Louisville Football Halfway There?

Thoughts going into the Louisville vs. Kentucky football game:

• Now we know exactly what Tom Jurich meant when he declared a little over a year ago that U of L football was in a rebuild mode, adding “I just hope we can get through it.” The negative talk directed at Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe is off the charts in some quarters (i.e., messsage boards).
• Would anything be sweeter than force feeding the garbage talk down the throats of the haters? Some sound a lot like Alabama fans going after Mike Shula a couple of years ago. But Shula had one 10-2 season and Alabama had five decades of tradition.
• Louisville’s opening game was the longest, most boring game the observer has seen in all of his years of watching U of L football. Maybe there was a reason for that, as in showing absolutely nothing to a hated arch rival. One can always hope. Make that one must hope.
• There’s a lot of talk about Louisville’s explosive backs. Victor Anderson is, for sure. But Bilal Powell didn’t show anything last season. And Darius Ashley has yet to set foot in a college football game.
• If U of L’s wide receivers are a strong point, we have yet to see that either. Scott Long and Trent Guy have spent almost as much time nursing injuries as playing games. Josh Chichester is far from being a proven receiver. Doug Beaumont has yet to find the end zone. Troy Pascley shows only flashes.
• How will Justin Burke respond to the UK wall of noise. There has been at least one estimate that 80,000 people will show up a Commonwealth Stadium. That would be standing room only in a 67,600-seat stadium. If Burke was nervous against Indiana State, he could be a basket case in Lexington.
• Ryan Tydlacka, brother of former U of L kicker Wade Tydlacka, kicking for Kentucky when Louisville’s kicking game is among the needy.
• U of L has 21 players from the Ville. Kentucky has 15. How long will it take them to overtake U of L at the current pace?
• Tom Jurich said two years for the rebuild. We’re just a little over the halfway point.

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U of L-UK: Pick The Score

By Paul Sykes

By now you’ve have a chance to read the hype, inside information, comparison analysis and position breakdowns for the big game. You can rattle off the starters in the Louisville secondary forwards and backwards, and probably give an off-the-cuff speech on the series.

Or, you might be new to Card Game and just want to try your luck. If that’s the case, welcome, and read, comment and bug Charlie all you want…

But can you pick the final score?

Get out your thinking caps, mull over the strengths and weaknesses of each squad, and quiz your mailman. Repeat and rinse. Then, go to the Comments section and post it.

For the record, I’m going 24-21 Cats over Cards. Before you start hurling rotten tomatoes and leaving stray cats in my front yard, know full well that nothing would please me more than seeing UofL pull the upset. I just don’t see it “in the Cards” this year.

Charlie is providing a free T-shirt to the winner — the front of which says, “The only thing I hate more than Kentucky basketball,’ and the back “is Kentucky fans.”

Good luck!

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What Do Louisville Fans Have To Lose?

By Tom Stosberg

Could you tell me once again just exactly what University of Louisville football fans have to lose in this coming Saturday’s game? And please, no whining.

As I see it, the U of L faithful win whether the football team wins or not. If the Cardinals win the game everything is obvious giddiness.  But if the team loses the fans still win because chances are they can look forward to getting a new powerhouse, wonderful, spectacular, incredible football coach in December.

Now did I say if he can’t beat Kentucky, he can’t win in the Big East? Or did you just get ahead of me there?

First, let’s cover the winning-the-game giddiness. You see any coach who can beat a rival can probably beat anyone else on the schedule. Not because the rival is that good but simply because it’s a pressure game. Pressure games cause some coaches to get conservative, play scared, try to run the ball up the middle too much, play not to lose, call really dumb plays, uh … kind of like USC 18, Ohio State 15 (plus the last 10 times OSU played top five teams).

Anyway, once the rivalry game is won and the pressure is off the coach can get back to happy football … like with long passes, wide open offenses, jail break blitzes. You know, fun stuff.

So if Coach K is loosey-goosey and let’s the kids do what they really do know how to do, he could actually win it. Note the loosey-goosey part. Trust me, UK will play tense.

On the other hand, if Krag gets scared and plays not to lose, acts like he’s in the Big Ten or something (ooops, did I say that?) then he’ll be wise to get at least three quotes … Mayflower, United, Allied, North American Van Lines, American, Bekins, National…

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Monday Outlook Not Good For Louisville Football

Maybe the pessimism stems from today being a Monday but the week begins with a sense of foreboding: The weekend could be another embarrassing one for University of Louisville football.

Based on the last two seasons and a lackluster start to this one, the worst seems almost inevitable as U of L goes against Kentucky in Lexington Saturday.

The fact that underdogs have fared well is one thread of hope, with the favored team winning only eight times in 15 tries in the modern era.

Unfortunately, they haven’t kept records on how teams declared “dead meat” by many of their own fans have fared.

Things always look better on Tuesday.

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Fans who like to keep track attendance trends have a new source for the past 51 years of Louisville football. Link.

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Louisville Football: Opening Game Memos

Okay staff. The big week has finally arrived at the University of Louisville. The football team is psyched. The die-hards are chomping at the proverbial bit. The fair weathers are even excited. Just a few minor details that need to be taken care of before the season opener:

• To Steve Kragthorpe: No defections this week.
• To Tom Jurich: For making the stadium expansion a reality, thanks. But a little more detail on the projected seating capacity would be nice. Like a number.
• To Howie Lindsey, Louisville Sports Report: Get a web cam focused on Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium expansion. Your office is just across the street for gosh sake.
• To K.C. Scull, stadium manager: Don’t place Porta Pots in the main walkway of the Green Lot. They stink and the lines are too long.
• To Kenny Klein, sports information director: Don’t allow Rick Pitino to goad you into releasing the basketball schedule this week … Hide the plug if anyone wants to hold a spontaneous press conference on any topic other than football.
• To Steve Kragthorpe: No cliches, before or after the game.

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