Way-Too-Early Thoughts for Louisville’s 2022 Season
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - An up and down season for the Louisville football program is finally in the books. The Cardinals completed their 2021 campaign earlier this week, falling 31-28 to Air Force in the First Responder Bowl.
It was year that featured a hopeful three-game win streak, a disappointing 1-4 stretch marked by fourth quarter failures, back-to-back blowout victories, and was bookended by getting bullied by SEC foes.
Louisville now heads into year four of the Scott Satterfield era, sporting a 18-19 under his watch. While expectations certainly weren't met in 2021, the return of quarterback Malik Cunningham and several other impact playmakers could lead the Cardinals to a strong bounce back year.
Of course, it's still extremely early, as the season just ended less than a week ago. Players can still come and go through the transfer portal, as could various coaches. But here are some early storylines to watch:
Louisville's Schedule Becomes Much Easier
One reason that Louisville could vastly improve on their 6-7 mark is because their 2022 schedule becomes much less difficult than their 2021 slate. Three of the Cardinals' four non-conference games should be relatively easy outings, as they host FCS foe James Madison and USF, while traveling to a Dillon Gabriel-less UCF. Louisville also goes to Lexington to face Kentucky, so that could be a challenge.
Where Louisville really gets a break is that the majority of their more difficult ACC games are at home, as they host Florida State, NC State, Pitt and Wake Forest. Time will tell if Mike Norvell will get the Seminoles together, the Panthers won't be returning the ACC Player of the Year in Kenny Pickett, and Louisville should be motivated against Wake Forest given what happened this season in Winston-Salem. The biggest challenge could be NC State, as they are coming off of a "10-win" season.
Even the road slate isn't all that bad. Sure, they have to travel to Death Valley to face Clemson and Boston College and Phil Jurkovec will present a challenge, but then Syracuse and a Bronco Mendenhall-less Virginia are a lot more manageable.
Malik Cunningham Will Draw Very Real Heisman Interest
On top of the fact that Louisville's schedule gets easier next season, they will also be bringing back one of the top players not only in the Atlantic Coast Conference, but all of FBS.
Quarterback Malik Cunningham came incredibly close to making college football history, finishing with 20 rushing touchdowns - good for 3rd in FBS - and 19 passing touchdowns to fall just short of cracking the exclusive 20/20 club. His 305.5 yards per game also is good for 15th in the nation.
With Pickett heading to the NFL, and UNC's Sam Howell expected to do the same, Cunningham will be in line to draw a lot more attention within the conference. He's already starting to draw Heisman interest, opening with 50-1 odds according to BetOnline.ag.
The schedule has not been released yet, but it's safe to assume that Louisville will play their easy non-conference games right out of the gate. This will be a perfect opportunity for Cunningham to put up video game-type numbers, and catapult his Heisman campaign. Will he win? Maybe not, but he has a golden opportunity next year to wind up in New York as a finalist.
The Defense Must Return to Form
Heading into the 2021 season, many believed that the Louisville defense was in line to have another successful outing. After starting slow in 2020, that side of the ball rallied down the stretch to finish 39th in the nation and third in the ACC in total defense.
What actually came to fruition was far from what was expected. Of course, having key contributors like Monty Montgomery and Kei'Trel Clark suffer season-ending injuries did have a massive impact, but the defense wound up allowing over 400 yards per game (403.3) to finish 84th in total defense.
There are some reasons to be optimistic. The rushing defense was much improved in the second half of the year, Montgomery and Clark return, and several solid pieces are coming in. But it's hard to ignore how thoroughly dominated the Cardinals were in their two bigger games of the season. Ole Miss and Kentucky highlighted a massive size and physicality discrepancy between where Louisville currently is, and where they should to be if they truly want to compete for the ACC.
Louisville as a Whole Has to Finish
As Louisville fans know by now, the 2021 season can be best described by the idiom: "close, but no cigar".
All season long, the Cardinals were just a handful of plays away from coming out on top. They were a field goal away from taking down Wake Forest. Make just *one* stop in the fourth quarter, and you prevent a complete collapse against Virginia. Four tries to punch it in on the goal line against Clemson all failed. Stop any one of Air Force's long passing plays, and you win the First Responder Bowl.
In Louisville's five losses to non-SEC competition, the Cardinals lost by an average margin of just 5.6 points. Satterfield noted multiple times this season at how Louisville is "this close". Next season, Louisville has to erase their numerous missed opportunities and small mistakes to close this gap, and finish on the other side of these one-score games.
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