Key to Louisville beating Alabama? Bobby Petrino says his team has to believe they can
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Many times, Alabama has won before the action on the field even takes place.
That’s understandable, as no team is capable of destroying moral and expectations quite like the Crimson Tide. It’s apparent at times when a team opens up and plays hesitant or lacks confidence against Alabama and that’s something Bobby Petrino is working hard to prevent from happening to his Louisville team heading into the season opener against Alabama in Orlando.
The ACC held its own Media Days event this week in Charlotte and Petrino was asked to provide his thoughts on the season opener against what will likely be the No. 1 team in the preseason. His focus appears centered on getting his team mentally prepared for the challenge ahead will preparing for the opener against Alabama.
“Yeah, I think it certainly is a big game for us, and obviously, Alabama being the national champions and the tradition that they have, I see it as a great challenge,” Petrino said regarding the opener. “You know, and I don’t think that our guys are extra excited about it, but I think it motivated them throughout the winter, throughout spring ball, throughout the summer workouts to work extremely hard.
“But the number one thing we have to do is believe that we can go down there and beat them so that when you truly believe in something, then you go out and play your best, play to your best of your ability, and that’s what’s important for us. If there’s any disbelief at all, usually you underachieve, and that’s the main thing we can’t do. We need to go play our best game to give us an opportunity to win.”
As you might assume, Petrino is wondering the same thing as many Alabama fans regarding the team’s starting quarterback — Who will Nick Saban tab as his starter? The Louisville coach doesn’t know the answer but did provide his strategy for prepping for the unknown heading into the game.
“Yeah, you have to prepare for both of them. I think that’s the thing we weren’t able to find out in spring ball was who the starter is going to be because (Tua Tagovailoa) had a broken thumb and didn’t practice in spring ball,” Petrino continued. “Both of them are great players. Hurts has got an unbelievable record. And then the other guy came in in the National Championship game in the second half and showed how accurate of a passer he is and was able to execute their offense at a very, very high level. You have to be able to prepare for both of them.
“We’ve been working on it, watching video, breaking things down since January. So it’s something that we have some time to do, but one guy is a great big physical runner that can also throw the ball, and the other guy is a really accurate passer.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
