Week 10 offseason preview: Louisville Cardinals
As we start moving towards the end of the preseason reviews, and I better get going because “fall” camp is nearly upon us, our Week 10 foe is a team I know almost as intimately as the Orange. As a resident of Louisville for a looooong time, I have a small affection for Cardinals. In this state, UofL has been referenced as the “little brother” to Kentucky, for being the inferior basketball program in state or for not being in a major conference. Of course the latter changed when the Cards joined the Big East, but the needling continues.
What we know
The Cardinals were initially a savior to the Big East as they joined the conference on what has certainly been the apex of their football prowess. They immediately became a top team, challenging West Virginia right away, and ultimately winning the BE in 2006. Now fast forward to 2009, the Cardinals have had their wings clipped. Coach Steve Kragthorpe has guided the team to an 11-13 record in two years, undoing all the work that John L Smith and Bobby Petrino had invested in building the program. Coach Kragthorpe is the one coach in the conference that is squarely on the hot seat. If he doesn’t get to .500 or better this year, he will likely be gone. Many say this will be a “make or break” season. Add me to that list.
Last year the Cards went 5-7, and actually they were 5-2 until injuries and stronger competition contributed to losing their last 5 games. Wins were to Tennessee Tech, Kansas St, Memphis, Middle Tennessee and South Florida. Losses were to Kentucky (a noogy inducing 27-2 slapdown), UConn, Syracuse, Pitt, Cincy, WV and Rutgers.
Spring Developments
The key to this season will be the offense. When the Cards were winning, it was because of their offensive prowess. This season there are two main concerns on offense. First is the QB situation. The Spring was an audition for the lead spot between Tyler Wolfe, Justin Burke, Adam Froman, Zack Stoudt and Will Stein. At the end of spring the situation was still unsettled. Burke and Froman seem to be the front runners, enough so that Wolfe elected to transfer. Burke is more conservative and Froman has the bigger arm. The QB winner will be determined by the second concern and that is the OC spot. Coach Krags has elected to take the reins himself – does this sound familiar Cuse fans? So really Kragthorpe has put all his eggs in his own basket. If the offense fails it will all be on him. I’m not sure that was the wisest move, considering he was replacing local lore with OC Jeff Brohm
Speaking of local lore, I think the thing that made Louisville appealing to local fans was that the leaders were local products – QB Brian Brohm and RB Michael Bush were prime examples. Those two drove the offense. Louisville has another local product stud in RB Victor Anderson. The sophomore is the conference’s leading returning rusher and ranked 7th best by BB. He is going to be asked to shoulder the load this season. The Cards also have some decent WRs. The best and most critical to success will be Scott Long. Long, rated 19th, was having a breakout year when he tore his acl to our game last year. Remember Troy Pascley dropping that gimmee TD last year against us? Likely would have been caught had Long been there. Joining Long, is Trent Guy, who had the misfortune of being shot during last offseason. They also return Doug Beamont who caught 62 balls for 750 yards. The Oline must replace long time starters Eric Wood and George Bussey both whom were drafted in the NFL.
On defense, Brent Guy becomes the third DC in the last three years. The DLine losses 3 starters and will be key to improving on a D that was allowing nearly 30 pts per game. Gregg Scruggs will man one end spot. LBing will be fine with Dexter Heyman, Antwon Canady and Jon Dempsey leading the team. The secondary has athletes but they will be unproven. Dan Covington and Johnny Patrick are the lone players with any experience back there. And they were part of a group that ranked 92nd against the pass.
The Cards were also severely limited in the special teams last year, as they attempted only 11 FGs all season, making 5. Chris Philpott is still the leading K heading into fall, so hopefully he has improved his accuracy and range enough to warrant some trust from a staff that really never felt comfortable last year.
Interesting Fact
Unlike what the Orange started doing when they retired the #44, the Cards do not retire jersey numbers but they do honor them. The list of honorees is pretty long and there are many well known names in the list. Check them out here.
Chattering Masses
There are many blogs that follow the Cards. Check out Card Chronicle, Cardinal Empire, L Yes and UL Card Game as well as their official site – which I love the design.
Other good spring previews can be found here, here and here.
Why we can win
When we look up the definition of “pwned” in the Syracuse edition of the hip internet dictionary, there will be an image of the Cardinal logo. No team was more generous to the GRE Orange than the Cardinals. The Cardinals were another team whose pro-style offense was better suited to match our style of defense. Once again this team is a pretty good match up for us. They could struggle on offense without a consistent face at QB, like us, and their defense has the potential to be pretty porous, just like us.
Why we can lose
A second straight road game for the Orange makes for concern. Victor Anderson was a stud who gained a ton of yards when every team was keying on him. If they get production from the QB spot, they will be a dangerous team on offense. Every concern the Cards have are concerns for us. Who will be the starting QB by November? Neither team is very deep so any injuries by this time, and there will be injuries, will be critical.
The Pick
When you listen to the talking heads, the Big East is wide open this year. Most every team has a case for winning, with the exception of two teams. You guessed it, Syracuse and Louisville. No one is mentioning either team as being able to do more than win 2-6 games. If either team aspires to a bowl game this is a must win. If Syracuse is to leave the basement of the Big East, this is the one team they can ill afford to lose to. Obviously if Louisville wants to avoid the cellar, they must beat Syracuse. I have serious concerns for the Cards this year. They just seem to have the same type of issues that we had a season ago. The fate of Coach Kragthorpe could already be made by this game. Will they be playing for anything other than pride by this game? I’m going to say that the Orange give me some more bragging rights in town after this one. 27-17.
