Louisville must 'believe' against Alabama
Louisville faces the most daunting opener in college football against defending national champion Alabama.
The Crimson Tide, under Nick Saban’s direction, have dominated college football the past decade and enter this season a favorite to repeat as national champions.
That’s why Bobby Petrino’s biggest task heading to Orlando is simply getting his players not only to believe they can compete with mighty Alabama, but beat the Crimson Tide.
“We have to do a good job in our preparation,” Petrino told Drew Deener on ESPN 680 Thursday. “We’ve been working hard on it. We have to really go in believing that we’re going to win the game. I’ve taken teams against Alabama that didn’t believe that and you do things you normally don’t do — overthrow a pass that you always complete, drop a pass that hits you in the hands that you always catch, you slip and fall.
“If you don’t truly believe you can’t play to your potential. We’ve been working on that and talking about believing. You do that by working hard and being in the best possible shape.”
Petrino compared the game against Alabama to Louisville’s near upset at Miami in 2004. Petrino said the key for the Cards will be to come out and attack the Tide.
“I think you have to be aggressive and go after them,” Petrino said. “I feel good about our team. This might be the most talented team that we’ve had in all positions. We’re inexperienced, but we’re bigger, stronger and we’re a lot faster than we’ve been.”
Louisville’s offense with first-year starter
Jawon Pass will face a huge challenge against Saban’s strong defense, but the biggest challenge for the Cardinals might be slowing Alabama’s powerful rushing attack.
“We have our work cut out for us,” defensive end
Jonathan Greenard told Deener. “We have to stop the run. The main thing is we have to stop the run. We have to stay with it the whole game. It’s going to be a whole game fight.”
Greenard, and UofL’s defense, also will have to prepare for two Alabama quarterbacks.
Jalen Hurts started the national championship game, but
Tua Tagovailoa replaced him at halftime and led the Tide to a comeback overtime win over Georgia.
“We know Jalen likes to run, but Tua has the better arm,” Greenard said.
Greenard said new Louisville defensive coordinator Brian Van Gorder will have the Cardinals prepared for their opening challenge against Alabama.
“I love the mentality we have,” said Greenard. “Coach Van Gorder has us prepared. (His defense) is more similar to Coach Grantham’s defense, but this is more of a four down. But I love the aggressiveness Van Gorder puts on the field. We blitz and have a lot of pressures. We don’t want the quarterback sitting back there with too much time.”
Louisville Cardinals must believe against Alabama Tide