Pitt Win Breaks Negative Trends, Provides Shot of Confidence for Louisville

The victory over the Panthers helped the Cardinals break two noteworthy negative trends of theirs, and gives them a huge burst of confidence ahead of their matchup against No. 10 Wake Forest.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When debating on what the biggest win of the Scott Satterfield era at Louisville is, two games typically come to mind for Cardinals fans. The first one is usually the 62-59 win over No. 19 Wake Forest in 2019, while the 38-28 win over Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl later that season is the other.

Last weekend's 24-10 win over Pitt probably isn't going to be brought up when debating this subject, and hindsight will eventually provide proper context when this season is actually over. But there is a real argument to be made when saying that the victory may have been one of the most important in the Satterfield era.

It's no secret that the fourth year Louisville head coach is very much sitting on a hot seat. It was even to the point where reports were circulating that a loss at Virginia earlier this month could result in his immediate ouster. Satterfield made sure that these reports would not get put to the test by guiding his team to a 34-17 win in Charlottesville back on Oct. 8.

However, the Cavaliers weren't exactly world-beaters, as they were only 2-3 for the year and 0-3 in conference play at the time. If Louisville had legitimate aspirations of turning their season around, and possibly saving head coach's bacon, they would have to continue that with a win against Pitt.

It wouldn't be an easy endeavor. While the Panthers were far from a perfect team, they still had several key pieces left over from last season's ACC Championship team on both sides of the ball, especially on defense. The matchup ended up going down to the wire, with Louisville emerging victorious at Cardinal Stadium.

It wasn't just the simple fact that they had won, but more so the manner in how they did it. Not only was it a win over a conference quality opponent, but it broke two major negative trends for Louisville: not being able to capitalize on momentum, and not being able to rally from behind late.

The first half of the year for the Cardinals were an absolute roller coaster. In fact, they alternated between winning and losing in each of their first six games, not being able to build on the momentum gained from their wins at UCF or the win against USF. The wins against Virginia and Pitt marked the first time all season that Louisville was able to string together back-to-back wins.

Not only that, but they won in a manner in which Louisville has never done under Satterfield up to that point. Heading into the game, the Cardinals were 0-16 under Satterfield when trailing entering the fourth quarter, and Louisville happened to be down 10-7 to Pitt through three quarters. Their 17-0 run in the final 15 minutes marked their vert first come-from-behind fourth quarter win in the Satterfield era. 

"It was big, it was a huge fourth quarter for us to be able to finish the game like that," Satterfield said. "We've been there many, many times and to finally be able to finish was outstanding. We've played complementary football, and that's the one thing we've kind of struggled with is that complementary football."

Any time that a team is able to come out on top with a win, regardless of the opponent, it always provides a boost to team-wide confidence. Being able to win in the manner that they did, and finally start to trend in the right direction has given Louisville a level of confidence that they haven't seen all season.

"That’s huge, and that's great confidence for our team," Satterfield said. "I think it’s certainly something that we got to build off of, because when it comes down to the fourth quarter and comes down to the end, you have to be able to make those plays. It showed that we don't have quit this team and this team is going to continue to fight. We've done that and now we've found a way to win which is obviously awesome.”

Of course, now Louisville has to keep building on this momentum, and they have the perfect opportunity to capitalize on it right in front of them. Wake Forest makes their way to Cardinal Stadium this weekend, and the Demon Deacons (6-1, 2-1 ACC) are ranked as the No. 10 team in the nation. Satterfield is hoping that the Cardinal fanbase is hoping that they can help them in their quest to take down the reigning Atlantic Division champions.

"Huge game for us. It's a great opportunity for our team to continue to try to play really good football, coming off two wins in a row in ACC play and now being able to host one of the best teams in our league and a top ten team in the country.

"Hopefully, we'll have a great crowd. If you don't have tickets, go out and get tickets. This is college football at its best right here, coming in with the tenth ranked team. ... We need to have that home field advantage here. We need to have the people come out and yell and be loud and crazy, because it affects things. It affects offenses, no question about it, in a hostile environment, so we need it. if you don't have plans where you're on the fence whether or not to go, I really need you to come out to this game."

Time will tell if the victory over Pitt served as a true turning point for the Louisville football program, or if it was merely an anomaly. But there's no questioning the level of confidence this team has they can go out and win against a quality opponent. We'll find out this weekend what this team, coaches and players alike, is really made of.

Kickoff against the Demon Deacons is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3:30 p.m. EST. at Cardinal Stadium.

(Photo of Malik Cunningham: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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