Three takeaways from Louisville football’s 35-21 win over Western Kentucky
Three takeaways from Louisville’s 35-21 win over Western Kentucky in the state’s first FBS game of the 2020 season:
1. Football is back and the Louisville offense is back
That would be the high-powered Louisville offense, by the way. The Cardinals were 24th nationally in total offense last year, the year of Scott Satterfield’s debut as U of L’s head coach. The Cards picked up right where they left off a year ago, rolling up 487 yards.
The offense really showed its firepower in the first half as Louisville rolled to a 28-7 lead. The Cards produced scoring drives of 92, 93, 65 and 87 yards in the first half, then an 85-yarder in the second half. Big plays played a big part. Quarterback Micale Cunningham hit new wide receiver Braden Smith with passes of 63 and 48 yards in the first half.
Then in the second half, U of L wide-out Dez Fitzpatrick appeared to come out of nowhere to cut in front of Western Kentucky’s Antwon Kincade, who was waiting on what looked to be a sure interception. Instead, Fitzpatrick snatched the football and continued on for a 70-yard touchdown and a 35-14 lead for the home team.
“Dez bailed me out on that one, that’s all I’m going to say,” Cunningham said afterward.
That helped Cunningham to a career night passing. The redshirt junior completed 19 of 34 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Smith, a junior-college transfer, caught four balls for 110 yards. Fitzpatrick ended up with 110 yards on his four receptions. And the water bug that is Tutu Atwell gained 78 yards on his seven catches.
“We needed to be able to throw the ball tonight,” Satterfield said. “They were loading up the box to stop our running game.”
2. A former EKU Colonel was a bright spot for the Hilltoppers
Omari Alexander, a redshirt senior defensive back who came to Bowling Green last season via Richmond, was all over the Toppers’ highlight reel. Alexander recovered a Louisville botched punt snap, setting up a 1-yard WKU touchdown drive. (Yes, U of L’s punting game could use some work.) He later blocked a Louisville punt, setting up a 4-yard WKU touchdown drive. Later in the third quarter, he picked off a Cunningham pass.
Otherwise, the Western defense, ranked 24th nationally in total defense last year, with nine starters back, had a hard time keeping the home team in check. The Hilltoppers did improve in the second half, but the first-half hole was too much to overcome.
Offensively, new WKU quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome — nicknamed “Piggy T” — improved as the night progressed. The grad transfer from Maryland completed just 10 of 23 passes for 129 yards and a score, but he did rush for 68 yards on 17 carries.
“I thought our defense came out and played outstanding tonight,” Satterfield said. “We put them in a bad situation a couple of times. It was a really, really good effort.”
3. If COVID-19 cooperates, ‘College GameDay’ is coming to town
The ACC opener against Miami — “We call them ring games around here,” Cunningham said of the conference games — is next on U of L’s agenda for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday on ABC. ESPN’s “College GameDay” crew will be coming to Louisville for the tilt, though it’s doubtful that any fans will be allowed on site for the show.
We are playing in a pandemic, after all. The announced Cardinal Stadium attendance Saturday against WKU was 11,179, just under the 20 percent capacity the school had dictated. Socially separated, spaced around the stadium, the crowd did make quite a bit of noise. And the U of L band helped.
“It wasn’t weird. The mask is the only thing that is awful,” Satterfield said afterward. “That’s not breaking news. But it was hard to breathe out there. It was humid. I like the extra room on the sideline. But once you kick the ball off, it’s football. That’s kind of everybody’s safe place. It was fun to get out there and compete.”
And they hope to keep competing. Several of next week’s games have already been postponed, including Virginia-Virginia Tech in the ACC. An ESPN report Saturday said that the league will call off the rest of its schedule if more than 50 percent of the conference’s 15 teams can’t finish their schedules.
You can’t finish if you don’t start, and Louisville is off to a 1-0 start.
This story was originally published September 13, 2020 at 12:02 AM.
