Cardinals face first conference road test

Louisville football starts conference play with a road test against Florida State Sept. 21 in Tallahassee. The Cardinals (2-1) defeated Western Kentucky 38-21 while Florida State (1-2) fell to Virginia 31-24 last week.

Louisville hasn’t won a conference road game since defeating Florida State Oct. 21, 2017.

Seminole offense

Florida State runs an up-tempo offense directed by quarterback James Blackman. The sophomore quarterback has completed 68.2 percent of his passes for 843 yards and nine touchdowns.

Satterfield called Seminole running back Cam Akers, who has rushed for 387 yards, one of the best running backs in the country.

“I think he [Akers] is outstanding, runs hard, very strong,” Satterfield said.

Florida State has seven receivers with five or more receptions for an offense that seeks trying to get playmakers in one-on-one opportunities.

“You have to make a great angle tackle there otherwise it will go to the house, so we have to do a really good job defensively with our angles,” Satterfield said.

Seminole defense

The second half hasn’t been kind to Florida State’s defense. Opponents are averaging 23 points in the second half against the Seminoles in three games.

Virginia scored 21 points in the fourth quarter in a comeback win last week over Florida State. The defense has plenty of length and size, but hasn’t been able to slow teams down in the second half.

Satterfield wasn’t sure if it’s fatigue or something else.

“You look at it just look on paper, it seems like the second half they’ve given their yards where they’ve gotten wore down or whatever, I’m not sure,” Satterfield said.

Leavitt changes

Former University South Florida (USF) coach Jim Leavitt was hired last week by Seminole coach Willie Taggart as a defensive analyst. Leavitt hopes to help a defense that has struggled, allowing 37 points per game this season.

Satterfield believes Leavitt will have a huge influence on what Florida State does defensively.

“He’s been a great defensive coordinator in his tenure,” Satterfield said. “He just got there, maybe two weeks, we’ll see how much impact he will have this week, still kind of early as far as timeframe goes to have a huge impact.”

Recruiting Benefit

Louisville has had a pipeline with Florida high school recruits and Satterfield plans to continue it. The coaching staff plans to be out recruiting Friday night.

“We want to continue to recruit down there and get those players that will come here and help us win,” Satterfield said. “A lot of those guys down there can play. They can run, they can play and it’s not just skill type players offensively. A lot of good defensive players too. We’re going to stay there in state and recruit.”