season truly was a missed opportunity. There were a number of factors that played a role in the downturn, but still, there is a lot we can glean moving forward.

It’s fair to have more questions than answers coming off of a year where we thought we’d see a more complete unit. After coaches called the 2019 version of the Louisville offense “vanilla” there were supposed to be new wrinkles.

Unfortunately, we didn’t see those until after stars Javian Hawkins and Tutu Atwell were officially out. Even in the lineup, turnovers became a consistent problem for just about everyone. A big part of that could be blamed on playcalling and defenses catching up to Scott Satterfield.

The turnovers were a problem literally all season. 12 interceptions and 12 fumbles meant Louisville football finished 124th nationally in turnovers lost, and it started in game one. In fact, within just a few games, the Cards had already thrown more picks than they did in all of ’19.

Trending: De’Rail Sims is a perfect fit for Louisville football

Speaking of turnovers. You can’t talk about the offense without talking about starting quarterback Malik Cunningham. Despite finishing with strong finishes in passing yards, completion percentage, and other important quarterback statistics, the one thing that stuck out was the turnovers.

Even with the return of weapons like Atwell, Dez Fitzpatrick, Marshon Ford, and others, Cunningham took a step back in his development. We addressed his status as the starter in-depth.

To wrap up the season in a way that was easy to digest, we looked at three key statistics in a new segment titled “A Closer Look.”

This gives us, and hopefully you, a better idea of where things went wrong, why turnovers happened, and much more.

Topics and talking points

  • Biggest storylines from Louisville football’s offense in 2020
  • How the offensive line’s struggles impacted the quarterback and offense as a whole
  • The good and bad of Malik Cunningham’s development
  • How good things could’ve been without the turnovers
  • Were the turnovers fluky?
  • What the turnovers say about the bigger picture on offense
  • Stats tell an interesting story post Atwell & Hawkins

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