Louisville coach says loud crowds at UCF, Syracuse helped prepare team for Death Valley

Scott Satterfield says his team has faced loud crowds before. (Photo: Jamie Rhodes / USATODAY)

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Thu Nov 10 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

Clemson will try to win the ACC Atlantic Division championship outright Saturday against Louisville, but Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield thinks his team is prepared to put up a fight in Death Valley.

Satterfield, who is in his fourth year at Louisville, will make his first trip to Death Valley as the Cardinals head coach, but he experienced the Clemson atmosphere during his time at Appalachian State. He said he knows it will be hostile but hopes his team gained valuable experience from their games at Central Florida and Syracuse.

"It's loud, it's packed, and there's not going to be an empty seat in that place. You're going to be on the hill," Satterfield said during his weekly press conference. "They turned the speakers up wide open. They also scream loud, so yeah, it's a hostile environment for sure, and then they have a lot of talented players on the field; they are used to winning. All those things combined are the reason they've won 38 in a row there. Certainly, it is a home-field advantage for them.

"But we have been in Syracuse, Central Florida, and we've been in some hostile environments this year. Hopefully, we've learned from that because you just have to concentrate. That's the bottom line; you have to concentrate on what you have to do between the lines and on that field and tune out all that stuff that's outside of that. At this point of the season, hopefully, we're fully aware of that."

Handling the environment and staying poised will be extremely important, so the Cardinals don't incur any procedure penalties.

"Extremely important, and I wish we could play all of the games here; it'd be a lot better," Satterfield said. "I like these last three; we've been able to play right out here in Cardinal Stadium. So yeah, I mean, that's a huge part; a big emphasis this week is not having self-inflicted penalties; we don't want those. It's one thing to say it and not want it, but then you have to go out there and play. When you have some 6-foot-5, 300-pound guy sitting right in front of you trying to take your head off, and we have to concentrate on the snap. All those factors, they factor in, so you know, we'll work on it, and hopefully, we'll go out there, and we'll be poised. You have to have poise when you're playing games like this."

Clemson narrowly escaped Louisville 30-24 last season after the defense held on four plays in the red zone, a loss that Satterfield said he and his players still have not forgotten.

"Yeah, down inside the five in four plays that score, yeah, it sticks with us big time," he said. "It's one of those games that you certainly had an opportunity to go in and get in there. I mean, if we scored, they still had some time, but who knows what would have happened. Offensively, it just really haunts you not being able to score right there. So, there are certain games that stand out more than others. That's certainly one that stands out and probably will for a long time. Hopefully, we get that bad taste out of our mouths."

However, Satterfield thinks playing the Tigers so close will only give his team confidence heading into Saturday's game.

"Yeah, I think so; it's one thing that came away from that. They're obviously a top team last year as well," he said. "To be able to go toe-to-toe and hang in there and to play and to have a chance at the very end. I thought our guys fought great in that game. We just got to hopefully build off that. I think it's a great opportunity; it's another chance to go play with one of the top teams in the country. It's another ranked team, and we've played a bunch of those this year. I really believe our guys will be unfazed by all of that and just go out there and play their game, go out there and continue to do what they've been doing the last four games to have success that we've been able to have."

If Louisville can pull off the win at Clemson Saturday afternoon at 3:30 (ESPN), Satterfield said it could have huge implications for his program.

"Huge, obviously. To beat a team so recognizable like Clemson, that's won national championships, that has won 38 straight at home. Certainly, the future of your program looks really good," he said. "It impacts recruits and impacts the future that way, which is huge, obviously. It also just proves that we're headed in the right direction. Just to know that, hey, we're not there yet, but we want to continue to get better and better as a football team. This would be another step in the right direction."