By Paul Sykes
My old high school football coach used to say that football was a “battle of the trenches.” The team that could dominate the line of scrimmage would win the game. Maybe it was why we never won very often.
The University of Louisville opens the 2010 season against Kentucky Sept. 4th. Here’s we’ll likely see on the offensive and defensive lines, short and sweet:
On offense, Kentucky loses four starters on the offensive line from last year and the lone returnee Jake Lanefski has moved to a new position at center. They’ll go up against a Cardinal front four that returns three starters for first year coach Vance Bedford.
Greg Scruggs, Malcolm Tatum and Randy Salmon have experience and skills and Rodney Gnat and William Savoy are talented backups that will see plenty of time on the field.
Advantage: Louisville
On defense, the Cats have significant talent coming back in starters DeQuin Evans (end) and senior tackle Ricky Lumpkins. But they will have to contend with a Louisville offensive line that returns all five starters from last year. Byron Stingley, Mark Wetterer, Mario Benavides, Conrad Thomas and Greg Tomczyk have been among the most pleasant surprises at fall practice and four of the five are over 300 pounds.
Advantage: Louisville
The game of football comes down to blocking and tackling. It looks like Louisville wins here…with its size, experience and coaching.
Thanks for the break down Paul- looking so forward to seeing this team take the field!
It’s a game that doesn’t draw too much attention outside of the state and surrounding borders but it is one of the events I look most forward to in the sporting year…at either location.
Ancient proverb:
“From your mouth to God’s ears.”
This sure would be a good game to “take a knee” as in the old days.
Great breakdown, Paul–hope you are right. Been a long time since we dared say, ‘Here kitty, kitty.’