Louisville football game balls: Who shined against Notre Dame?

Game ball: Louisville Ladybird

For the first time in a long time, we finally got to see what getting pressure on the quarterback can do for a defense.

Last season Louisville finished the entire year with just 11 sacks, which was almost dead last out of all of the FBS programs. They never were able to get past opposing offensive linemen, and it allowed for QBs to just pick the secondary apart.

We knew that Bryan Brown was going to get things turned around on defense in all facets. But to me, the hardest part of that was going to be pressuring the quarterback.

Even with a defense that uses exotic packages, if the defensive line isn’t able to get into lanes and apply pressure on the offensive line, the other guys can’t do what they have to do. But fortunately for Louisville, they were able to get pressure and did so pretty consistently.

Louisville got pressure and forced Ian Book out of the pocket, something they did consistently throughout their season opener. This time, Book launched a bomb downfield attempting to throw the ball away under pressure. Unfortunately, the recipient of the throw wasn’t quite ready and it resulted in this.

Even sitting on the opposite side of the field I saw the Louisville Ladybird take that pass right to the face. It actually looked pretty serious, as within a few seconds nearly the entire team was surrounding her, making it difficult to see just how bad it really was.

Then I got on Twitter and within just a few minutes I saw what had happened. Unfortunately, she was left with a broken nose courtesy of Ian Book – who didn’t even say he was sorry.

Let me start by saying this. If that ball hit me, I’d be dead.  There’d be no going back on the sidelines next week. There’d be no practicing near any sort of moving object again. If that ball hits my face, it’s over.

Not only did she take the impact like a champ, but the sense of humor displayed online was incredible. So incredible, it deserved a game ball.

Satterfield has preached toughness all summer long. Not only are his players picking up on it, but like in the case of Elizabeth Scott, it seems to be spreading to other teams as well.