Louisville Looking to Bounce Back vs. Boston College
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program had a lot to think about during their midseason bye week. They entered the bye coming off back-to-back heartbreaking losses to Wake Forest and Virginia, one due to self-inflicted mistakes and a last-minute field goal, the other thanks to a complete meltdown in the fourth quarter.
Now, with the bye week is squarely in the rear view mirror, the Cardinals (3-3, 1-2 ACC) are switching gears back into game prep mode, hoping to bounce back when they host Boston College at Cardinal Stadium this weekend.
While the Eagles (4-2, 0-2 ACC) are also riding a two-game losing streak, head coach Scott Satterfield is still high on the program as a whole, mainly because of the turnaround orchestrated by head coach Jeff Hafley since his hired prior to last season.
"I watched that game (NC State-Boston College) live Saturday night, good football game, two good teams, and actually our next two opponents," he said. "I think coach Hafley has done a really good job there, him and his staff. Their kids play hard at BC, they know what they want to do."
Early in their season, the Eagles lost starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec to a season-ending wrist injury, and were forced to go with backup Dennis Grosel. In four starts so far this season, Grosel has completed 56.1 percent of his throws for 739 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions.
A pass-happy team last season with Jurkovec under center, BC has incorporated the run game a lot more since he went down. Running back Patrick Garwo leads the charge with 519 yards and five touchdowns, although Alec Sinkfield and Travis Levy do see their fair share of PT, combining for 281 yards and four scores.
As much as Boston College has liked to run the ball as of late, the focal point of the offensive attack, unquestionably, is wide receiver Zay Flowers. He might only have 352 yards and two touchdowns up to this point, but the preseason All-ACC wideout has tremendous potential to break loose any given night.
"He is a big play threat guy," Satterfield said. "He’s a good receiver on the outside, and they want to take shots with him, for sure. You can double him, but he can still run by you, so you better be on point when you try to cover him."
Over on defense, Boston College provides even more of a challenge. Despite ranking dead last in the ACC in both sacks and tackles for loss, the Eagles allow only 19.5 points and 329.8 yards per games. This could be indicative of their non-conference schedule to open up the year, but Satterfield believes BC still has a good defensive scheme and execution.
"They keep everything in front of them. They are a one-high team and are playing a lot of man this year. During the Clemson game this year, they manned them up throughout the whole game. Their D-line gets after it, and they play hard," he said. "They make you make plays; they’re not going to give you anything and I think that’s the mark of a good defense."
Defensive lineman Donovan Ezeiruaku leads the charge with a team-best 3.0 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks, linebacker Isaiah Graham-Mobley has a team-best 38 tackles, and cornerback Josh DeBerry has two of BC's six interceptions.
Put both sides of the ball together, and Satterfield knows that Boston College presents a worthy challenge. Breaking their two-game skid won't be easy, but as always, him, the players, and the rest of the staff are determined to get back on the right track.
"We know we’re going to get a good football team. We’ve had back-to-back heartbreak losses, so we’re looking to bounce back, and get a win in a very competitive league" he said. "We’re looking forward to getting back out there and playing after this bye week.”
Kickoff vs. Boston college is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 23 at 4:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Malik Cunningham: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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