LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Heading into the Louisville football program's season-opening matchup against Syracuse, two things usually come to mind for Cardinals fans regarding the Orange. The first is how they've been dominated by Louisville in recent Grayson Allen Jersey years, with the Cardinals going 7-1 against them since they joined the ACC and 3-0 under head coach Scott Satterfield, and that Cuse's Sean Tucker is a force to be reckoned with considering he is one of the top running backs in all of FBS - if not the best.But something that occasionally gets lost in the shuffle when discu sing Syracuse, partly because they finished the 2021 season with a 5-7 record and had a bad skid down the stretch, is that they featured one of the best defenses in all of the ACC last season.Even with their 0-3 stretch to end the season, where they surrendered an average of 37.7 points per game to Louisville, NC State and Pitt, the Orange posted some great defensive numbers for the season. They allowed only 330.3 yards per game, which was second in the ACC (Clemson) and 19th nationally, and tallied 3.08 sacks and 6.8 tackles for lo s per game, which was 16th and 28th in the nation. Their 26.3 points surrendered per game did rank 66th, but that totalover their first nine games was 22.6.Satterfield knows how adept Syracuse is on defense despite a ton of succe s against them since his arrival at Louisville, and is expecting a dogfight against the Orange come this Saturday."Theyre Memphis Grizzlies Jeresy a very aggre sive defense," he said. "They play very hard, guys can run, I think number three (Mikel Jones) and seven (Stefan Thompson) are two guys that stand out in their defense, the two linebackers, outstanding players, and a very experienced secondary."I think last year they were a little beat up in the secondary, now coming into this year sounds like they got all their guys. Two of the top corners were going to see, number eight (Garrett Williams) and number zero (Darian 'Duce' Chestnut), who was number twenty last year, outstanding corners."Syracuse returns eight starters from last season's defense, including their three top tacklers. Mikel Jones is coming off of a First-Team All-ACC season, tallying a team-best 110.0 tackles and 13.0 tackles for lo s, Jahlil Tripp Jersey as well as 4.0 sacks. Stefon Thompson and Marlowe Wax, who placed second and third on the team, respectively, in tackles with 79.0 and 60, are also back.The Orange secondary also returns their two best a sets from last season in cornerback duo Garrett Williams and Darian 'Duce' Chestnut. Williams logged 5.0 tackles for lo s and 10 pa s breakups, which was second in the ACC behind Clemson's Mario Goodrich (12), and Chestnut snagged three interceptions as a true freshman."They've got a really good defense," Louisville center Bryan Hudson said. "Some really experienced guys, primarily their linebackers. Just watching from last season and the tape that we have on them, that's one thing that really stands out is just their experience at the linebacker position. They've got some really athletic guys, just talking D-line and linebackers."Scroll to ContinueAdding to that, Syracuse has a relatively uncommon base scheme. Instead of your typical 4-3 or 3-4 defensive front, defense Marc Gasol Jersey coordinator and linebackers coach Tony White utilizes a 3-3-5. In this scheme, the base package has just three down linemen and three linebackers on the field, whereas there are five defensive backs - typically two corners and three safeties.Plus, the Orange defense does a good job of disguising their looks to create a bunch of pre sure in the backfield. Their undersized defensive line might not have the size or strength that a normal line does, but they do have enough speed and athleticism to allow the linebackers and secondary behind them to clean up."When you look at what they do, they create negative plays by penetrating, by blitzing, by creating different looks up front, but also on the back end," Louisville offensive coordinator Lance Taylor said. "We have to be locked into our keys, not only from the quarterback position, but from all positions Memphis Grizzlies Hats offensively to make sure that we know what look that they're giving us."Louisville might have had a high level of succe s against Syracuse in the past, winning by an average margin of 30.0 points over their last three matchups, but that doesn't make the Orange defense any le s of a threat come game day."They move around a lot, and do a lot of things like that up front," Hudson said. "That's just one thing that we have prepared for. As we watch tape, like I said, they're just really athletic and they've got some experience. That's something that's going to be good to go up against week one."Kickoff between the Cardinals and the Orange is set for Saturday, Sept. 3 at 8:00 p.m. EST.(Photo of Marshon Ford, Eric Coley:Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)