COVID-19 Means Changes For Louisville's First Road Trip

Cardinals face ranked Pitt at Heinz Field in first road game of the season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville football’s first road trip this season won’t be comparable to previous years.

The 24th-ranked Cardinals travel to 21st-ranked Pittsburgh for an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) road test at Heinz Field Saturday, Sept. 26.

When the teams kickoff at noon, the first top-25 matchup at Heinz Field since 2009, they’ll do so without any fans in attendance.

Crowd noise and music will be pumped from speakers at Heinz Field during the game, but Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield says his team isn’t focused on the crowd, or lack thereof.

“When you're playing football or coaching football you really don't look up in the stands really,” Satterfield said. “We hope they'll just go out and play football and focus on their job, which is for them to make plays, and do their assignments.”

Louisville’s first plane trip of the season will come with precautions.

The team won’t be eating on the plane and masks will be worn. Satterfield said players and coaches will spread out within the plane as much as possible.

Although the plane flight adds a new dynamic to the protocols centered around curbing the spread of COVID-19, the typical routine doesn’t change dramatically.

“As we go traveling, if you think about home games, we're still getting on our buses, and we're still going to the hotel, all our operation will be the same with that,” Satterfield said. “The difference in this particular game will be that we'll have to go on a plane. We will take some precautions with that.”

Louisville continues to conduct weekly COVID-19 tests with its student-athletes.

Attention on student-athletes with positive coronavirus test turned coaches as Florida State head coach Mike Norvell tested positive for the virus last Saturday. Norvell is quarantined and will not coach in his team’s next game against Miami next week.

Satterfield has confidence in his coaching staff is a similar situation occurred at Louisville. He said there is a plan in place if it were to happen.

“You certainly have to have a plan for if something like that happens and you never know,” Satterfield said. “If it’s me then I think our guys are in great shape to be able to handle everything with what we want offensively and as a team.”

(Photo of Jordan Watkins: Atlantic Coast Conference)

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