Is Louisville the ACC’s most surprising mid-season team? | answered by @mattzemek

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QUESTION: Is Louisville the ACC’s most surprising mid-season team? 

Is Louisville the ACC’s most surprising team halfway through the 2019 season?

Before answering that question more directly, I will simply note that one can easily make a strong case.

Yet, what is especially important to note about the Cardinals’ revival under coach Scott Satterfield is not the fact that this team is much improved; the way in which the improvement has occurred is the far more striking detail of this resurrection.

The eye-popping aspect of Louisville’s rapid improvement under Satterfield is that it is occurring with two quarterbacks, one of them being a true freshman. Evan Conley has finished what Micale (formerly Malik) Cunningham has started.

Explosive performances from the Cards’ offense have not been reliant on only one quarterback or one facet of offense; everyone has gotten involved. Everyone has been ready to play.

Satterfield is coaching up his players up and down the depth chart.

Louisville has allowed 98 points — an average of 49 per game — in its last two games.

The Cardinals are 2-0 because they have scored 103 (51.5 per game).

HOW Louisville is doing this is more impressive than the fact that UL is pulling this off… and the fact that UL is pulling this off is enormously impressive in its own right.

Let’s get back to the question: Is UL the ACC’s most surprising team midway through the season? I’m not going to say no, but if “surprising” can refer to negative developments as well as positive developments (a team can be surprisingly BAD), the total deterioration of both Syracuse and Virginia Tech this year was something I was not ready to expect.

No, I didn’t think Syracuse would be as good as 2018, but THIS? Wow.

No, I didn’t think Virginia Tech would be a nine-win program this year, but THIS? Wow.

The ACC is a realm of constant flux and endless plot twists when Clemson (No. 1 team) and Georgia Tech (No. 14 team) aren’t the points of discussion. Spots 2 through 13 in this conference are completely up for grabs.

Ask me about Louisville after the Virginia game in two weeks.

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