Watch List precedence could mean big things for Louisville Football's offense in 2020

A majority of the offseason buzz surrounding the Louisville Football program heading into the 2020 season has been focused on the offense, and for good reason.

In year one of Scott Satterfield's tenure as the head coach, Louisville would go on to rack up 447.3 yards and score 33.1 points per game, both of which ranked in the top 30 in all of FBS.

They also return most of their top playmakers on the offensive side of the ball, so it's no surprise that they are all starting to amass an impressive list of preseason honors.

This week alone, three members of the Cards' offense have been named to a national award watch list. First, Micale Cunningham was named to the 2020 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award watch list on Tuesday. The next day, Javian Hawkins was recognized on the 2020 Doak Walker Award watch list, then the 2020 Biletnikoff Award Preseason watch list included Tutu Atwell on Thursday.

It's an impressive feat to have at least one player from each offensive skill position group on a team be recognized on a national award watch list. However, it's not the first occurrence for the Louisville Football program.

The last (and only other) time that Louisville has had a player named to the Davey O'Brien, Doak Walker & Biletnikoff watch lists was in 2013 - when the Cards actually had four total selections:

QB Teddy Bridgewater - Davey O'Brien

2013 stats: 3,970 passing yards, 31-4 TD/INT ratio

RB Dominique Brown - Doak Walker

2013 stats: 1,053 yards from scrimmage, 9 total touchdowns

RB Senorise Perry - Doak Walker

2013 stats: 855 yards from scrimmage, 7 total touchdowns

WR DeVante Paker - Biletnikoff

2013 stats: 885 receiving yards, 12 touchdowns

While the 2013 team isn't usually the first one that comes to mind when discussing the best teams in program history, it still had an extremely productive season and is arguably one of the most talented Louisville rosters ever assembled. Coming off a Sugar Bowl win the season before, the Cards then proceeded to go 12-1 in 2013 including a 36-9 Russell Athletic Bowl win over No. 25 Miami. On offense they averaged 35.2 points and 460.9 yards per game, both of which were ranked in the top 30 in FBS.

I will however include the caveat that comparing this team to the current Louisville Cardinals squad isn't exactly apples to apples. The 2013 team was anchored primarily by their defense (No. 1 in total defense, No. 2 in scoring defense), whereas the 2020 team has some things to prove on that side of the ball (No. 102 in total defense, No. 109 in scoring defense in 2019). The conference slate of games offered by the American Athletic Conference back then was also not nearly as tough as what the Atlantic Coast Conference has now.

Still, that's not to take away what this offense could accomplish. Even if it's just based on watch list precendence, being mentioned in the same sentence as Louisville legends Teddy Bridgewater & DeVante Parker should give fans some idea as to how high the Cards can can fly heading into the 2020 season.

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