Editor’s note: Again this week, a guest author has his hackles up. The opinions expressed do not necessarily represent the views of Card Game, especially as they may relate to the defensive staff.

By Tom Stosberg

I am told that there is a sign in the Trinity locker room that says, “The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win.”  I am not sure that such a sign truly exists.

In any case, such a sign needs to exist SOON in the U of L football locker room. I said soon.

Losing not one but four very winnable games, is nothing less than lack of preparation, both mental and physical. The cheerleaders, marching band and Lady Birds are not responsible for preparing the team. Neither are the team managers, office assistants, video editors or medical staff.

The coaches, the guys making the big bucks, are the ones responsible for preparing our football players and as of this point in time, they appear to be collecting paychecks under false pretenses.

Obviously the current University of Louisville football coaches are counting on the fans to wait 6, 8, maybe 10 years for another fairly decent team to magically appear.

It is this simple, gentlemen, if you don’t know how to teach, lead and motivate college football players, some of whom are exceptionally gifted, perhaps it is now time for several of you to investigate some other means of livelihood.  Simply admit to yourselves that you do not have the talent or ability to impart your vast wealth of football knowledge to 18 to 21 year old athletes and go do something else.

If you can’t win winnable games please explain to me why you haven’t already cleaned out your desks? Why are you still here? The coaches keep crying that they can’t find any leaders. Leadership begins with the coaching staff and this group is a sorry lot in that regard.

I hope this really ticks off the coaches. They’re not nearly as ticked off as U of L fans are.

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By Tom Stosberg

Tom Stosberg and his wife, Linda, also an active participant on this site, have been U of L fans for nearly 40 years. Tom is self-employed by MarketFit, Inc., an outsource marketing advisory. Tom worked in radio, television and advertising for 35+ years. His web site is located at http://marketfitinc.net.

30 thoughts on “Fourth winnable loss”
  1. Whenever the football team gets the ship righted, then you’ll see those Friday night and Sat. noon kickoff games disappear.

  2. If you can’t see that TB Is a legit Qb…then you have the problem and not him. This kid may not be blazing fast, but he does have good mobility and can throw on the run. The previous regime didn’t leave a scholarship Qb in the cubbard….Will Stein may be a good person, but he is not a legit qb at this level. HCCS got verbals from two prototype Qb’s and will add more. When you have to take a freshmen DL and convert him to Ol to start him…that tells you how bad the OL really is…

  3. It is appearant, Louisville is still two fan bases football and basketball. The problem is the basketball fans try as hard as they may do not know squat about football, and most Kentuckians and Louisvillians grew up as basketball fans.

    1. I’ll second that…..it just blew me away to hear someone say that TB is not the future QB….wow

      This guy is a true fresh. running for his life and has done a good job.

      1. I will agree that Bridgewater has received very little help and was thrust into a difficult situation that he probably is not ready to handle. He has performed adequately, but as a highly ranked duel threat QB, I was expecting more (ie, Pat White as a Fr.) Granted they are two different situations, but I have yet to see that raw gifted athleticism that can turn a broken play into a 30 yard gain. Maybe he is being held back, discourged from making improvised plays or my initial perception of him is incorrect, but my point is that I have seen nothing special that indicates that Louisville has no QB worries for the next three plus years.

        1. I suspect (with absolutely no proof) that with Stein injured TB is told above all else “Don’t get hurt!” With only one healthy QB we can’t afford to lose him.

          1. I agree. The offense seems to be based on three things: 1) run the ball 2) pass only when the threat of a turnover or mistake is diminished and 3) Teddy do not get hurt.

      2. You can bet that TB is filing all this away in the back of his head and next year he’s going to make them all pay for this season. He won’t be taking a knee, either.

  4. If I’m reading my fellow bloggers correctly, then–here are the scores:
    Defense…Pass
    Offense…Fail
    Coaches…Fail
    Fans……Disappointed. Watch attendance figures.

    Certainly, there are some quality players on the offense, and some quite promising ones, too. But they keep score in this game, and if you can’t get six when you’re in the red zone, the whole offense fails. So do the coaches. At the start of the season, most fans had ‘medium’ expectations, except for a few certifiable pigskin fanatics. I’d have to say–so far, the results are more ‘rare’ than ‘well done.’

    1. The hardest place to score is in the red zone because you can’t spread out the defense. Once inside the 20 the strength of the O-Line becomes paramount. And ours is lacking.

      This is why we have more TD’s from outside the 20 than from inside it.

  5. Obviously there is a lot of frustration with the current state of the football program. I think that most understand the youth and lack of experience associated with this year’s team. Greatness is not around the corner. It is apparent that the offense is performing at or below expectations. To me that raises some questions. Any number of coaches could come into this situation and perform at or below expectations. It takes no special skills to meet low expectations. A truly special coach can exceed those expectations. Is Charlie Strong that special coach or is he a coach that can only excel with great talent (something that is never guaranteed at UL)? Was last year a successful year or did the team with 25 seniors under acheive? It is to early to tell, but the performance this year does start to raise some questions. One thing that I am not convinced is that Bridgewater is the future of this program. Again to early to be certain, but after watching him play I am starting to think that the only reason such a highly rated QB is at UL is that the big time programs recruiting him didn’t think he could play QB. Stong may have been the only one to give him the opportunity.

    1. So you think Charle should be starting on the O-Line? Come to think of it he may be better than some of the guys he inherited.

  6. Are you looking to just to draw traffic to this site? This is the dumbest article I think I have ever read. It clearly shows your lack of knowledge of the game. First and foremost you can’t compete in Division I football with most fresh. and soph. that start and no meaningful depth behind them.

    There is the makings of a stingy defense in years to come once the kind of kids HCCS is bringing in to manifest into something special. The problem with the offense is simply the OL, Krag’s recruits. The upperclassmen including Mario are absolutely garbage and the freshmen aren’t strong enough to play an entire game much less expect to manhandle the opposition. Then that word called depth comes back into play.

    It’s obvious that Bridgewater is the future and the future is right now, but expecting him to perform while running for his life is asking just a little too much. The only thing that this coaching staff could have done different is bring in a few Juco Ol’s….wait they couldn’t because Krag and even Bobby wasn’t getting it done in the classroom.

    1. Tom is a guest author and was venting. I agree with much of what you have to say. But critcizing the offensive line as Krag’s recruits is not helpful to kids wanting to get better under Charlie Strong.

      1. The point that I’m making is simple, the upperclassmen that are on the line,for the most partare D1 material. It’s not their fault, who wouldn’t have taken a scholly, but if you are gonna blame the coaching for this line….please weigh all the factors. HCCS has brought in some really nice talent that takes time to cultivate, but all the major programs have guys on their 4 deep that could start here. Sixty minutes is a long time to play against a talented opposition that can rotate in an out with equal talent. Watson is handcuffed with this line, they are going to ruin all the backfield and that is not what we need.

        This coaching staff didn’t walk in on a talent rich team such as University of Miami that just need tweaking….This Coach took a job that couldn’t win a the D 1AA level, that is a tall order for anyone. It just chaps my hyde to hear some of the crap that comes from the UL fans about this Staff and the play of this young team.

        You may not see it this year, but I promise HCCS will address this piss poor line. It may be in the form of Juco’s or transfers, but some of this OL will be encourage to transfer in order to free up schollies.

        I never hear the cries for Pitino to walk the plank….he hasn’t done squat on the National Scene since he has been a Cardinal.

        1. You just hit it out of the park, Cowtown, when you mentioned Pitino. He has spent the last 10 years saying we’re very young” and that is exactly what set me off when I heard fans crying “youth” about football,too.

          The biggest problem our coaches have is not lack of talent, it’s the mental part of the game…that’s the motivational side. If you’re not a motivator, then you simply are not a motivator…
          in short, someone needs to light a fire under someone…Only HCCS can decide who the “someones” are.

      2. But is is the truth. We are paying the price for three years of at best spotty recruiting under He Whose Name Shall Not Be Spoken.

        1. Ironically, the Coach Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned blamed Bobby Petrino for leaving the cupboard bare.The cupboard was bare because the coach (hereafter referred to as CWNSNBM) kicked 18 kids off the team then formed a Book Club for those who were left. How lovely. Bet he went shopping with them at Dress Barn, too.

    2. You’re way out of line calling Mario “garbage” at least. He’ll be another center playing on Sundays when he leaves UL.

      Don’t know why people are so up in arms over this team. The second youngest in FBS, less than 15 seniors, major holes to fill on the offensive line, etc. I seriously recommend for those that are this bent out of shape over this team to limit their alcohol intake or try a decaffeinated coffee.

  7. Some of the whining you hear may be coming from coaches who are blaming all the problems on the youth. Today’s underclasmen come in with a lot more knowledge of the game than in years gone by. This ain’t like the olden days when kids had to be seniors to nderstand offenses, coverages and assignments….but I’ll be patient and willing to wait until we accidentally stumble onto some superstars who the coaches can brang that the “molded” into NFL stars.

    Akk I want the coaches to do is stop whining and teach.

    1. Freshmen and sophomores are going to have serious problems in D-1A. UofL out of 120 teams is something like the 3rd youngest. You have less patience than my ex-wife. And that is not good.

  8. Still proud of this Cardinal defense that held UC to their lowest yardage of the season and 20 points below their scoring average. One mis-read on the defense led to Pead’s breakaway run and go-ahead touchdown.

    This team is young. Give them time. That stunned silence you heard in Paul Brown Stadium yesterday in the first half was 35,000 UC fans seeing a nine point Cardinal lead…realizing that it could have very well been 28-7 Cards.

    No need to fire anybody. Maybe a need to get behind this team and quit being whiney little girls because they lost to a better opponent.

  9. Tom,

    I agree 100%! Yesterday, ESPN showed on one Louisville punt receiving down, we only had eight players on the field! In the first quarter we used two time outs. All those offensive penalties continue, coupled with ten quarters and no touchdowns. There is no imagination in our offensive play calling either. This was the sixth game of the year, we should be seeing improvement by now, but there is none. Again you are correct, if this was the happening in the private sector or the military, we would be seeing pink slips or change of command orders, being issued. Right now Louisville football’s offensive team and special team play squads are FUBAR!

    Steve

    1. If coaches can’t teach the kids how many “eleven” is then they may need less money and more instruction themselves. Not enough or too many players on the field is outrageous….and why a man should be paid between $175,000 and $450,000 a year when is too lazy to do his job is way beyond me.

      I personally would fine a guy $5,000 the first time it happended and get rid of him the second time.

  10. So why were you silent during the Kragthorpe debacle?

    If you look at who is getting the playing time for us, mostly freshmen and sophmores, you should realize we are paying the price for Kragthorpe’s horrible recruiting.

    1. I ranted about Krag for two years plus the year after he was gone for the mess he left. At the time I had my own blog site where I called him out many times.
      I just think Charlie has a few weak assistants who are blaming it on youth.

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