Scott Satterfield previews preparing for two Clemson QBs

The Louisville Cardinals are looking to extend their four-game winning streak this weekend as they pay a visit to Dabo Swinney and Clemson this weekend. The Tigers are fresh off of their first loss of the season, losing in blowout, upset fashion to Notre Dame 35-14. That game featured starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei as well as freshman Cade Klubnik briefly, who has received some occasional playing time for the Tigers lately. Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield was asked if he was preparing for both quarterbacks and the challenges that presents.

“Yeah, but still you have to prepare for what they do offensively,” Satterfield said. “Those two players are different themselves, but they’re still gonna run inside zone, still gonna inside zone read, some of their pass patterns that are gonna be running.”

Satterfield seems more focused on the scheme of the Tiger’s offensive versus who will be under center, which may be the Cardinal’s best bet. Klubnik only appeared on one drive last week for the Tigers, throwing just one pass attempt that was intercepted for a touchdown. And even versus Syracuse the week prior when Klubnik took a majority of the second half snaps for the Tigers he only threw four pass attempts, completing two of them for just 19 yards.

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“You’ve still gotta be fundamentally sound, I think depending on who’s in the game you can maybe tweak how your calls are gonna be, but you’re still going to prepare for that offense the same way and you’ve just gotta be fundamentally sound,” Satterfield said.

Satterfield did seem more concerned about the Tiger’s running backs, led by Will Shipley, a tough downhill runner who currently ranks second in the ACC in rushing yards and second in rushing touchdowns, tied with Cardinals dual threat quarterback Malik Cunningham with 11 on the season.

“And we gotta tackle good this week, I really think their backs run hard and their straining for extra yards all the time. And so we really gotta bring our feet and tackle really good this week in order to get these guys down and not let them churn out those big yards,” Satterfield said.

The Tigers will also have to beware of Uiagalelei and his ability with his legs, as he’s the Tiger’s second-leading rusher on the team and has found the end zone four times on the ground this year.

“One thing you don’t want to happen, if they can just hand the ball off and all of a sudden it’s first down after first down because they’re just churning out these yards and occupying the ball, so we’ve got to do a great job of getting them on the ground,” Satterfield said.

The good news for the Cardinals is they have a blueprint for how to stop the Tigers in last week’s film, as the Irish held Clemson’s offense to less than 200 yards passing and less than 100 rushing. If Louisville can contain whichever quarterback they face and slow down the Tiger’s rushing attack, the chances of them pulling off the upset will increase drastically.