Louisville football: 5 burning questions for Cards vs. Mississippi State

Does Scott Satterfield’s “reward” approach lead to a win or another sleepy performance?

Overall since Scott Satterfield arrived in Louisville there’s been very little to be critical about. Early on many wondered about his approach to Spring Practice, holding it in February vs. the traditional March/April months, his decision to play Jawon Pass over other quarterbacks, his recruiting, and maybe a few other small things here and there.

When you take over as the coach of a 2-10 team there’s obviously a grace period as you try to get the ship headed in the right direction, something Satterfield did (and did well) during his first season.

However, if I had to be overly critical on something from 2019 it would be his approach to the Kentucky game. While Kentucky football continued their typical “L’s Down” trash talking approach, Satterfield made sure his team stayed focused on themselves and not on the opponent. He warned them to stay off social media or at least away from engaging in arguments with fans on both sides and opposing players.

I thought this was the right move at first. Until his team showed up in Lexington only to get punked. How much of that had to do with the approach to the game vs. Kentucky’s, I can’t be sure. But to me, it looked like the Cats were much more amped up about winning that game than Louisville was in every way possible.

So what does that have to do with the bowl game?

The bowl approach of Scott Satterfield may not be original, but it is new here in Louisville. During his first press conference following the bowl announcement Satterfield talked about it, saying:

"“You try to keep it fun. we’ll try to have different competitions within practice to make the guys have a good time with it. we aren’t going to be out there a long time, to me you want to make this experience fun and enjoyable, something these guys want to get back to every year. When you get to this point in the year, so much of it is mental at this point. The ones who want to be there, who want to put the work in and want to play the game are the ones who are successful.”"

He went on to say, “More than anything we want to have fun. I think that’s the bottom line. I don’t want these guys every day like ‘man, I don’t want to go to practice today’ I want them to want to come. To enjoy it, to enjoy the whole process. We want to have a good time with these guys, they don’t have to worry about school. It’s basically football and comradery with their other teammates and coaches, to me that’s what it’s all about, and while we’re here we’re going to learn some football and get better at that as well.”

The way I see it there are pros and cons to this approach from Coach Satt.

The good thing is he’s rewarding his team for their hard work and dedication to the 2019 season by allowing them to have fun rather than be so bogged down with preparation and the fundamentals. While those things are still important he said he wants his team to want to get back to this every year, and by allowing them to have fun and be lose he believes that could translate to them working hard to get back to that time and time again.

What could go wrong?

I was a young(er) 20-something-year-old guy just a few years ago and I know that at times when I was given a longer rope or was given a chance to loosen up a bit, I oftentimes took advantage of it. I wasn’t as dedicated or focused as I should have been and it led to me either not doing as well as I should have or missing the ball altogether. (I was not a football player, so please don’t take this as me saying I’ve been in there shoes).

All I’m saying is with Satterfield still in his first year and still trying to get a firm understanding of how his team and players work in new situations, there’s a possibility that a looser approach could lead to the Cards coming out and going through the motions against Mississippi State much like we saw (at times) against Kentucky.

However, I know that the Satterfield and company have been winners for a long time and they know far better than I do, which is why I trust that this new approach will work and it will lead to Louisville playing loose and not overthinking every detail of the game. It’s worked in years past for App State, as Satterfield was able to lead them to three straight bowl games after their transition to FBS.

That should give Louisville fans confidence that the Cards can get it done against Mississippi State.