Louisville Defense Takes Step Forward in Win vs. WKU
Louisville has made a name for themselves as an offensive-minded team in their short time under second year head coach Scott Satterfield, but the other side of the ball took a much needed step forward in the Cardinals' season opener against Western Kentucky.
After giving up 439.9 yards per game during the 2019 season, the Cardinals defense allowed the Hilltoppers to gain only 248 total yards of offense - which played a key factor in their season opening 35-21 win. It was the lowest yardage total Louisville allowed by an FBS opponent since Kent State gained 150 yards in a 42-3 victory on Sept. 23, 2017.
"I thought our defense came out and played outstandingly tonight," Satterfield said after the game. "We put them in a bad situation a few times and they played a great game. They did a great job on third down to get off the field, only gave up maybe a couple of the big chunk plays. It was just a really good effort. The guys played extremely hard out there tonight."
While Western Kentucky was able to find the endzone three times on Saturday night, only one of those instances can truly be attributed to the defense. Special teams gaffes set the Hilltoppers up within the five yard line twice, during the first and third quarter, and WKU did not string together a touchdown drive until there was only 5:40 left on the game clock.
Louisville didn't have to wait until their first big defensive play. WKU quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome found wide receiver Jahcour Pearson for a 50-yard pass in the first quarter and tied at seven, until Louisville safety Russ Yeast was able to force and recover his own fumble. It set up the go-ahead drive that put Louisville up for good in the game.
“It meant a lot to me just to have a big play like that to get a lot of confidence back and get ready to go for the rest of the game. It was really a wakeup call," Yeast said. “I had a feeling it was going to come out just based on where I hit him. I lined him up pretty well, and I kind of felt that he didn’t have the ball. I just looked up and it was laying there.”
Coming out of the half, Louisville's offense was a tad slower than they had been through the first thirty minutes of the game. Fortunately, things were just starting to click for the defense and they began swarming to the ball.
Weakside linebacker Monty Montgomery tallied Louisville's first two sacks of the season, both of which came on the same third quarter WKU drive and forced a turnover on downs. Fellow inside linebacker Dorian Etheridge also got in on the action with 3.5 tackles for loss - the most by a Louisville player since Stacy Thomas had the same amount vs. Wake Forest on Oct. 28, 2017.
"We’ve been focused in," Etheridge said. "We’re trying to change the narrative of our defense, and it starts with every game. We’ve been fine-tuning the little things.”
Louisville is set to host Miami next week for their ACC opener, with College GameDay also tagging along for the ride. Kickoff is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. on ABC.
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