First-year Louisville coach Scott Satterfield has celebrated a lot of wins along the sidelines. Most of those wins came as part of the Appalachian State Mountaineers staff. Satterfield was the quarterbacks coach when App. State famously chopped down Michigan at the Big House in 2007. He was the head coach when the Mountaineers took ninth-ranked Tennessee to overtime in 2016 and oversaw three consecutive bowl wins from 2015-2017. Satterfield lead App. State through the transition from FCS powerhouse to Sun Belt championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018. But he has quickly found the culture at Louisville to be vastly different, and admitted as much in front of the media at ACC Kickoff in Charlotte.
Satterfield is excited about the prospect of rebuilding the Cardinals program, but pointed out he was surprised to find the talent level on his ACC roster lagging behind many of the position groups at his Sun Belt program. To be fair, App. State is an outlier among non-Power 5 schools. The Mountaineers have posted records of 11-2, 10-3, 9-4 and 10-2 since 2015.
While Satterfield is expected to right the ship offensively, his biggest concern is the Louisville defense, which surrendered 50 or more points seven times last season. Among the reasons to be optimistic about a quick turnaround at Louisville is its success in the recent past. Only three years ago, the Cardinals posted a 7-1 ACC record and celebrated Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Lamar Jackson.
SCOTT SATTERFIELD AT ACC KICKOFF:
2018 Louisville at a glance compiled by Menachem Miller
Louisville Cardinals 2-10 0-8
Scott Satterfield 1st season 0-0 0-0
| 2018 | ACC Rank | NCAA Rank | |
| Points Per game | 19.8 | 14 | 122 |
| Rushing Yards per game | 142.4 | 13 | 102 |
| Passing yards per game | 211.1 | 11 | 88 |
| Total yards per game | 353.5 | 14 | 109 |
| Defense | |||
| Points allowed per game | 44.1 | 14 | 128 |
| Rushing yards allowed per game | 278.8 | 14 | 127 |
| Passing yards allowed per game | 206.3 | 5 | 40 |
| Total yards allowed per game | 485.0 | 14 | 122 |
The Cardinals return 14 starters, 6 on offense, 6 on defense, and the Kicker and Punter.
Statistical Leaders Returning
| QB | Yards | TD | INT | PCT |
| Jawon Pass | 1960 | 8 | 12 | 54.0 |
| RB | Games | Yards | TD | AVG |
| Hassan Hall | 12 | 402 | 3 | 4.9 |
| Malik Cunningham | 10 | 497 | 5 | 6.3 |
| WR | Games | Yards | TD | REC |
| Dez Fitzpatrick | 11 | 422 | 3 | 31 |
| Defense | ||||
| Tackles | TFL | INT | Sacks | |
| Amonte Caban | 50 | 7.0 | 0 | 2.0 |
| C.J. Avery | 56 | 2.5 | 2 | 0.5 |
| Dorian Etheridge | 55 | 4.0 | 0 | 0.5 |
| Rodjay Burns | 37 | 1.5 | 1 | 0 |
Returning Starters Offense
QB Jawon Pass
RB Hassan Hall
WR Dez Fitzpatrick
LT Makhi Becton
C Cole Bentley
RT Tyler Haycraft
Returning Starters Defense
DE Amonte Caban
DT G.G. Robinson
LB C.J. Avery
LB Dorian Etheridge
LB Rodjay Burns
CB Cornelius Sturghill
Special Teams
K Blanton Creque
P Mason King
Key Losses
WR Jaylen Smith
WR Chatarius Atwell
RG Lukayus McNeil
LB Tabarius Peterson
S Dee Smith
S London Iakopo
