Three offseason priorities for Louisville football heading into 2020
By Jacob Lane
Louisville football will enter a crucial offseason that could set up another eight or more win season in 2020. We take a look at the biggest priorities for the Cards this offseason.
There weren’t many outside of the Louisville football locker room who thought the Cards had any chance of winning enough games to get bowl eligible, let alone get to eight wins (including the Music City Bowl) and finish second in the ACC Atlantic Division.
Luckily for us, the opinions of what the season may look like for Louisville by others had no effect on the season. Louisville was able to outplay the “rebuilding” expectation put on them, including picking up wins against a ranked ACC team on the road for the first time, and it earned Scott Satterfield the ACC Coach of the Year and talk about him being the next “big” coach in college football.
Sure, there were some bad moments throughout a season that felt “magical” at times. Giving up over 500-yards of rushing offense to a one-dimensional Kentucky offense was a kick in the gut, as was the absolute blow out by Miami coming off of a huge Virginia victory. Both losses hurt simply because it felt like 2018 all over again with missed tackles, obvious mental mistakes, and the exposing of a roster not quite ready to win at that type of level.
The Notre Dame and Clemson losses bred confidence in Satterfield and the Cards’ ability to compete at the highest level so soon. Despite being blown out by both teams (both of whom were top 10 teams when they traveled to Louisville) in those games Louisville looked like a team that with more depth, more time, and more talent could eventually win. They competed in small doses against top talent and it gave that team and the fans confidence that things would change soon.
The bowl win was further proof of what the coaching staff can do and will do moving forward. Yes, Mississippi State was clearly a team on the brim of implosion (we saw that with Joe Moorhead being fired) missing plenty of players due to the NFL Draft. But it didn’t matter.
With 30 days to prepare Louisville went from giving up nearly 600 yards of rushing offense to allowing only 145 yards to a team that was top 20 in rushing statistics this season. The players and coaches all bought in a long time ago, and the win in Nashville was a culmination of all their efforts in an epic storybook fashion.
Now with an eight-win season under the belt and a top 40 recruiting class featuring a ton of early enrollees, there’s momentum going into the offseason that could potentially lead to a top-25 finish in 2020 and a shot at competing for a New Years Six Bowl.
The second full offseason under Scott Satterfield will be crucial to the development and trajectory of his program going into his second season, with a team returning nearly all of their top talent.
There are a lot of things to work on during the time off and I know that neither the players or coaches will rest on their laurels. Louisville is a program with an upward trajectory that could soon be on the verge of national relevancy once again.
How do they do that? We look at three crucial priorities for the offseason that could play a large role in helping Satterfield and the Cardinals win at an even higher level in 2020.