It started Monday, continued Tuesday, the nitpicking of the sports talk media in town. The talking heads in this city like to pick. And pick. And pick. You get the idea. Louisville undefeated at 6-0. Some cynics still not convinced, dubious.
This writer could name names, but that’s not me.
The soft schedule is a popular theory. The Irish had a bad game. Worn out losing to Ohio State. Cutting it close in a victory at Duke.
As a sportswriter and talking head myself. I agree this Cardinals team under local legend, Jeff Brohm, is a bit hard to figure. Huge surprise, the Cardinals with a commanding 33-13 lead in the fourth quarter.
As good as the defense played, they shut down the Irish running game totaling 44 yards. Quarterback Sam Hartman will forever have nightmares about L&N Stadium. In back to back seasons, Hartman has thrown six interceptions. Six picks two seasons in a row against UofL.
Offensively, Louisville is still a work in progress. The Cardinals put up 347 total yards against one of the best defenses in the country. However Louisville dropped passes and had to settle for three field goals. If the Cards turn any of those drives into touchdowns it’s obviously a wider margin.
But as Irish coach Marcus Freeman said, “I thought our defense fought and hung in there.” With the game tied at halftime and after a UofL fumble on its first second-half possession, the defense turned it up forcing a three and out. Brohm has said all along you’re going to have to overvcome some adversity. “I like our defense.”
The talking heads remind us that Brohm-coached Purdue teams were 0-3 after a win over a top 10 team. Brohm is aware. “This thing can change in a hurry,” he said. “Just when you think you’ve got things figured out. We’ve got to get back to reality. We’ve got to understand if we don’t go
to work and put in the work, we’re not going to win.
to work and put in the work, we’re not going to win.
“If we don’t understand it will bite us in the rear. I’ve been there before. We just have to concentrate on one game at a time and Pittsburgh is a great challenge ahead of us,” said Brohm.
The Panthers (1-4, 0-2) have struggled to its worst record in coach Pat Narduzzi’s nine seasons. Louisville played one of their better games last season winning 24-1 0 at home against the Panthers.
“Jeff is doing a lot of things Coach (Scott) Satterfield was doing,” said Narduzzi during his weekly media gathering. “They are tough and physical.”
“Jeff is doing a lot of things Coach (Scott) Satterfield was doing,” said Narduzzi during his weekly media gathering. “They are tough and physical.”
Just asked the Irish. The one thing I noticed about them during the post game press conference Saturday was….it wasn’t what the Cards did. It was what the Irish didn’t do.
If Louisville losses at Pitt Saturday, will it be what the Cardinals didn’t do right? We’ll see.