Saturday evening, the Alabama Crimson Tide embarks on the 2018 season against the Louisville Cardinals from Orlando's Camping World Stadium.

The matchup with Louisville marks the second consecutive season that Alabama has opened the season against an opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

During Tuesday's edition of Inside the Locker Room, veteran college football writer Gentry Estes detailed his scouting report on the Cardinals.

Similar to Alabama, Louisville brought in a new defensive coordinator in veteran defensive mind Brian VanGorder. The former defensive coordinator at Georgia comes to Louisville after spending one season as an assistant at Oklahoma State.

Concerning Saturday's game, Estes sees the matchup disparity for Louisville's defense against Alabama's offense as their biggest obstacle to victory.

"How can they match up defensively against Alabama? Are they going to be able to hold their own in the front seven and keep Alabama from dominating the game and dominating possession? I think that's the real question." Estes said.

While one of the main concerns for Alabama coming into Saturday is their inexperienced secondary going against an experienced group of Louisville receivers, the Courier Journal sportswriter highlighted another concern for Bobby Petrino's squad.

"The question is you have a new quarterback, is he going to have time?" Estes said. "The offensive line for Louisville has been an issue in the past. They've got some experience back. They should be better, but Alabama's a different kind of test than everybody they're going to play with the exception of Clemson."

In the big picture for Louisville's offense, Estes sees the offense with Jawon Pass at quarterback looking more like a traditional offense with a drop back passer than what the Cardinals saw with a dual-threat like Lamar Jackson.

"You're going to see more of a traditional Bobby Petrino offense. I think this will look more like what he did at Arkansas versus having somebody like Lamar Jackson up there." Estes said.

The veteran college football observer also talked about how Louisville will prepare for both Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts at quarterback for Alabama, Petrino's comments on beating Alabama and Louisville's ability to recruit in the state of Kentucky, Florida and across the country.

Catch Inside the Locker Room every weekday from 7-9 AM on Tide 102.9/100.9 FM and the Tide 102.9 app.

More From Tide 100.9