Louisville faces first road test in WKU
Louisville football captured its first win of the season with a 42-0 victory over Eastern Kentucky (EKU) Sept. 7 at Cardinal Stadium. The Cardinals travel to Nashville to face Western Kentucky (WKU) Sept. 14 at Nissan Stadium for a 4 p.m. kickoff.
Cardinal head coach Scott Satterfield thought his team showed improvement in his first win at Louisville compared to its season opener against Notre Dame.
“I like the way we are playing, I like the energy we are playing with, I like the fight we are playing with,” Satterfield said. “That’s where it all starts. If you do that, you are going to continue to improve and get better.”
Satterfield said the Cardinal defense cut their mental errors in half, leading to the program’s first shut out since 2013. Louisville held EKU to 172 yards of offense while finishing with five sacks and 10 tackles for a loss.
While Satterfield earned his first career win at Louisville last weekend against EKU, Tyson Helton secured his first career head coaching win against FIU last weekend for WKU.
Helton thinks Louisville is playing with confidence. He believes Louisville’s coaches have maximized the players on the field.
“The quarterback for them is playing really well, playing with a lot of confidence as well,” Helton said. “Defensively, they’ve got a lot of talent on the field, they’re pretty fast. It’ll be a great challenge for us.”
Satterfield thinks WKU is an improved team and is playing better this season.
“We know we will get their best shot, that they will play extremely hard,” Satterfield said. “We have to have a great week of practice to get a win.”
Satterfield and his coaching staff plan to use the in-state opponent as a motivational tool this week.
“You want to take pride in the state of Kentucky,” Satterfield said. “A lot of our guys are from here. For fans and bragging rights for the state, you always want to take care of your state.”
Character Counts
In his weekly press conference previewing WKU, Satterfield said the program has gotten great feedback recently from recruits.
“The biggest thing we tell the guys is ‘we want to be consistent,’” Satterfield said. “Whenever they come here, if they came a month ago, today or a month from now, they are going to get the same treatment. I think our staff does a great job being who they are, not trying to hide anything.”
He called the upcoming recruiting class outstanding.
“We are getting some great character in this class, I think that’s more important than anything,” Satterfield said. “You obviously need talent, but I think character wins a lot of football games.”
