Every victory was cause for a celebration. After stringing together six straight wins, who could blame University of Louisville football fans for dreaming about an undefeated season? This team could still play for an Atlantic Coast Conference title in the championship game in Charlotte. Why not dream? The players had bought into Brohm’s plan and were executing it.
Going to be tough, though. Reality struck Saturday night on a rain soaked field in the Steel City, Pittsburgh handing Louisville a humbling 17-point defeat. The Cards led 21-14 at halftime but gave up 17 third quarter points and slithered away in the fourth. Quarterback Jack Plummer struggled with two interceptions, one returned 86 yards for a touchdown.
“Two picks were unfortunate,” Plummer said following the sloppy loss. “One, we run a slant and the guy gets bumped. I mean, I’m not gonna comment on it, but the dude got bumped, and then (the) ball going through the receiver’s hand ends up right in (Pitt’s) lap, so just two unfortunate plays there. We gotta take care of the ball.”
“I’m the head. I’ll take the responsibility for the loss,” said Coach Jeff Brohm who warned this team that his teams at Purdue had problems after a signature victory . “I thought we had every thing covered. I’m the head coach, I’ll take the blame for the loss.
Pittsburgh (2-4, 1-2) had two weeks of preparation with a bye week. Everything was coming up Cardinal Red during the winning steak. Close victories over Indiana and North Carolina State then the impressive win over Notre Dame gave Cards faithful a chance to play “whingppat if we do this. What if…what if this or that happens” is a thing fans love to do.
Louisville ran up 430 yards of offense compared to Pitt’s 288. But the Cardinals’ defense was on the field much too much in the second half. Now all the naysayers of Louisville football have returned. The Cards have a week off before nationally ranked Duke comes to L&N Stadium, October 28, the first of three straight home games.
Jawhar Jordan played briefly in the game, playing with a hamstring injury. Maurice Turner did a nice job with 88 rushing yards. Plummer threw for 350 yards. Jamari Thrash had nine catches for 120 yards and Jimmy Galloway had five receptions for 90.
Gotta start all over after any loss, start dreaming again. Thirteen days to clean up a lot of things before a home game against a really good Duke team.