4 teams in the nation have more penalties than Louisville football. Can the Cards fix it?

Louisville’s football team spent part of its Sunday running.

It’s one of the consequences Cardinals head coach Scott Satterfield has come up with for the team racking up more yards in penalties (81) than any wideout had in receiving yards against Florida State last Friday night. Ahmari Huggins-Bruce led the unit with 61 yards on three catches.

The team’s 11 penalties in the 35-31 loss to Florida State brings it to 30 on the year, tied for 125^th in the country with Cincinnati. Only four teams have accumulated more penalties: winless Georgia State and undefeated Maryland (31 each), 1-3 Charlotte (32) and 1-2 Houston (33).

The Cardinals are averaging 10 penalties per game, which is 126^th nationally, for a total of 229 yards’ worth of penalties (110^th) and an average of 76.3 yards per outing (116^th). If U of L is to turn around its season, it will in part take eliminating those miscues, starting against South Florida in the Week 4 game at noon Saturday.

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“We talk about it: being disciplined, and being focused, (knowing) exactly what's going on,” Satterfield said. “All you can do is continue to harp on it and hope we get better at it. It’s certainly something that we've talked about all summer.”

It’s not just that U of L is committing penalties, but the mistakes are coming at crucial times in games. The Cardinals had Florida State pushed back to third-and-14 at the Louisville 30-yard line about five minutes into the third quarter. An offsides penalty spotted FSU 5 yards, and backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker handled the rest and more with a 10-yard run to pick up the first down. On the next play coming out of a timeout, Seminoles running back Lawrance Toafili jetted into the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown run, tying the game at 21.

The penalties aren't exclusive to the offense and defense. Special teams has added to the issue. A shanked punt allowed U of L to start a second-quarter drive on the FSU 33 with less than eight minutes remaining in the second quarter. A holding call on special teams, however, cost the Cardinals 10 yards.

That time, they were able to overcome it. Louisville running back Trevion Cooley’s 1-yard touchdown run to give the team a 21-14 lead with 5:30 to go before halftime.

Satterfield feels penalties on defense and special teams are a little more understandable due to the physical nature of the game but also acknowledges the Cardinals need to do better. Ones that come on offense, however, aren’t as forgivable. Of the Cardinals' 30 penalties, 10 have been false starts.

“We are controlling when we snap the ball, so we should know when to jump off or not jump off,” Satterfield said. “It is the pre-snap penalties that really bother me more than anything. The post-snap penalties, when you are playing hard, you are going to have some penalties. There is not any team that goes through that doesn’t get any penalties. It’s the pre-snap penalties that really affect you. Being offsides, false starts, those types of things, we have to get better at that.”

One of Louisville’s second-quarter series featured three false start penalties alone. The drive ended with a fumble from running back Jawhar Jordan, who was starting in place of Tiyon Evans. The Cardinals’ defense prevented the Seminoles from cashing in on the opportunity, though, when linebacker Yasir Abdullah picked off one of Rodemaker’s passes.

One quarter later, with the score tied at 21, U of L looked ready to go for it on fourth-and-1 at the FSU 46. A false start penalty essentially killed the opportunity as the Cardinals were now at fourth-and-6 on their own side of the field.

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Louisville offensive coordinator Lance Taylor attributed the multitude of penalties to a lack of discipline and focus, something the team will work to improve.

“We've talked about it as a staff. We've talked about it to the offensive unit and really pointing out those times and areas where we have to be locked in,” he said. “They're showing up in critical areas and critical moments, in the red zone and on third downs. Those are things that you can't have and so put that on me and our staff we've got to do a better job of continuing to get these guys ready and really show them those penalties cost you yards. They cost you points and they cost you games.”

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville football: Coach Scott Satterfield addresses penalties