Louisville Cardinals Preview 2022: Louisville Season Preview, Prediction and Outlook with Everything You Need to Know and Season Keys.
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Louisville Cardinals preview
Head Coach: Scott Satterfield, 4th year at Louisville, 18-19
10th year overall, 69-43: Preview 2021
Record 2021: Overall: 6-7, Conference: 4-4
attack, defense collapse | key to the season
Season prediction what will happen
Louisville Top 10 Players | Louisville Schedule & Analysis
Louisville Cardinals Preview 2022
Louisville may not have racked up ACC championships, but it put on a strong streak of solid winning seasons from 2010-2017 and brought the basketball-loving school even more to football.
Three lost seasons in four years just won’t do it.
Scott Satterfield was able to pull the program out of the nosedive when he took over in 2019, he’d earned more rest than he did in 2020 for a 4-7 season — it was 2020 — but last year was a problem.
In 2021 the ACC was terrible. Clemson was down, Florida State was still struggling and there were no more superpower players in a year that saw Pitt and Wake Forest rise to fame.
That was the opening. That was the shot Louisville had to rise and rock, and the 6-7 season was just… meh. To be fair, the Cardinals have lost four games by six points or fewer – win just two of those and it’s a different narrative going into 2022.
The schedule is sneaky but this is an experienced team that should be more explosive and consistent on both sides of the ball.
Satterfield needs a big season after finishing with four losses in their last six games and six losses in their last nine. It all starts with getting even more from…
Louisville Cardinals Preview 2022: Offense
There were a whole lot of positives going forward. The line was great in pass protection. Malik Cunningham looked and played like a big difference maker and overall the attack was careful with the ball.
The 446 yards and 32 points per game were okay, but the O didn’t tally for more than 28 points in five of their last seven games and struggled to come through late in a few too many close games.
The pass attack should be much, much better. Cunningham has the skill and experience to become a superstar among all the great ACC quarterbacks — he rushed for 1,000 yards and 20 scores and threw for nearly 3,000 yards with 19 touchdowns and six picks — and he’s got the receivers.
Braden Smith is back after missing most of last season, and transfers Dee Wiggins from Miami and Tyler Hudson from Central Arkansas will be big playmakers as Jordan Watkins moves to Ole Miss and Tyler Harrell goes to Alabama.
Cunningham is the star of the ground game, but the Cardinals have their backs to take the pressure off. Tennessee’s Tiyon Evans is too good not to get the ball regularly, and Jalen Mitchell is a powerful backback who led all RBs with 722 yards and five points.
Star center Cole Bentley is done, but four starters are expected back around first team All-ACC guard Caleb Chandler. The league’s No. 1 in pass protection and loss allowable tackles should be just as good for a running game averaging over five yards per pop.
Louisville Cardinals Preview 2022: Defense
The defense had the misfortune to deal with Ole Miss on national television to start the season. Overall the group wasn’t great, but that perception of the opener lingered for a D who finished ninth in the ACC.
The pass rush wasn’t bad, but the run defense was a little too hollowed out and bad things happened when the Cardinals allowed over 500 yards in offense overall.
There are gaps to fill on the defensive front seven, but there is a good base to work around. OLB Yasser Abdullah is one of the ACC’s better pass rushers, and Ashton Gillette is a good young pass rusher on the one hand. There’s no space hog inside, but the rotation should be fine for the front three to keep up – getting the 305-pound Arizona State’s Jermayne Lole will be a big help, literally.
Former Ole Miss Rebel Momo Sanogo will step into an outside linebacking role as a disruptive force, and Monty Montgomery – who missed most of last year after finishing fourth on the team in 2020 – will try to stay at center for three years to take over. Year leading tackler CJ Avery.
The secondary should be better. Kei’Trel Clark is an all-ACC cornerer who led the team with three picks but missed a big chunk last year. Kenderick Duncan earned All-Star honors in safety after finishing third on the team with 76 stops, Chandler Jones is a veteran and four good transfers are on the way – Jalen Alexander (Duke), MJ Griffin (Temple), Quincy Riley (Middle Tennessee) and Jarvis Brownlee (Florida State) – to make a push.
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