Another grinder against a not-so-highly-regarded opponent.
Visions of Memphis possibly pushing the game into overtime near the end as a University of Louisville drive stalls at the 6-yard line with 37 seconds to go. The UofL defense would manage to muzzle the Tigers, preserving an unimpressive 24-17 win.
The final home game on a schedule among the least respected in college football, with UofL’s pre-season vaulted offense morphing into a predictable and ponderous snail’s crawl as the season progresses. Even with one of the game’s better passing quarterback, this is hard to watch.
Louisville managing only 122 yards rushing while allowing Memphis 144 yards. Teddy Bridgewater passing for 220 yards, his opposite Paxton Lynch putting 144 passing yards on the board. These teams weren’t supposed to be that evenly matched, with Louisville a 25-point favorite.
The schedule a disaster during UofL’s transition season from the American Athletic Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season. The ironic thing about it is that the lack of decent opponents may have had more on a negative effect on the team than the fans.
The 46,216 on hand the smallest crowd of the season. However, Louisville still set season attendance records for the overall total and for individual games, attracting 370,396 fans through seven home games for an average attendance of 52,914 fans per game. Charlie Strong may have looked up and seen empty seats in the stands on Senior Day, but he would be seeing the fewest ever for a final home game.
One could argue that the quality and name recognition of an upcoming opponent has a significant impact on player attitudes and the level of intensity they exert during practices and actual games. These qualities also affect the anticipatory levels of fans and the emotions they invest in games.
As good as the team’s 10-1 won-lost record is, this has been a long season. No one said it would be fun, this purgatory of a transition. The good news is that the AAC logo on the playing field at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium will finally be replaced by the ACC logo next season.
The next game, at Cincinnati, an opponent that commands respect, should provide a long-awaited escape from the doldrums for now. A high-exposure game against a dangerous opponent. Louisville players and fans should have no problem getting up for that one.
I’m excited about the Cincy game – I’m hoping to make the trip up for the game.
I wish we would keep the rivalry with Cincy going once we are in the ACC. However, it looks like we have scheduled Houston out of the AAC as our “good faith” opponent for the immediate future.
Cincinnati will be a major hurdle for sure.
Did Strong offer up any explanation why he chose not to attempt a field goal in the last series to make it a two score game? Instead he chooses to go for it (and fails) on 4th and long thus giving Memphis a remote chance to tie the game with a TD. I realize we had a FG blocked earlier in the game, but Strong’s decision to not kick the FG at that point of the game seemed very odd to me (unless Wallace was injured).
UofL had had a field goal attempt blocked earlier in the game, and Charlie Strong he didn’t want to take a chance on getting another one blocked. That wind was doing funny things as well.