This week marks the unofficial start of the college football season for us here in the ACC and others across the country. It’s a lean time of the year for college sports but conference media days is a thirst-quenching event for all avid fans. Coach Satterfield will have WR Seth Dawkins and LB Dorian Etheridge with him at the 2019 ACC Football Kickoff, July 17-18, at The Westin Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. Two players that will have to play a major role in the Cardinals 6th season in the ACC.
Louisville enters year six in the ACC with a winning record. At 21-19 the Cardinals have established some ground in the conference. We took our licks last year for sure (0-8) but have been competitive overall. The Cardinals have added a few new trophies to the case since being ACC members and have taken it right to the blue blood of the conference.
This year a new challenge. Louisville has never headed into a season in a Power 5 conference with a losing record from the previous season. To add to this challenge a complete overhaul of the coaching staff. The last time things were this bad in Louisville the Cardinals were coming off a 15-21 record in three years under Kragthorpe and the schedule was a little more forgiving for the first-year head coach Strong.
Coach Satterfield was named the 23rd head coach to lead the Cardinals back in December. He had a remarkable 51-24 record at App State including a 38-10 conference mark in six seasons with the Mountaineers. His conference record of 34-6 in five Sun Belt seasons is the best in the league over that span. The winning recipe has arrived in Louisville but will there be enough ingredients in the mix for a successful year in the ACC.
With 19 returning starters the cupboard is far from bare for Satterfield and his staff heading into the 2019 campaign. With 7 starters on offense and 10 on defense returning to the line-up, I’d like to believe that the program can be competitive in conference play and string together enough wins to make it into a postseason Bowl game.
We got rid of what was supposed to be the problem. The only thing left from that 0-8 ACC debacle last season is these players. How will they respond? Could it be that some of them were the problem last year? There are a lot of questions for this team heading into another ACC Football season. We’ll get answers to some of the trivial stuff this week as Coach Satterfield and players make the rounds at media days but the real answers will come between those lines this fall.
Coach Satterfield and the players with him at ACC Media Day will be at the podium on Wednesday from 3:30pm to 4:00pm. You can catch all of the live video and coverage at ACC KICKOFF CENTRAL.
Coach Satterfield has faced Clemson, Miami and Wake Forest from the ACC going 0-3 in those games.