Football Team Sets Its Sights On Louisville

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina head coach Steve Logan addressed the media at his weekly press conference on Monday where he discussed East Carolina`s upcoming game with the Louisville Cardinals. The Cardinals will be making their first appearance in Greenville in 31 years.

The Louisville Cardinals (5-4 overall, 3-2 in C-USA) will be looking to clinch a winning season with a victory against the Pirates this Saturday. Coming off a bye week, the Cardinals will visit Greenville with a two-game winning streak. Louisville has made a dramatic turnaround in 1998 under first-year head coach John L. Smith, who has rebounded the Cardinals from last year`s 1-10 campaign.

"Louisville has a spread out offense," said Logan. "They have one of the top offenses in the nation at this time. Louisville will have five receivers on the field that they will throw to. They have three receivers in the game, a tight end, and they will throw to the fullback out of the backfield. It`s a wide open offense that they run."

Louisville junior quarterback Chris Redman ranks third in the nation among Division I signal-callers in passing yards and fifth in touchdown passes through nine games this season. Redman also ranks 22nd in the country in passing efficiency.

"We have one of the best college quarterbacks in the country coming here this Saturday," said Logan. "He has been prolific all year long. He is a much better quarterback than we faced last year at this time. If you give Chris Redman anything exclusive, he will pick you apart. You cannot play just man-to-man coverage or zone coverage against him. We are going to have to come up with some defensive schemes to give him a little bit of confusion and try to slow him down."

While the Louisville offense has been on top of its game, the Cardinal defense ranks 110 among 112 Division I football teams in total defense. The Louisville defense is led by sophomore linebacker Bud Herring. Herring is the team`s top tackler with 108 total stops. Herring recorded a season-high 16 tackles against Illinois and Southern Miss earlier this year.

"Louisville`s defense has copied the University of Arizona`s defense," said Logan. "It is a 4-3 defense that has one linebacker moving all around the field. They stay predominantly with a man-to-man coverage and blitz a lot. They are new with this type of defense and they have not adapted to it as well as they have to the new offensive scheme."

The most previous meeting between the Pirates and Cardinals last November saw East Carolina overcome a 31-14 deficit at halftime to beat Louisville 45-31. A pair of interception returns for touchdowns (by ECU’s Dwight Henry and Forrest Foster) sparked the rally. East Carolina leads the series with Louisville 3-1.