As rival Clemson keeps winning, Louisville football fans should still be optimistic

While it might have been tough to watch rival Clemson dominate Alabama in the CFP Title game, there is a great reason to have optimism for Louisville football fans under Coach Satterfield.

Just a little over two years ago, the #3 ranked Louisville football team took #5 Clemson down to the wire in Death Valley. That same Clemson team would go on to beat Ohio State 31-0 in the CFP Semifinal, and then beat Alabama in the CFP title game.

Florida State was starting to lose it’s grip on the Atlantic Division, and it looked like Louisville and Clemson would be competing for the division crown for the next few years.

Obviously that did not happen. Louisville had a rather abrupt and ugly fall from grace, and seemed to fall apart ever since that heartbreaking Clemson loss in Death Valley.

Now, the two programs are in just about polar opposite circumstances. Not even 3 full years removed from having close battles every year for the Atlantic Division since Louisville joined the ACC.

As a Cards fan, it was tough to watch last night as a program that you felt like you were competing with not so long ago, completely dismantle Alabama and capture it’s 2nd national title in 3 years. Not to mention, right after we just had our worst season in decades.

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While Clemson is further distancing themselves from the rest of the ACC, and seemingly building their own dynasty, there’s plenty of reason for optimism for us.

As Presley Meyer so eloquently mentioned, Scott Satterfield is building quite possibly the best staff that this football program has ever had, and maybe one of the best staffs in the country.

As Cards fans, we should be excited about the foundation that is being laid to rebuild the program and go back to competing for the Atlantic Division title, and eventually the College Football Playoff once again.

Satterfield seems to have the right mind, the leadership, and the staff to get it done. His staff loves working with him, and he’s shown that he can attract great coaches as well. Just look at how long his guys have stayed with him compared to the other guy that used to coach here.

When Satterfield talks about culture, it makes you feel excited about the future of the program and confident about those now in charge of the program:

"“We’re going to put our arms around them and we’re just going to pull them up and bring them to win football games and championships. But it starts with our culture, so that’s what we’re going to work on. The very first thing I told them was that ‘guys, you have to trust me. And I have to trust you. And that’s the way our program’s going to work.’ “"

This is such a stark change in what this program previously had in recent years, and it sounds eerily similar to the guy in charge in Death Valley. When Satterfield talks about culture, it sounds exactly like what the doctor ordered. This program has needed the man in charge to ‘put their arms around them’.

The story of Clemson’s rise should be encouraging to Cards fans as well. Dabo Swinney was considered a rather uninspiring hire at the time, and until the last few years, Clemson had just about as much success as Louisville had in the last 15 years. Granted, Clemson has always been a better program historically, but they were by no means the college football powerhouse that they are now.

It can’t be overstated how big of a deal it was to bring back Cort Dennison and Stephen Field. Those two were largely responsible for Louisville’s highest ranked football recruiting class ever and are regarded as some of the best recruiters in the country. So those fans that were worried about recruiting or Satterfield’s ability to attract coaches, there ya go.

With a young and hungry staff full of great recruiters that all love working for Scott Satterfield, Louisville has the potential to have some continuity in the coaching staff for once, and create this winning culture that we’ve all been hearing about.

None of us know exactly what the future holds, but we have every reason to be optimistic and excited about Louisville football again. And hopefully in the near future, we’ll be competing for the ACC crown again.