Louisville football: 3 things to watch vs. Western Kentucky

Can Louisville football shake off history of slow starts?

Louisville fans have seen it all when it comes to the way their program starts off the first football game of the season. Whether it be the interception on the opening play of the game against Auburn by a freshman Lamar Jackson. The multiple false start and illegal procedure penalties against Alabama the plagued a promising opening drive for Louisville on offense. The incredible start against Charlotte from Lamar Jackson (which included 8 touchdowns by halftime). And let’s not also forget the start to last seasons game against Notre Dame that saw Louisville score on each of their first two possessions.

That’s a long winded way of saying, you never know what you’re going to get out of the Louisville football program on opening day and in a year with a pandemic essentially wiping away every bit of the offseason out while resetting the playing field.

Thankfully, most of the Louisville football program has been back on campus since June/early July without having any sort of significant stoppage due to the virus spreading among the team. That’s allowed for even more time in the meeting rooms, weight rooms, and of course, on field training.

As we’ve seen and hear for what feels like forever now, the players have been laser focused on the task at hand and have poured every single ounce of themselves into preparing for what should be a special season. Getting the chance to step out onto the field next Saturday will be a reminder of how fortunate they are to be able to actually compete in a real and meaningful game – which  will only further their hunger for greatness.

I expect a fast and mentally prepared team that won’t be phased by who and what is on the other side. The goal is winning an ACC Championship, and while Western Kentucky is the team walking into Cardinal Stadium on Saturday, it really wouldn’t matter who it is as we all can expect them to come out playing with their hair on fire.

So  what does that look like?

Offensively it starts with the offensive line setting the tone and using their advantage in talent, size, athleticism, etc. to take advantage of the Western Kentucky defense and protect Micale Cunningham while opening up holes for Javian Hawkins to go to work. From there it’s about focusing on the task at hand and not letting the emotions and jitters have any effect on performance or cause mistakes like self-inflicted penalties and turnovers.

Louisville will lean on their experienced skill positions and offensive line (despite two new starters) while defensively being better suited than any of the last three or four teams that have taken the field. Behind Dorian Etheridge, CJ Avery, and Russ Yeast – Louisville will have everything needed to slow down a dynamic running game of WKU as well as their talented group of pass catchers.

Small mistakes that allow big plays was a huge problem of the Cardinal defense in 2019, and against Western Kentucky they’ll have the opportunity to show that they’ve actually taken the proper steps to prevent that. While forcing turnovers would be an easy way to prevent the Tops from any big offensive plays.

If Louisville can not turn the football over themselves and prevent big plays from taking place on defense, I like their chances of putting this game earlier than they did last season.