By Paul Sykes

While the ground swell of disappointment over Steve Kragthorpe and the University of Louisville football team appears to be nearing a volcanic eruption,  this is exactly where most predicted the team would be with a third of the season gone.

One win. Three losses.

Granted, the team could have been more competitive in the losses. But let’s get out the crystal ball and look at upcoming opportunities:

  • Southern Miss comes to town for homecoming without its starting quarterback and key offensive players.  U of L has quarterback questions of its own, and several key injuries to boot. But this game still looks like a Louisville win.
  • The Cards next travel to UConn. The Huskies haven’t done anything spectacular, but they are winning. Their game against Pittsburgh this week will be illuminating. A possible win, but U of L will be the underdog.
  • Cincinnati on Oct 24th is scary. The defending Big East champ and Orange Bowl runnerup is doing very little wrong, owning a 4-0 record. Tony Pike to Marty Gilyard is about as good a passing combo as there is this year.  Jacob Ramsey is a solid running back. About all the Cards have going for them is having won the last two times at Nippert Stadium.
  • Arkansas State visits on Halloween. They put a scare into No. 14 Iowa Saturday, losing by only three. On they other hand, they lost to Troy at home. At least UofL is playing the guys from Jonesboro and not Fayetteville.  We get treated, not tricked.

We’ll stop here. Where do you think Louisville will be after eight games? I’ll make it 3-5. I can see 4-4 with  a lot of  luck in East Hartford. Unlike some people, like Sonja, who has turned her attention to Lady Cards’ basketball, I’m still “into” this season and hope Louisville has some positive surprises in store.

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By Paul Sykes

Paul Sykes owns Paul Sykes Advertising and does contract work for other advertising and publishing firms. The proud husband of Sonja, he has a fascination with bears, bars and Cardinal sports. He's also the moderator of CardinalCouple.blogspot.com

14 thoughts on “Louisville Football Meeting Low Expectation”
  1. My god!! It could still be gruden!!

    Tuberville was hired as a search consultant bur was cosidered the done deal . But… Mis- direction… Or just brrilliant last min negotiating by jurich– may have snagged an even bigger marlin!

    Gruden or TT– I’m giddy I tell u. Giddy!!

  2. Look, I used to live with the football players during the Petrino years, and for the first two years under coach K. I remember countless discussions with players who would tell me how much they ‘enjoyed’ practice now under coach K compared to Bobby P’s practices. He is too soft on the players, doesn’t demand them giving the 110% it takes on the practice field to win on game day. This is the sole reason for all of his problems!

    Brian Brohm said countless times after losses that we just weren’t prepared, or ready, in other words; DIDN’T PRACTICE CORRECTLY! He’s not the only one actually, several experienced wide receivers have also came out of the fray after embarrassing losses to say similar things about the reason for the loss.

    You can see the evidence in the games this year where we will start a game looking good, only to be out played when we need to be the more athletic team. some will say its the recruiting, and that is important, but how you practice is what really makes a bowl team. the reason why you can say now stick a fork in K this early in the season, is because the proper practices weren’t being done earlier, the same practices other teams have been doing, so no amount of practicing now will catch us up to them.

    In big name colleges you don’t need a small college coach. With big schools comes players with large egos that must be kept in check, else they will walk all over the coaching staff and then wont achieve their full potential. Players at small schools respect the coach, whoever it is, simply because they know they weren’t the cream of the crop and don’t need an attitude correction, which was why Coach K did a great job at his previous job.

    What we need is a Pitino style coach, someone who’s larger than any Derrick Caracter that may enter the locker room. I hope T. Jurich realizes that, and is willing to pay for that.

    Practices are extremely important, you know that it was hugely important to Bobby P since the #1 thing he was after while he was here was an indoor practice facility so that they could practice day or night, rain or shine.
    in closing, Coach K doesn’t WIN like Bobby P, because he doesn’t practice like Bobby P! so lets fine someone who will, and the wins will follow.

  3. K is a dead man walking

    My sources tell me the team is horribly demoralized

    Many reliable sources also indicate candidates are being reviewed now, with TT as the leading candidate–all with K’s knowledge.

    1. Love it. It seems that TT is well known for a stingy defense, but a less than stellar offense. Is there any word on what coordinators he might bring with him?

      Also, it is very comforting to know that multiple candidates are being reviewed this time. Hopefully Jurich has learned a valuable lesson.

    2. Sources. You have sources than no media has? Please.

      Jurich may be thinking about it, but he is not acting yet. He will give Krag rest of season and then decide.

      TT is a possibility, Gruden is not going to leave MNF. Terry Bowden is tearing it up in his first year at North Alabama and is undefeated. There are plenty of good coaches out there. Hopefully Jurich can find a good recruiter and someone who has an established record. June Jones would be a good fit as well.

      1. Believe it or not, the media isn’t the only one with sources, Michael. They don’t keep them corralled just for the media. That may be hard to fathom for some, but as a successful business person, Frankpos has more than a few connections.

  4. 5-7 for the Cards. They win against Syracuse, Arkansas State, Southern Miss and Rutgers.They beat Rutgers because it will be Kragthorpe’s final game and there will be a lot of emotion out on the field that night.

  5. Speaking of Troy, they face MTSU on ESPN2 tonight. Wonder if Troy Polamalu, Troy Aikman and Troy Vincent will play?

  6. No disgrace for Arkansas State to lose to Troy. Troy reminds me of some of those old Tennessee State teams, with excessive loads of talent that could beat anyone on a given day.

  7. I’ve been saying since last year I see three wins this year. Kragthorpe has shown that he is in over his head.
    He has trouble taking the talent he has and finding a way to win.

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