Power Ranking the 2019 Notre Dame Football Schedule
9. Louisville
Without Lamar Jackson, Louisville became a laughing stock. They went from being a team with a bad defense and explosive offense to just a bad team — period. Bobby Petrino didn’t make it through the entire season. His replacement is one of the best hires this year, though. Scott Satterfield has a 51-24 record as a head coach, entirely at Appalachian State. Unfortunately for Satterfield, he inherits a team with no talent. The 2018 Cardinals went 2-10. Louisville’s defense was ranked 122nd last season, and the offense was ranked 108th. To add on to that, ESPN only has Louisville as having signed four recruits so far, with another verbally committed. It looks like it may be a long rebuild.
8. USC
Clay Helton probably should have been fired for missing a bowl, but I’m not complaining that he wasn’t. Kliff Kingsbury was their offensive coordinator for a few weeks, but he has now moved on to greener pastures. Now, USC needs to find a new offensive coordinator again. So rather obviously, the USC coaches room is in disarray. Talent isn’t the issue for USC, who are coming off a 5-7 record in 2018. The issue is doing the small things right to finish games. The Trojans will be tough, as always, but as long as the coaching staff is a mess, they won’t be a terrible threat.