Coming off a two win season, Louisville was marching into the 2019 season with a new coach and not very high expectations. Well, not high expectations outside of Louisville. There were plenty of Louisville fans who predicted 6-8 wins despite the the over/under win total of 3.5 that was set by Las Vegas casinos.
I was not one of those who predicted 6-8 wins. Here is what I wrote prior to last season,
Cardinal Sports Zone
August 8th, 2019
I believe this team could win anywhere from 2-6 games. 6 only if everything goes absolutely perfect. In the end, 4 wins is what I honestly believe it will be. But I don’t really care what the win total ends up being. What I want to see is a better team in November than I see in September. And I really want to see more effort in September than I saw in November of last year. If we see those things, then we can all feel confident that the program is headed into the right direction and the win total seems irrelevant. – Jeff Nunn
So that’s what I said. Now let’s take a look back at what other publications said, thought, wrote or predicted.
College Football News
May 7th, 2019
He’s getting a team with a whole lot of experience, plenty of athleticism, and even a little bit of talent. The depth might not be there, and there are plenty of big areas that have to go from miserable to at least mediocre, but …
Set The Regular Season Win Total At … 5
Satterfield will be the right guy for the job. He’ll show it in 2020.
Saturday Blitz – Fansided
August 25, 2019
Prediction: 3-9, 1-7 ACC
The stretch in October that I mentioned above is the key to the season, but I don’t expect it to be great in the first year under Satterfield. This isn’t an indictment of him or the coaching staff, it’s just a brutal hand they were dealt with the schedule and the roster, which has some talent but is deficient across some key areas, including the offensive and defensive lines.
Athlon Sports
June 12, 2019
Satterfield faces a multi-year rebuild of talent and attitude. Lots of work. A program that ranked fifth in the national playoff poll in November 2016 looks primed to miss the bowl scene in back-to-back seasons. There are too many questions at quarterback, running back, offensive line and across the defense. Time to recruit.
CBS Sports
July 11th, 2019
They predicted a 5-7 season.
http://www.cbssports.com/general/video/8570bca4-91af-4006-beb6-0bfa8867ebe5
The Gridiron Expert
July 1st, 2019
This guy said the defense would be the strength of the team and predicted 2-10.
Orlando Sentinel
June 3rd, 2019
Outlook: It appears most of Louisville’s mistakes are correctable. There will be a learning curve as projected starting quarterback Jawon Pass shakes off the struggles of last year and adjusts to Satterfield’s new offense. It doesn’t help that Louisville plays in the ACC’s tougher division, with Clemson and Syracuse only getting better, but the Cardinals are expected to improve and could be in the middle of the pack ACC Atlantic Division pack.
Stadium
February 11th, 2019
Louisville
2019 outlook: Louisville was the most disappointing team in 2018, falling short of their win total by five games and covering the spread only one time all season. Scott Satterfield is their new head coach, and he’ll be greeted with extremely low expectations in 2019. Unfortunately for him, the Cardinals will be tested right away with a Monday night matchup at home against Notre Dame.
2019 over/under win total prediction: 3.5
Oddshark.com
Louisville Cardinals 3.5 -135 +105
Fanduel.com
Louisville—4 wins