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Louisville’s First Opponent Gets A Jump

By Paul Sykes

I’m not a big fan of having to open up against an opponent that will already have a game under its belt and the luxury of a couple of extra days to prepare, but this is Indiana State, not Penn State.

ISU, the University of Louisville’s opening opponent, will have one game under its belt before it arrives at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium on Sept. 5th. The Sycamores will host Quincy College from Illinois this Thursday evening.

• ISU returns 19 starters from last season’s 0-12 team, including 10 players on offense and nine on defense.
• Sophomore Chris Stolzreim, a transfer from Wyoming, has emerged as the likely starting quarterback.  He’ll have returning wideouts Koby Kraemer, Ryan Roberts, and Jeramie Gray (from Jeffersonville) as targets, as well as juco transfer Larry Lacotti, the leading receiver in a recent scrimmage. Junior running backs Darrius Gates and Antoine Brown are getting the majority of the carries in practice.
• Defensively, the Sycamores set up in a 4-2-5. Linemen Jordan Bright, a 6-foot-7, 290-pound red shirt freshman and Milton Redwine, a 6-foot-3 junior, will test the Cards up front.  Coaches expect big things out of senior defensive back Mike Woods, who sat out 2008 with a leg injury.
• Alex Sewell, who lead the team in tackles last year, and Larry Carter return in a secondary that ranked ninth last year in NCAA passing defense, allowing only 152 yards a game.

Louisville should win easily against the Sycamores. The margin will depend on how many guys Kragthorpe wants to have see action. My guess is that he’ll turn it over to the reserves in the fourth quarter if the Cards are comfortably ahead. Let’s go with Louisville 45-17.

Who’s up for a road trip to Terre Haute on a Thursday night to scout the Sycamores?

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