Sad, the depths to which University of Louisville football has descended.
For a brief period there, UofL was considered one of the up-and-coming programs in college football. A program generating win after win, consistently setting new attendance records, taking large, enthusiastic crowds to BCS bowls and entertaining legitimate college playoff hopes.
Football having raised the profile of UofL to levels not possible with any other sport. The king of college sports, integral to achieving and maintaining national respectability. Especially at a school where the basketball program is faced with an uncertain future. UofL needed football to be good.
Any hope of football filling any voids for the University or achieving much of anything this season was greatly diminished with Saturday’s 38-20 drubbing at the hands of Boston College. Were it not for a couple of turnovers during the early going, it would have been much uglier.
Pretty apparent to a fan base with a legacy of great quarterbacks that Louisville has missed the mark this season. Granted the offensive line has some challenges, but the quarterback should be able to overcome some of those deficiencies once in a while.
What fans are seeing is a lack of leadership at the position and little evidence of any of the right instincts. Taking too long to make decisions, spending half the game in panic mode, showing little sense of timing, and missing badly on wide open receivers. Not knowing when to throw the ball away, not playing with emotion, standing way behind the curve on the development scale.
The offensive line, expected to be one of the strongest team’s strongest units, often resembles a flimsy barrier of yellow tape, inviting defensive linemen to have their way with Louisville’s quarterback. A recurring scene from Saturday’s game was of linemen standing straight up, ignoring, avoiding incoming defensive lineman.
Credit the Cardinal defense for keeping Boston College from keeping the game from being a complete rout. Little help from the offense, which had only five offensive series in the second half. Way too much pressure on a defense already struggling to contain the edge and runs up the middle.
Sadly there are probably more beatings to come for a team that has stumbled out of the gate with 2-5 won-lost record. Finding any reason for optimism will become increasingly difficult.
No, I know you are not a fair weather fan. Nor are we. The real fans are those who HAVE stuck with the Cards through all that you listed. And we will be there, through the rest of this miserable season, in our red and black. The fair weather fans threw in the towel, cried uncle, crawled back into their comfort zones, left the stadium during the rain game after the first delay on Sept. 8 (second game of season). THIS TEAM still needs our encouragement and support. See you at Card March. Go Cards!
I am not a fair weather fan. I have been a football fan since 1971 and a season ticker holder and donor 1976. I set in many an almost empty stadium back in the day. I support the Cards, “when being a Louisville Football Fan was not cool”. I go back to “The Missouri Valley,” Independent Days, CUSA Days, and Big East Days. I donated to help build the new Cardinal Stadium. Think goodness that we are ACC now. I suffered through Ron Cooper and Steve Kragthorpe! We had climbed to being a Top 25 program. Bobby Petrino inherited a Top 25 program. Right now we are facing a 2-10 season and are not even in the Top 50 programs. Our coach is not a destination choice for the Top players. No creditable assistant coaches want to work for him. Attendance is declining. So how does it make anybody a fair weather fan, because they want this mess fixed and a better leader installed as our new football coach?
A little perspective is not a bad thing every now and then. We can say now that we know how our blue team neighbor friends feel every year.
These are the games that try fans’ patience. The sunshine fan and the bandwagon fan will, in this crisis, shrink from the support of their team and coach, but he and she that stand it now, deserve the love and thanks of Card Nation. Go Cards! [HT to Thomas Paine.]