Looking for its first Atlantic Coast Conference win of the season, the University of Louisville football team travels to Virginia on Saturday for a Noon kickoff on the ACC Network.
The Cards are winless in the ACC after a one-point loss at Boston College, despite four touchdowns from Malik Cunningham. The quarterback left the contest after suffering an injury in the fourth quarter after rushing for three scores and passing for one. He had rushed for 62 yards and added another 186 through the air before exiting the game.
With Cunningham's status up-in-the-air, the Cards face a must win situation against the Cavaliers, who are also looking for their first league win.
"Virginia certainly has some talent on that football team with really good wide receivers, big guys that can run," head coach Scott Satterfield said. "(Quarterback) Brennan Armstrong led the country last year in passing. They're obviously a new team this year with a new coaching staff doing some different things offensively, but I think it all goes through Armstrong. He runs a lot better than people probably think. He's got speed, he's got toughness, and we all know he can throw the football, so I do think it all comes through him about what they're doing."
Virginia was one of the top passing teams in the country last season after throwing for 487 yards in a 34-33 win at Louisville in 2021. However, new head coach Tony Elliott still wants to be a balanced attack and not give up the big play on defense.
"They do want to establish the run; they have solid running backs that can do that." Satterfield said. Defensively, I think they do a good job defensively with keeping everything in front, not giving up a lot of big plays, and really just trying to make the offense move the ball and drive the ball down the field. They've been excellent in sacks. I think we're leading the conference in sacks, but I think they're number two. They do a good job of getting after the passer when it's on obvious passing downs, and they rush the passer really well. They've struggled on the road this year, but they've won both their home games. They're very similar (to us) in the fact that they're sitting at 2-3 like we are and are in search of a win. I know we're certainly going to get their best shot; it's going to be at home. But it's really about us putting together a great gameplan, about our guys going out and executing, making plays, and about us coaches putting our guys in position to make plays and not asking them to do things that they struggle doing. That's poor coaching when we do that, so we got to do a better job in that aspect as coaches."
Big plays have haunted the Cardinals in their three losses this season. Long touchdowns and big plays in the passing game have killed in the Cards all season long, and Satterfield's focus this week has been eliminating those back-breaking plays.
"I think probably one of the common things is when we're getting some really good receivers isolated one on one with a safety," Satterfield said. "The safety their role is usually more run stopping, not one on one covering a guy. We have to do a better job and that's what I'm talking about putting our guys in a position to be able to make their plays and not put in a position where it's going to be very difficult. It's very difficult. "
That will be a tough task this week with Armstrong and Virginia's talented core of wide receivers. The Cavaliers scored 21 fourth-quarter points last season to stun the Cards at home. UVA totaled 522 yards of offense and Keyaton Thompson caught nine passes for 132 yards.
"They hurt us last season with the big play, especially in the second half," Satterfield said. "They are an experienced offensive unit and we have to be solid in the secondary and keep them in front of us."
The Cards have dropped it's last two appearances in Charlottesville, and are looking to avoid its first 0-4 start in ACC play since the 2018 season.
