So much to play for for the University of Louisville football team. Such a blown opportunity.
A fumble on the opening kickoff setting the tone, however. Downhill from there for UofL in a long drawn-out 36-10 loss to Houston. A feeble, listless and humiliating performance at the worst possible time for the nation’s third-ranked team.
The loss not only knocking Louisville out of contention for the college playoffs this year but probably a chance for a top five pre-season rating for next year. A setback on so many levels for a program that was on the cusp of making history.
Maybe the players believed all they had to do was show up. That’s about all they did, looking unprepared and uninspired. Unnerved by the opening fumble, stalled by a series of false starts and three-and-outs, and intimidated by a raucous Houston crowd of 42, 822. Falling behind 31-0 at the half, chasing their tails in the second half.
An endless trail of deplorables:
— Quarterback Lamar Jackson sacked 10 times.
— Jackson completed only 20 of 43 passes.
— The offensive line had 11 false starts for 55 penalty yards.
— Jackson, Brandon Radcliff and Malik Williams with costly fumbles.
Jackson’s timing appeared to be off all night, probably due to the fact that he was running for his life most of the time. When he did have receivers open, the ball was bouncing off their chests, sailing over their heads or bouncing between their ankles.
Somewhat reminiscent of some recent games not getting off to good starts, sending Jackson into hurry-up mode and resulting in some unpredictable and panicky actions. Little doubt that opposing coaches are figuring out how to handle Jackson and Radcliff. They’ve also identified UofL’s offensive line as a major weakness, making it easier to control a predictable offense.
The only good thing about this game was that UofL did not incur any significant physical injuries. Offset perhaps by some emotional scars.
“We got beat by their offense, we got beat by their defense, and we got beat by their special teams,” said Coach Bobby Petrino. “That was a bad job of coaching on my part. I didn’t do a good job of getting our team ready to play. The out-played us, they out-performed us, and they out-coached us.”
One more regular season game remaining, against a team that will be highly motivated against UofL. The Cardinals have won the last two games against the University of Kentucky but gotten off to terrible starts against the Wildcats. They had better come to play next Saturday.
It will be interesting and informative to see how these young men respond to the devastation in Texas. If they get past it, and put in a solid performance against the Cats–we can look forward to an even better year in 2017. On the other hand, if there is blame-game and division all week this week and a, uh.. poor performance to end the regular season…..well, we’ll see what they are made of soon enough. I’m betting on a positive response (if I was allowed to bet). C’mon and GO CARDS!
For my part, I think I recognize the agony Cubs fans had been experiencing for so many years — so close yet just not close enough. If you listened carefully last night, say about 8:30pm, you probably could have heard the hissing sound of pride and anticipation seeping out of the hyped balloon of an opportunity to play for a national championship. So, Howard’s famous quote hangs in the air still, the collision course still an uphill climb. Go Cards!
We fans need to remember these are 18, 19, 20, and 21 year old young men. They make mistakes and that is one of life’s lessons. The one thing I always enjoy about sports is there is another game next week or next year. We must remember it is a game. The sun came up this morning and it will continue coming up.