Satterfield's first win at Louisville
Marshon Ford, a redshirt freshman from Ballard, scores his first of two UofL touchdowns on a five-yard pass from Jason Pass(Cindy Rice Shelton photo).

Good times coming.

Every game a measuring stick for the University of Louisville football program, even against a third-year rebuilding program like Eastern Kentucky University. No shortcuts in reconstructing a program, but UofL showed undeniable promise in crushing EKU 42-0.

A crowd of 48,808 fans showing up for a game against Eastern Kentucky (Cindy Rice Shelton photo).

The win possibly indicating that the road back to respectability may not be quite as difficult as originally anticipated. At least it seemed that way to the many of the optimistic UofL fans in the crowd of 48,808 at Cardinal Stadium on Saturday. The turnout almost as impressive as the margin of victory.

Not the old days for Cardinal fans when five or six straight UofL losses would have been punished with a half-empty stadium. The Louisville faithful obviously seeing something they liked in the loss to Notre Dame, expecting the Cardinals to be ready to handle a lower-tier opponent. Ready for a win and they would not be disappointed.

Jawon Pass needing a game with an FCS opponent to gain some confidence. Getting off to a confusing start, quickly throwing two touchdown passes in the first quarter. But struggling the rest of the first half, including an interception . He would, however, make up for slow start in the third quarter, with two more touchdown passes. He would complete 12 of 19 for the game.

Hassan Hall back in the end zone in the third quarter, giving UofL a 35-0 lead (Cindy Rice Shelton photo).

If Pass needed any more motivation, all he needed to see was Malik Cunningham competing his first pass for 35 yards in the third quarter and running for 28-yard touchdown on his fourth play from scrimmage. Clearly still substantial competition for that starting quarterback spot.

Javian Hawkins and Hassan Hall taking up the slack between touchdown passes with 129 and 68 rushing yards, respectively. Seemingly contradictory but Louisville has an exceptional running game between all the touchdown passes.

And how about that UofL defense, giving up only 130 yards rushing and 42 yards through the air. Louisville hasn’t had a defense that motivated since the Charlie Strong days four years ago. Virtually the same defensive people from last season’s team but demonstrating how vital good coaching is to rebuilding a successful program.

Much more to do, but there’s nothing better than a win in the short term. Win No. 1 in the first of many for Scott Satterfield.

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.