WKU Football: UofL Q&A with Card Chronicle’s CardinalStrong
We’re just three days away from WKU’s trip to Nashville to take on in-state rival Louisville. With the opportunity for a statement win and the rivalry aspect of the game, we thought that we’d get a Louisville perspective on the game. Luckily for us, we got John “CardinalStrong” Powell from Card Chronicle to give us his thoughts on the Louisville program, the rivalry, the game, and his predictions. Without further adieu, here is our conversation with CardinalStrong.
TTR: How is everyone in Louisville feeling two games into the Scott Satterfield era?
CS: If I had to describe the feeling in one word I would say ‘As’, but since that doesn’t make any sense, I’ll use two words, and say ‘As Expected’. After two games I think the majority of the fanbase, diehards and casual alike, thought we would be sitting at 1–1 right now. The hope was to compete with Notre Dame and then lay it on EKU a bit. And here we are. Winning last week certainly has everyone bouncing around the city a bit since we had to wait for nearly an entire ‘Sad Puppy Dog 2019 Annual Calendar’ before getting back into the win column, but expectations of 4–5 wins are still the norm. Satterfield has brought some great things into the program in his short time without question. I think the offense is exciting to most, myself included, just because it’s a big change from what we’ve grown accustomed to at Louisville. The family first mentality is a welcome change from the previous staff for sure, and If I don’t use the word ‘culture’ in this answer I’m pretty sure I get fined by the athletic department, so I’ll say the culture change has been evident both on and off the field. I think Satterfield was a great get, I just hope people give him a chance to succeed as it may be a 3–5 year process before they are competing for ACC titles again.
TTR: How big of a mess did Bobby Petrino leave for Satterfield?
CS: As messy as a meatball grinder at Mancino’s. Not devoid of talent messy, but roster management and attitude messy. The guys were beaten down mentally from the prior staff, and Satterfield talked about weeks and weeks of time investment just to get them back to a baseline emotional state of enjoying the game of football. The other major item was that Petrino went and got plenty of guys in the positions he put emphasis on (QB/RB/etc) but basically ignored other position groups completely and had the new staff swimming in a kiddie pool of depth at O-line, and linebacker. Some position changes for athletes like Rodjay Burns (LB) and Russ Yeast (SS) helped fill some holes, getting some former walk-ons to elevate their game (Marshon Ford, Tyler Haycraft, Jack Fagot), and pulling in some transfers (TJ McCoy, TJ Holl, Ean Pfeifer) has allowed the staff to field a reputable two-deep in most areas. A change in attitude and developing a roster that aligns with the new scheme both take time. The attitude can certainly be modified quicker than the roster, but both are very fragile right now and a bad loss or a couple of injuries could impede the progress in both areas. Bobby did some good things while he was here, but as the month's pass, we are starting to uncover more and more of the bad that can have a lasting impact for years.
TTR: UofL pursued Jeff Brohm but ended up with Satterfield. Could he end up being the better fit for the program?
CS: I spoke about this during ‘The Cardinal Countdown’ this season. Here is my “slightly” condensed version…
I’ll touch on something briefly (as brief as I can be) here because I’m not sure where else it would come up. Here it goes. I’m perfectly okay with Louisville not getting Jeff Brohm. Bringing home the local hero can only go three ways, and two of them are not great. 1. He wins lots of games, has great success and leads Louisville to new heights. 2. He comes in, does okay, UofL goes to a bowl every year but he never really makes a move on the national radar. 3. He stinks it up, only lasts a few seasons and the Cards have to make a move to get rid of him. There is a 66% chance that the hometown kid would leave fans feeling unsatisfied, and to put it bluntly, the expectations before he was even mentioned for the job were already creeping into unrealistic territory. A 6–7 win season in 2019 may not have even been good enough for some, and that is just ridiculous. What this all reminded me of as a Chicago Cubs fan was watching Ryne Sandberg come up the coaching ranks and have a good amount of success in the minors. It just so happened that the Cubs job opened right around that time and most saw it as an amazing chance to bring back the Chicago legend. In this story, Ryne seemed willing but the Cubs decided to pass. People were furious and couldn’t understand why you would not bring Ryne freakin’ Sandberg back into the organization. The Cubs spoke later about “fit” and “coaching approach” but candidly they discussed the concerns of tarnishing a legacy. Eventually, the Phillies gave Sandberg a shot at being a manager and over those 3 years, he finished 119–159 with no playoff appearances. He resigned in 2015 with his team sitting at 26–48, the worst record in all of baseball. The Cubs selection instead of Sandberg (Mike Quade) didn’t work out great, but eventually, it led to the hire of Joe Maddon who got the Cubs a World Series for the first time in over 100 years. Sandberg is now a part of the Cubs organization off the field and still loved by all.
The point in all of this is, if Brohm is supposed to be here at some point, he and Louisville will find a way to make it happen and I’d love that. Right now though, I think Louisville needed a new name. A coach who the fans didn’t already intimately know, a coach who could win them back with his work ethic and success, a coach who wasn’t expected to perform miracles immediately. I don’t think Brohm was who Louisville needed right now, and I’m glad Satterfield is the man in charge.
#GoCubsGo
TTR: This is the second game of a three-game series between WKU & Louisville, How do Louisville fans view the series?
CS: I think most fans look upon it lovingly, gazing into the eyes of WKU as if it were your small child you’ve watched grow up into a man. In all seriousness, there is little animosity towards WKU on the gridiron because Louisville has dominated the series as of late. Let the Toppers win a couple and I’m sure things would change. I’ll probably catch some flack for this but WKU is like the farm system for UofL. There is a connection to the city of Louisville and the program (Brohm, Petrino) and they have really good athletes from Louisville that start there out of high school or transfer down there from UofL, but they aren’t quite at that Power 5 level yet. They are basically Louisville 20 years ago.
TTR: Follow up question, would you like the teams to continue scheduling each other on at least a semi-regular basis?
CS: Sure. If the Cards need to fill a non-conference spot why not feed some cash to The Toppers and build an in-state rivalry with another FBS school. Lots of WKU alum in Louisville would love to see the team play here, and a trip to Nashville is always a good time. (We ain’t playin’ in “The Houch”)
Now, onto this week’s game…
TTR: Juwan Pass has emerged as the starter despite inconsistent performance over the past year. Do you think he’s turned the corner in year 2?
CS: Ross, just as no self-respectable burger connoisseur would name the best burger in town after only tasting two of them, I’ll have to hold off on that decision until I taste him a bit more…wait…that came out wrong.
Have we seen flashes of what he can do both in the air and on the ground? Yes, and when he is playing well he is talented enough to lead Louisville well beyond the preseason expectations. The challenge is that when he is “off” he is undoubtedly off. He needs to work on his touch, connecting on the deep ball, and not staring down receivers. In the last couple games, we’ve seen wideouts get space but Pass has had trouble connecting. For the season he is sitting at a 52% completion percentage and Satterfield wants that up around 60–65%. Without a consistent threat from the passing game, teams will load the box and force Pass to use his arm to beat them. So far, that spells trouble for Louisville moving forward.
TTR: Louisville now seems to be a run-first team under Satterfield, Do you believe that Pass can win games with his arm?
CS: See above. Right now, today…..no. He can certainly change and improve but we’ve had all summer to get in a rhythm and develop chemistry with a talented wideout group. Still overthrowing guys by five yards on a ten-yard out is not encouraging. I think Satterfield can simplify the offense some and try some quick dump-offs earlier in the game to build confidence but at some point, he is what he is. They can still be successful with him, but he’s just not going to be throwing for 300 yards every week. Not his game.
TTR: Which skill players do you see as the biggest mismatches against WKU’s defense?
CS: Not just against WKU but in general, Tutu Atwell is a matchup nightmare for defenses. The speedy slot receiver can make plays in open space and will beat up linebacker coverage if, given the chance, the issue goes back to the questions above…Pass getting him the ball. Against ND Atwell had five grabs for 47 yards and against EKU he had two “catches” for 53 yards. He also fields punts and as a former QB can throw the ball. He’s a legit weapon that Satterfield is still figuring out how to use. When he has the ball in his hands he can make plays against anyone.
TTR: Defensively Louisville slowed down a more talented Notre dame team and shut out FCS EKU. Do you see the defense being a strength or are they just playing with more effort compared to last season?
CS: Another tough question only two weeks in but I will say they have impressed me so far. What an outsider may not realize is that Louisville fielded one of the worst defenses in the entire country last year. Not hyperbole. Statistically, they finished the season in the bottom 10 of numerous categories and dead last in two or three others, including opponent 3rd down conversions (51.85%). They couldn’t stop anyone. In two games this defense now sits at 39th nationally in ‘Total Defense’ and 11th in Passing Defense. A new scheme (3–4) and some position changes have helped a lot in getting the best eleven on the field. The line is solid, but the linebackers are the studs of this group in my mind. They have helped establish some pressure in the backfield (5 sacks from LBs) as well as keeping their responsibilities in coverage, solidifying a group that needed leadership. The defense has plenty to build on moving into conference play.
TTR: How do you see the game playing out? What is your prediction?
CS: I think Louisville comes in fired up, but the local flavor of playing an in-state rival keeps WKU close through the whole first half. I think we break at Nissan Stadium looking at only a 3–7 point differential. A couple of big runs from Hawkins on a worn-down WKU defense opens it up late and the Cards leave with a win (28–17), extending their win streak to eleven over the Toppers. Cards fans drink a large number of adult beverages Saturday night in Nashville and then stop at the Corvette Museum on the way back home Sunday.
I want to thank John for taking the time to do this q&a with us. You can read his work on Card Chronicle and follow his twitter account @CardinaIStrong for fun analysis and reaction to Saturday’s in-state matchup.
