Satterfield Proud of Louisville's Fight, Late Season Success Despite Loss to UK
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The margin of defeat was not nearly as massive as it had been in recent years, but it was still a loss nonetheless.
The annual Governor's Cup showdown between in-state rivals Louisville and Kentucky to cap off the regular season ended the same way as it had in the previous three matchups in the series: a double-digit Wildcats victory. Thanks primarily to an inability to get the passing game going, as well as three turnovers on offense, the Cardinals fell 26-13 to mark their fourth-straight loss to their archrival.
Unlike the matchups in 2018, 2019 and 2021, Kentucky didn't bulldoze over Louisville due to a blatant physicality mismatch. Instead, the Wildcats were simply the team that was more focused, executed at a higher level, and quite frankly had the better injury luck heading into the game.
Even though Louisville is ending the season with yet another loss to Kentucky, head coach Scott Satterfield isn't letting that put a damper on what the Cardinals were able to accomplish over the last month and a half.
"We've had a good back half of our season," he said. "We've had some great wins, and done some really good things. (We're) 5-1 at Cardinal Stadium this year, that was great and awesome. You go back and look at it, you can really just see if you go back - and a lot of you guys will, the losses, what did we stack up? It was the turnovers, and we didn't create as many. In all the wins, we won the turnover margin. We were one of the best teams in the country in turnover margin. That's why we won those seven games."
As many fans know by now, Louisville had a less-than-stellar start to their 2022 campaign. The Cardinals went just 2-3 over their first five games, including a demoralizing loss at Boston College that kick starting a multitude of rumors regarding Satterfield's job status.
But after that lowly start, Louisville immediately flipped a switch. They proceeded to fire off a four-game win streak, their longest since 2016, en route to winning five of their final seven games of the season. Two of their wins during that stretch even came against ranked competition in the form of No. 10 Wake Forest and No. 24 NC State.
"It showed a lot of fight by our guys this year," Satterfield said. "When we were down and out after the BC game, we could have easily folded the tent, packed up the season and been done. A lot of people said that's what we would do, and we didn't. I'm taking away a lot of resiliency from this team, and the fight that they have."
Even in the loss to Kentucky, despite it being a foregone conclusion late in the game that the Wildcats would be the victors, Louisville didn't go down without a fight. In the face of a 19-point deficit, the Cardinals still gave the 'Cats everything they could muster, coming away with an impressive 27-yard touchdown by wide receiver Tyler Hudson midway through the fourth quarter.
"Even this game, it is not going great for us, and we're still trying to freakin' go out there and play and win this game," Satterfield said. "Did not come out in our favor, but that's what I'm gonna take away from this team. That's how, for me, I'll remember these seniors, and this group of guys that stuck out and went through so much. Everything they've gone through with the coaching transition, the COVID year, and then to have this season like this, I'm proud of them."
Now, Louisville heads into an incredibly busy month of December. Not only will the program be preoccupied with preparation for their to-be-determined bowl game, but they will have their hands full when it comes to roster management. The staff will soon be meeting with each of their players to determine their status for the bowl and beyond, while also being fully involved in recruiting ahead of the early signing period.
"We want to finish off on a high note in the bowl game. We're looking forward to that, we got time to heal up. Hopefully we'll heal up over the next four or five weeks. We're gonna meet with our players, we'll find out who's gonna be available for the bowl game, and who's playing and who's not. We'll do a lot of recruiting. Like we said this past Tuesday, there's a lot of things that are going to be happening in December. It's go time for the next three weeks until signing day."
The complete bowl schedule will be released on Sunday, Dec. 4, following the conclusion of conference championship weekend. The early signing period will begin on Dec. 21 and last through Dec. 23.
(Photo of Scott Satterfield: Matt Stone - Louisville Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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