Blue & Gold Illustrated: 2020 Notre Dame Football Preview
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132 ✦ BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED 2020 FOOTBALL PREVIEW BY PATRICK ENGEL N otre Dame strutted into Louisville on Labor Day last year for a season opener it expected to be relatively un-laborious. Louisville, free of Bobby Petrino, was a patently bad football team under him in 2018. Scott Satterfield's rebuilding road fig- ured to be long. Instead, Notre Dame found itself tied 14- 14 in the closing minutes of the first half. This wasn't the 2-10 team that had pretty clearly given up the prior year. The Fighting Irish cruised afterward, but the first half was a sign of the Cardinals' sud- den surge to relevance in 2019. Louisville is gathering some sneaky buzz and top-25 chat- ter heading into Satterfield's second year. A young team that took repeated licks in 2018 and was re-energized in 2019 now wants to take another step. "Louisville is positioning itself well to fight for that No. 2 spot in the ACC behind Clemson," CardinalsSports.com writer Dave Lackford said. Louisville jumped six wins in a year by turning one of the nation's worst offenses into one of its most explosive. It leaped 92 spots in scoring, 73 spots in rushing offense and 100 spots in yards per pass attempt. In his first full college season, running back Javian Hawkins ranked No. 7 nation- ally with 1,525 yards, a single-season school record. He was the centerpiece of a lot of zone reads and zone blocking schemes. "They just try to hammer you and then run play-action to take the top off you," Lack- ford said. Only 10 teams threw the ball fewer times than Louisville. But when the Cardinals did, they were regularly successful. They were one of seven teams to average at least 10 yards per pass. They ranked third nationally in plays of at least 40 yards. Leading receiver Tutu Atwell averaged 18.2 yards per catch and did his damage in the screen game, where he could use his speed. Redshirt junior quarterback Micale Cunningham averaged 11.5 yards per pass, which would have led the country if he were qualified. He also ran for 482 yards. Offensive tackle Mekhi Becton was the No. 11 overall pick in April's draft, and wide receiver Seth Dawkins was another reliable deep threat. Both must be replaced. "All that zone blocking and how explosive it was had a lot to do with Becton," Lackford said. For Louisville to push for 10 wins and crack the top 25, it will need more progress from its defense, which still ranked in the bottom 30 in several major categories and surrendered chunk plays too often. No defensive player was an All-ACC se- lection or even honorable mention. Most of the vital pieces are back, though, including fifth-year senior hybrid linebacker/defensive back Rodjay Burns (11.0 tackles for loss) and senior defensive leader Dorian Etheridge (70 tackles, 8.0 for loss). "From the intangibles aspect, you're fac- ing a team that's experienced, was counted out for dead, got its butt kicked by its rival," Lackford said. "They're hungry." ✦ LOUISVILLE CARDINALS GAME 11 • NOV. 21 • NOTRE DAME STADIUM X-FACTOR: Junior wide receiver Tutu Atwell was a big-play threat whenever he touched the ball. He had four games with at least 140 yards and Louis- ville was 3-1 in them. PHOTO COURTESY LOUISVILLE ATHLETICS 2020 SCHEDULE Date Opponent 2019 Result Sept. 3 NC State W, 34-20 Sept. 12 at Clemson L, 45-10 Sept. 19 Murray State — Sept. 26 Western Kentucky W, 38-21 Oct. 3 at Syracuse W, 56-34 Oct. 10 at Boston College W, 41-39 Oct. 24 Florida State L, 35-24 Oct. 31 Virginia Tech — Nov. 7 at Virginia L, 28-21 Nov. 14 Wake Forest W, 62-59 Nov. 21 at Notre Dame L, 35-17 Nov. 28 Kentucky L, 45-13 QUICK FACTS All-Time Series: Tied 1-1 Last Meeting: Notre Dame 35, Louisville 17 (Sept. 2, 2019 in Louisville, Ky.) Head Coach: Scott Satterfield, 8-5 at Louisville (2nd year) and 59-29 overall (8th year) 2019 Record: 8-5 overall, 5-3 ACC Atlantic (2nd) Returning Starters: 17 (9 offense, 8 defense) Prediction: Notre Dame 38, Louisville 27 RETURNING LEADERS Rushing: RB Javian Hawkins (1,525 yards, 9 TD) Passing: QB Micale Cunningham (2,061 yards, 22 TD, 6 rush TD) Receiving: WR Tutu Atwell (1,272, 12 TD) Tackles: LB C.J. Avery (93, 5.5 TFL) Sacks: LB Monty Montgomery (5.0) Passes Broken Up: CB Chandler Jones (10, 1 INT) Reasons For Optimism • Explosive skill players • Coaching on offense • Defensive experience Louisville finds ways to get its best players the ball in favorable positions and did so con- sistently in 2019. Between Satterfield and his staff's scheming and the individual talent, slow- ing down the Cardinals' offense will be difficult again. Another year of better coaching, coordi- nator continuity and more experience are rea- sons to believe in a defensive jump. Reasons For Concern • Losing OT Mekhi Becton • Explosive plays allowed • Average pass rush Becton was one of the country's elite run blockers and a graceful mover for a 350-pound man. Those aren't common. If Louisville wants to win games where it scores in the 30s, it has to figure out how to eliminate some of the chunk plays it gave up. Finishing higher than 66th in sacks would help.