Louisville Preparing for Retooled Syracuse Offensive Scheme Under New OC
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Ever since Scott Satterfield took over as the head coach of the Louisville football program, and really since the Cardinals joined the Atlantic Coast Conference back in 2014, they have dominated the series against Syracuse. Louisville is 7-1 against Syracuse since they joined the ACC, with Satterfield being a perfect 3-0.
On top of lighting up the scoreboard on offense, in their last two matchups, Louisville has kept Syracuse completely in check on defense. The Cardinals won 30-0 in 2020 for their first shutout over a Power Five opponent since 2004, then followed up that up with a 41-3 drubbing last season.
Both seasons, the Orange featured Sterlin Gilbert as their offensive coordinator, and their lack of success moving the ball wasn't just against Louisville. In 2021, Syracuse ranked 86th in total offense at 371.7 yards per game, as well as 91st in scoring offense at 24.9 points per game.
Following the end of last season, Cuse head coach Dino Babers made some changes in his offensive staff. He opted not to retain Gilbert, and brought in former Virginia offensive coordinator Robert Anae. Babers also hired quarterbacks coach Jason Beck, who also came from UVA.
For Louisville, preparing for a Syracuse team that has the potential to have a very different offensive scheme, in the first week of the season, presents a unique challenge.
"We saw what Virginia did to us last year offensively," Satterfield said. "Anytime you go into a first game and they’ve got some new coaches, you really don't know what they're going to do. ... You're kind of guessing what they’re going to do offensively, but we know who their playmakers are and who they’re going to try to get the ball to."
Last season, Virginia rallied from a 17-point fourth quarter deficit to come away with an improbable 34-33 victory at Cardinal Stadium. Quarterback Brennan Armstrong had a monster day through the air, going 40-of-60 for 487 yards and three touchdowns to two interceptions.
It was one of many spectacular outings by Armstrong, averaging the second-most offensive yards per game at 427.3, missing the national leader, Western Kentucky's Bailey Zappe, by a tenth of a yard. Additionally, Virginia averaged the third-most offense in FBS at 515.8 yards per game, behind only Ohio State (561.5) and WKU (535.3).
Armstrong was not the only quarterback prodigy for Anae or Beck, who both spent six years at Virginia. Former Cavaliers signal callers Kurt Benkert and Bryce Perkins also saw a considerable amount of success. In fact, Benkert, Perkins and Armstrong are the only quarterbacks in Virginia history to throw for 20+ touchdowns in multiple seasons. Benkert did it in 2016-17, Perkins in 2018-19, and Armstrong the last two seasons.
But as good as Virginia was throwing the football last year, Syracuse was as good running the ball thanks to both running back Sean Tucker and quarterback Garrett Shrader.
Tucker is arguably the best running back in all of football, coming off of a season where he amassed the sixth-most rushing yards in FBS with 1,496, as well as 12 rushing touchdowns. While Garrett might have completed just 52.6 percent of passes for 1,444 yards and nine touchdowns and four picks, that also came with 781 yards on the ground and 14 rushing touchdowns - the second-most in the ACC behind Malik Cunningham's 20.
With the weapons that Syracuse has on the ground, coupled with a scheme that is sure to give a jolt to the passing game, Louisville has been busy studying film from both the Orange and the Cavaliers from last season.
"Those guys did a tremendous job running the football last year, one of the best in the conference and country," defensive coordinator Bryan Brown said. "UVA did a great job in the passing game with what they had. You bring in their quarterbacks coach and receivers coach over, and OC, so I would expect those guys to do some similar things (from) Virginia.
"But you got to think, Dino's an offensive guy as well. I can see them using some things from our games in the past. It's a little mixture of both, so we've been trying to do the best we can to kind of put a little bit of both on the football field."
That being said, no matter what type of scheme that Syracuse throws out, Louisville knows at the end of the day that Syracuse is going to give their ball to their playmakers. That starts, first and foremost, with Tucker, but they also have to be cognizant of Shrader's ability to run the ball. Louisville also is very high on some of the outside receivers on Syracuse's roster, namely Courtney Jackson and Damien Alford, and think that Shrader is a much better passer than he gets credit for.
"I think he throws the ball well," Brown said. "I think he does a great job with with his back shoulder quick throws, even downfield throws. The long touchdown that he threw against Virginia Tech last year to win the game, that was perfect, and he's getting ready to get drilled. He stood in there and took it. He's a tough kid. He really is.
"I look at the Courtney Jackson kid that's in the slot, and they'll probably move him around in multiple ways with with Robert's offense. He's a great talent that can run, as well as get open in the passing game. You look at Alford, No. 82, a long receiver that can can stretch the field, and I think he gives you a big target."
Satterfield knows it will be tough to project how exactly Syracuse will scheme up their offense between what made them and Virginia successful last year, but believes they'll start to have an idea after the first quarter. Louisville has already started to scheme against what they'll expect out of Syracuse in practice, and that the Orange will also have to do a bit of the same considering neither team has film on the other.
"We've tried to do a lot of different things, even in practice, for a lot of different schemes on what they may do," he said. "But you don't really know until get out there. It's always a little bit of cat and mouse the first game, anyway. The first quarter, you're trying to figure out what are they doing offensively and defensively, because in the offseason, everybody tweaks a little bit. Even if it's same quarter, you're gonna do a little few things different. We'll see what happens early in that first quarter."
Kickoff between the Cardinals and the Orange is set for Saturday, Sept. 3 at 8:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Garrett Shrader: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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