Louisville football: Stock up, stock down following win over WKU
Stock up: Attention to detail
The biggest headache of the Bobby Petrino era was the lack of discipline and preparedness game in and game out.
Louisville football has often been defined in recent years by stupid penalties, dropped passes, and just a general lack of situational awareness. These issues are typically direct reflections of the coaching staff.
The Cardinals have shown steady improvement in executing the small things well under Satterfield, and that is illustrated by the lack of penalties committed on Saturday night.
Louisville's 3 penalties vs. Western Kentucky were its fewest since it had a penalty-free game at Wake Forest on Oct. 28, 2017. It was the fewest in a season opener since having 3 penalties in a 59-28 win vs. Kentucky on Sept. 3, 2006.
— Kelly Dickey (@RealCardGame) September 14, 2020
Louisville was flagged for holding on the first play of the game. Outside of that, a questionable pass interference call and an intentional delay of game penalty were the only blemishes for the Cards.
There has been improvement across the board for Louisville in the last year and change, but the overall discipline and attention to detail is something that should not go unnoticed.
Stock down: Special teams
Low hanging fruit, I know.
We knew this was a possibility entering the season, and some of the coaching staff’s worst nightmares came true on special teams plays on Saturday.
The game began with a botched snap that led to WKU getting the ball on the 1 yard line just two minutes in.
In the second half, new Cards punter Logan Lupo had another punt blocked and picked up at the Louisville four yard line.
The Cardinals also muffed a kick-off return, and had another ill-advised kick-off ran only six yards out of the end zone.
Additionally, it doesn’t appear that the staff is comfortable with a kicker outside of point blank field goal range. The Cards went for it on fourth down on a couple of occasions that we probably would have seen a field goal attempt last season.
These things are easy to write off now, but if not corrected, they will come back to bite Louisville eventually.
There are going to be growing pains when you lose your place kicker and punter, but special teams were just all-around bad on Saturday and overshadowed what was otherwise a really solid showing from the Louisville defense.