A little bit closer to the start of the season, I will put out my game by game predictions for this season. But for right now, I wanted to talk a little bit about what you expect from the team this season. I’m asking because I’m hearing fans say 6-8 wins. I think the reason you are hearing that is Chris Mack’s fault. People are saying that Mack walked right in and took the team back to the tournament so why can’t Satterfield walk in and take his team to a bowl game?
Well. I’ll tell ya.
They are 2 different sports.
Sorry to be Captain Obvious but you just can’t compare the two. For starters, Mack only had to mold and shape 13 guys to his way of doing things. Even though Mack did it masterfully, it’s not easy to do. Satterfield has over 100 guys to change, so imagine how hard that will be – not to mention the previous coach didn’t really leave him in great shape.
Please don’t let Mack’s success influence your expectations of this football season.
I can tell you that I have talked to several players and they absolutely love the new staff and are working extremely hard. They are excited for the future.
Please don’t let all the positivity currently coming from the program influence your expectations of this football season.
So, if all the signs are good why shouldn’t the fans expect 8 wins? Let’s not forget that this team only won 2 games last year and gave up 50+ points in 7 of their 10 losses. Going from 2 wins to 8 is just not a likely scenario in almost every program.
The team does have a lot of talent on the current roster but it’s not deep with talent. It definitely has enough talent to be competitive.
I’ll tell ya what I expect to see from the 2019 Louisville football team…
I expect to see effort, passion, energy, improvement, confidence, positive body language and a competitive team. If that combination leads to 3,4,5,6 or more wins, then so be it. I’m not worried about the win total for this season. I want this team to enter the 4th quarter with a chance of winning almost every game. I just need to see that the program is headed in the right direction. I’ll tolerate not going to a bowl game this year for a future that puts Louisville back in the national conversation for the right reasons.
Coach Satterfield said in his opening presser that once the culture is right, winning will take care of itself. Being realistic, you can’t change the culture of a program in less than a year – so don’t expect the winning to start this season. At least, don’t expect a lot of it.
I just wanted to step in and try to temper the unrealistic expectations that I’m hearing. I don’t want you all to be disappointed and I definitely don’t want to hear the “Fire coach Satt” nonsense when they only win 4 or 5 games. Have patience and trust the process.
* In next week’s Nunnsense, I will be releasing my KY Derby preview.
As Always,GO CARDS!
