Time to get over the Florida State loss. Like yesterday. A monster opponent awaits the University of Louisville football team at Boston College Saturday.
Never had a game been more anticipated than the one against the Tallahassee team, Coach Bobby Petrino admitting it was a game in which his team had invested “a lot of energy and emotion,” with exhilarating and deflating ups and downs, only to collapse during the last five minutes.
The crowd of 55,414 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium heavily invested as well, on its feet the entire game, only to have to endure that long, slow loser walk to the parking lot afterwards before inching their vehicles out of the Green Lot. It takes time to get over that surprising collapse, flush it out of the system and prepare to bounce back against a dangerous opponent.
“You’re always concerned as a coach after a game that you put so much into and you’re in it, you’re competing hard, you’re playing well and you don’t come out on the right end,” said Petrino. “So I think this is the week that we find out who the real leaders are and it reveals our character as a team.”
Boston College, with its 6-3 won-lost record, already posed a significant threat, regardless of last week’s outcome. The Eagles are solid at every position, ready to pounce if UofL is not totally focused and ready to compete.
— BC is the only team in the nation that ranks in the top 10 in rushing offense and rushing defense — ninth in running the ball at 274.9 yards while holding the opposition to just 88.9 rushing yards per game.
— BC has out rushed the opposition 1,973 yards to 222 yards in six wins.
— Senior quarterback Tyler Murphy is a threat running and passing. He is the team’s leading rusher, averaging 7.4 yards per carry while racking up 965 yards this season and seven touchdowns. He has passed for 1,144 yards and eight more touchdowns.
— Running back Jon Hilliman is averaging four yards per carry and has scored nine touchdowns.
— BC did not lose a fumble during its first five games and has lost only two this season.
Louisville still have much to play for this season, its first in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and will have to find the same level of intensity it had in the first half against Florida State, carrying it over for 60 minutes this week. Three more wins to be had and a respectable start in the ACC if the Cardinals can put disappointment behind them.