Scott Satterfield "has faith" in punter Logan Lupo
During their 35-21 season-opening win over Western Kentucky, Louisville performed well in two of the three phases of the game.
The Cardinals' (1-0, 0-0 ACC) offense accumulated 487 total yards of offense, while the defense held the Hilltoppers (0-1, 0-0 C-USA) to 248 yard - the lowest by a UofL FBS opponent since Kent State had 150 on Sept. 23, 2017.
The third phase, however, left much to be desired.
The special teams aspect, and specifically punter Logan Lupo, is what was primarily responsible for keeping the Hilltoppers in the game against the Cardinals.
In his collegiate debut, the sophomore had a pair of gaffes that gave Western Kentucky prime red zone real estate. He dropped the snap on his first ever punt and had a third quarter attempt blocked, both resulting in WKU taking over within the five-yard line and punching it in for the score.
Understandably, head coach Scott Satterfield was disappointed in how his new punter performed. However, he's not ready to conduct a roster shakeup at that position based on one bad performance.
"No, I don't think so," Satterfield said in his weekly press conference when asked if he was considering inserting a different punter. "That was his first college play and it was raining out there. It just so happened that we were backed up at the goal like, it was kind of an unlucky deal out there on that play."
The second year head coach noted that Lupo had not had any issues of the sort during practice and preseason, and that Louisville's season opening special teams woes were not all his fault.
"I know that we have faith in him and that there were other issues with some protection issues that were not his fault," Satterfield said. "We have to look at some things that we are doing out there, fix some mistakes, and we will be fine in those aspects."
Heading into game week against the No. 17 Miami Hurricanes (1-0, 0-0), Satterfield stated that they would be putting a lot more time into the punting game during practice this week to get it corrected so that it would not develop into a season-long issue
"We just got to go out and execute better. That's the bottom line" he said. "If you don't get those things corrected, it's gonna be something that's gonna be haunting you every week."
Louisville is set to host Miami on Saturday, Sept. 19 for their ACC opener, with College GameDay also tagging along for the ride. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on ABC.
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