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:

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Will Stein A Long Shot For Louisville QB

The fact that Will Stein isn’t given much of a chance to quarterback the University of Louisville football team may say more about the ups and downs of Kentucky high school football than it does about Will Stein.

Will Stein holds Trinity TD record (CJ photo)

He’s a product of Trinity, the same school that sent Brian Brohm and Jeff Brohm to Louisville, two of the Cardinals’ best-ever quarterbacks. The Brohms led Trinity to multiple state championships.

Will Stein also led Trinity to a state title, the Class 6-A state championship in 2007, in his only season as a starter. Along the way he completed 255 of 360 passes for 3,697 yards and 54 touchdowns while throwing just seven interceptions.

Most notably, he broke former U of L quarterback Brian Brohm’s school record for TD passes and is second behind Brohm’s 3,777 yards in 2002.

One of Stein’s most memorable performances came in a regional final, in which he threw six touchdown passes against Lexington Henry Clay. Here are video highlights from that game:

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Trinity, despite its incredible success over the years, has produced only two Kentucky Mister Football winners — Jeff Brohm in 1988 and Brian Brohm in 2003.

This year’s U of L roster includes four former Shamrocks — running back Blayne Donnell, defensive back Agyei Williams, offensive lineman Alex Kupper and Will Stein.

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Zack Stoudt Positioned For Louisville QB Role

By Paul Sykes

Hard to believe, but a month from now the Steve Kragthorpe-mentored University of Louisville football team will be in fall practice preparing for the 2009 season. Although many questions come to mind, one of the main ones revolves around the quarterback situation.

Zack Stoudt

Gone is starter Hunter Cantwell. Transferring out of the program are his two backups, Matt Simms and Tyler Wolfe. Who will come out of the battle to lead the Cards onto the field against Indiana State two months from now? Let’s look at the three candidates:

Judging from spring practice and scrimmage, red shirt freshman Zach Stoudt would seem to have a slight advantage over the competition. He had the most impressive outing of the three during the scrimmage, and is a powerful passer who can also scramble when he gets into trouble.

This could be important, since the Cardinal offensive line must be reconstructed after losing George Bussey and Eric Wood to graduation. Check out the You Tube video of Stoudt throwing a football 75 yards downfield into a net. Impressive.

Sophomore Justin Burke is the only one of the three with Division 1 experience. The North Carolina State transfer has sufficient arm strength and can motor out of the backfield as well when in trouble. Displayed a few nice throws during the spring game and appears to be a “take charge” kind of guy on the field.

Adam Froman, a highly sought after junior college transfer from California, is the third candidate. Froman is an impressive physical specimen and display a very accurate throwing style during spring ball. Although his performance in the spring game wasn’t quite as good as that of Burke and Stoudt, let’s not forget he has two years of post high school experience in leading a team on the field. His scrambling skills maybe aren’t that of Burke and Froman.

We shouldn’t omit Will Stein, the fourth QB on the roster, from Louisville Trinity. Injuries play a significant role in college football these days. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen, but he could advance up the chart should any of the top three have misfortune. He’s led championship quality teams.

Although it appears that the Cardinal running game will be the most powerful offensive tool in Krag’s woodshed this fall, the old philosophy of being able to throw the ball to set up the run is still valid. A decent offensive attack needs the pass to keep the safeties and defense from “stacking the box” and clogging up a running game.

With Victor Anderson, Darius Ashley and Billal Powell returning…and the sweep abilities of Doug Beaumont, the Cards need a steady performanceat quarterback to keep defenses honest. Any winner of the QB Derby knows he must be effective from Day Oone during the schedule, because…more than I can remember for a long time, the position is far from sewn up.

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