LOUISVILLE. Ky. (WDRB) -- Expectations are not running high outside of the Howard Schnellenberger Football Complex for the University of Louisville football team.
Despite returning six starters on offense and 10 players with starting experience on defense, the Cardinals will start the 2022 season picked to finish fourth in the ACC's Atlantic Division in a poll of media who cover the league.
The balloting, released Tuesday afternoon, tabbed Clemson once again as the favorite in the Atlantic and Miami as the favorite in the Coastal. For the seventh time in eight years, Clemson was chosen as favorite to win the overall ACC Championship. The coming season will be the last season for divisional play in the ACC, which approved a new format for the 2023-28 seasons.
N.C. State was picked to finish second in the Atlantic Division, followed by Wake Forest, then Louisville, Florida State, Boston College and Syracuse.
Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield said he's not worried about expectations. He knows what his team has back, is high on players he added through the transfer portal and recruiting, and knows that many of the team's defensive struggles a year ago were exacerbated to key injuries to players like linebacker Monty Montgomery and cornerback Kei'Trel Clark.
"We were a very competitive football team within our league last year," Satterfield said. "A lot of those games came down to the very end. We were on the short side of that maybe three or four times within the league. That leaves a bad taste in your mouth. We had a lot of success throughout the year. I think, offensively, (we) put up some good numbers. Defensively, we were good at times. The games that we did not play well on defense were the ones we let slip away right there at the end. I think the big emphasis this offseason, defensively, adding some players on that side of the ball as well as getting some of these guys back that we had injured last year."
Louisville is set to begin its fall camp on Aug. 3. Of particular interest will be some key transfers, like Tiyon Evans, a running back from Tennessee, and wide receiver transfers Dee Wiggins (Miami) and Tyler Hudson (Central Arkansas). Louisville also added Ole Miss linebacker Momo Sanogo on defense, along with a pair of cornerbacks, two safeties and a lineman through the portal.
Satterfield said his players have approached offseason workouts with an edge, feeling as if their record didn't indicate their talent, and that they are close to turning a corner.
"We feel like we got a great product and, you know, we've been middle of the road," Satterfield said. "We want to get over the hump and be in the upper echelon of the conference and compete for the championships. And the only way to go do that and earn respect is just to go out there and prove it on the field. And I think that's the chip we're talking about. We've got to go out and prove it every time we're out there on this field. You get 12 opportunities."
Louisville's first opportunity comes on Sept. 3 at Syracuse in an 8 p.m. opener in JMA Wireless Dome.
- Clemson: 103
- NC State: 38
- Miami: 8
- Wake Forest: 4
- Pitt: 3
- Virginia: 3
- Florida State: 2
- North Carolina: 2
- Boston College: 1
- Clemson (111): 1,080
- NC State (44): 959
- Wake Forest (6): 783
- Louisville: 591
- Florida State (2): 509
- Boston College (1): 469
- Syracuse: 201
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