Louisville football: 3 not-so-crazy defensive predictions in 2020
By Jacob Lane
Louisville football defense will be the difference-maker in massive upset win
Presley Meyer wrote a great piece last week that looked into whether Louisville football pulling off a massive upset during the 2020 season is possible.
Just like last season, Louisville football will go head-to-head with two of the nation’s premier programs in Clemson and Notre Dame. However, unlike in 2019, both of these games will come as true road tests in very different parts of the season.
In just his first season as head coach of a power five program, Scott Satterfield put together complex game plans against both Notre Dame (in the season opener) and Clemson, which allowed the underdog Cardinals to compete much longer than we may have expected.
While Louisville ultimately struggled to hang on as both games ended up rather lopsided, but we saw what the team could do with more time to cultivate depth and get players even more comfortable with their roles.
That’s why this season I believe it’s not crazy to think that Louisville could put Notre Dame on upset alert when they travel to South Bend late in the season. The Irish were the superior team in 2019 as you might imagine, as Ian Book, Tony Jones Jr., and Chase Claypool gave the Cards way more than they could handle to the tune of 423 yards of total offense and 35 points.
This season Notre Dame should once be a top 25 team, but they won’t have nearly the star power we’ve been used to seeing them have over the last five-plus years. Gone are Jones Jr., Claypool, and star tight end, Cole Kmet, on offense while they lose Julian Okwara, Asmar Bilal, Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott, and Troy Pride Jr. on the defensive side of the ball.
The offensive line and quarterback will once again be the team’s strength, which could cause issues for Louisville’s defense considering their inability to get into opposing backfields and rush the passer. We saw Book pick the Louisville secondary apart last season when he had time to throw. However, if Louisville is going to win any game they shouldn’t its the defense who will have to be the MVP in my opinion; something they are capable of doing with time.
Led by C.J. Avery, Dorian Etheridge, Chandler Jones, who I think could be the biggest breakout player in 2020, and Russ Yeast, along with Marlon Character, Anthony Johnson, Jack Fagot, and others who will emerge, Louisville’s defense could actually have the upper hand. Early in 2019, Louisville showed the ability to be able to create confusion and limit big plays as well as get stops on third down (something that surprised all the fans in the stadium).
Assuming the offense is able to take care of business like we saw them do last season, even against top defensive teams, it means the omen for this game will fall on the defense. There aren’t many teams that Louisville won’t be able to outscore, so it will imperative for the defense to get more of those crucial third-down stops, stuff plays in the backfield, and force turnovers.
There’s reason to doubt them being able to do that in a game that will come in the second to last week of the season, but if I know anything about Scott Satterfield his staff will be ready to handle seeing a team like that for a second time in two years.
Louisville’s defense has the speed advantage over a more powerful, less mobile offensive line, but it will be all about whether they can get into the backfield and cause disruption. Look for guys like Kam Wilson, Yasir Abdullah, and Rodjay Burns to be used in a variety of unique blitz packages all intended to make Ian Book hurry.
We saw Louisville’s defense pick off Trevor Lawrence twice last season, and while they struggled at other times to create interceptions, you’d think in a game of this magnitude they’ll be prepared and able to step up and do that.
It won’t be easy and it’s not a certain by any means, but if Louisville gets their best game out of their defensive stars, it’s not out of the realm of possibilities to think the Cards could pull off their first major upset of the Satterfield era.