(Photo courtesy @UofLSports)

I’m convinced that sluggish is the theme of the day if you are a Louisville fan. First we watched our football team win in sluggish fashion and then the Basketball team follows that theme in their semi-final game of the Hall of Fame Tip Off classic with a sluggish win over Fairfield. The Cards beat the Stags 71-57 in what was their worst performance of this young season. Regardless of how it was won the Cards are 5-0 and have now won 21 straight dating back to last season. They will now be competing in the Championship game of this tourney tomorrow against North Carolina and will be looking for their 27th title in a regular-season tournament. Louisville is now 156-37 in non-conference games under Coach Pitino.

Coach Pitino pretty much summed up this one today with his comments after the game: “Tonight we were just flat in every phase of the game,””We were flat offensively with only nine assists. Our two point guards turned it over eight times, which they haven’t been doing. We didn’t do the little things necessary to exploit the weaknesses of Fairfield. We were late to the glass a lot. A lot of things were disturbing but we’ll go ahead.” It wasn’t the crisp, business like group that we have seen through the first four games of the season. Perhaps it was nerves from the first road trip of the season or maybe just one of those off days. For as long as I can remember the Louisville basketball team always has one or two games during the season where they play down to their competition. Hopefully today was just on of those occasions.
From their 14 turnovers, 26 fouls, and the poor shooting (38%) this one just wasn’t much fun to watch.
The positives from this game was the balanced scoring with Wayne, Chris, Russ and Montrezl scoring in double figures while Chane had 8 and Luke had 9 respectively. The rebounding was a little better and it was good to see Montrezl crashing the boards with 12 rebounds. And the free-throw shooting was better as the team shot 74% from the charity stripe. It was also good to see Terry Rozier come into this game and have some production. He would finish with 3 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assist. His confidence will continue to build off of these minutes of PT. We will need Rozier by seasons end.

Like with the football team it’s really hard to complain about a win. Ugly or not a win is still better than a loss and I think the sluggish performance today will be a great teaching moment for Coach Pitino and his staff. They can use some of the things the guys did wrong today to help them improve for tougher games down the road. The environment of this tournament will also help this group in the long run. Tomorrow they will have a very tough test against a very talented and athletic North Carolina group. Like they played down to the competition today I expect them to play up to it in the next game. I expect a battle in the Hall of Fame Tip Off Championship and It will be the best game of the year so far.

(photo courtesy Mark Blankenbaker)

Today the Cardinal Football fans at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium said good-bye to another group of seniors. And for the first time since 2007 they got to see them go out on a winning note. The Cards beat the Tigers 24-17 and now take the lead in the all-time series 24 to 19. With the win today it marks the first time in school history that a Louisville football team has had consecutive 10 win seasons. The Cards are now 10-1 on the season with one regular season game left on the road against Cincinnati.

The way this group of seniors has played during their time at the University of Louisville I knew that they weren’t going to let this on get away from them today. This group has achieved so much over the last 4 years including a 69% winning percentage, four straight bowl games, and a Sugar Bowl win. They have also went 21-3 in their last 24 games.
This game was a bit sluggish and at times wasn’t very exciting to watch but the Cards got it done behind the play of some guys that have stepped up big all year long. One of those guys didn’t go through senior day ceremonies and most assume he will enter the NFL draft next year Teddy Bridgewter threw for 220 yards and a touchdown in what could be his final home game. This guy has the courage of a lion on a football field and no matter how difficult things get he always finds a way to pick himself and his team up. Today it appeared that he had a lower back issue but like he has many time in his Louisville career fought back and helped secure the win for his team. Bridgewater targeted 10 receivers in finishing 26 of 36 and his big receivers of the day were senior Damian Copeland and junior DeVante Parker. These guys would combine for 94 yards and Parker had one touchdown grab. Louisville out-gained Memphis 342-279 in total offense with 122 yards of that coming on the ground. Senior Senorise Perry and junior Dominique Brown combined for 105 yards. Brown had one touchdown on the day. It was good to see Copeland and Perry have a big hand in this win today. Both are two of my favorite Cardinal players. Both of these guys had to fight back from season ending injuries during their Louisville careers and both have come up big time in critical moments for this team.
No matter how you slice it Louisville is a defensive team and that has been it’s identity this season. It’s the number two ranked defense in the country and the only one that hasn’t allowed a touchdown in the first quarter of a football game this season. This defense also features two of the top sack leaders in the country in Senior Marcus Smith and Junior Lorenzo Mauldin. Both made some big plays again today. It was really an emotional day for one Senior on the defensive side of the ball. Preston Brown not only feeling the emotions from his last time playing in front of the home crowd also was dealing with the loss of his grandfather who passed away from cancer earlier this morning. He dedicated this day and this win to his grandfather who he said loved to watch the games on TV. Preston had a good game with a team high nine tackles that was topped off when he returned a fumble 48 yards for Louisville’s first touchdown. He said after the game: “It was great getting the touchdown for my grandpa. I put on a show for him.”

It hasn’t always been exciting watching this group this year but in the end they are 10-1 and going to another Bowl game. There are many fan bases in the country who would take 10-1 right now over the situations that their football program is in. In the end winning is all that matters. The group of football players that played their last game at Papa Johns Cardinal stadium understood that and because of them that’s what this program is. A WINNER! Go Cards!

The Cardinals took care of business right out of the gate tonight and won their 20th straight game blowing out Hartford. These Cards haven’t lost a basketball game in 284 days and were never in danger of that tonight as the put their foot on the gas and drove the Hawks right out of the gym from the beginning. Cards move to 4-0 on the season with this win and advance in the round robin style Hall of Fame Tip Off.

The thing that is very noticeable about this Louisville group is their professional demeanor. When this team steps on a basketball court they go to work and forget checking in, it’s more like clocking in. They may lose some games but it won’t be because someone sneaks up on them; that will not happen this year. After the game Coach Pitino said “the defense was still a little behind the offense”, but to the average eye of the fan it looks pretty darn good to me. They were challenged a little more in this game due to Hartford extending them to cover the three point shot and the Hawks were more deliberate with the ball than other opponents the Cards have faced so far. But none of that mattered. The Cardinals still held the Hawks to under 50 points, held them to 41% shooting, 23% on 4-17 from three point land, and forced them into 25 turnovers. Not bad for a group that needs improvement.
This group can also come at teams with so many different options on offense and so far are outscoring opponents by over 30 points a game. The guards can drive the lane to score, shoot the three, the forwards can also score in a variety of ways, and they can hurt you with the power offense down low. There’s just not going to be many teams who are versatile or athletic enough to stop the Louisville attack. You might shut down one thing but this group will find another way. Very exciting to think about the progression as we are just 4 games in and it looks this good. And these guys do a remarkable job of taking care of the ball and are are ranked second in the country in turn-over margin. They only had 7 tonight and so far through four games have only had double digit turnovers once. They are averaging 6. Rebounding needs work but looked better. Cards did win the battle tonight 35 to 29. And free throws were a little better tonight as the Cards shoot about 70%.

As far as individual players go I was really pleased with the minutes I saw from Terry Rozier tonight. He is one of my favorite new guys and I have followed him since he was a recruit. I’m expecting big things out of him and tonight he showed some flashes of that future. He finished with 7 points and 1 rebound.
Montrezl Harrell looked great again and this time leads the team in scoring. He stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assist, 1 block and 2 steals. If he has nights like this forget about it. And I love the look of he and Chane in at the same time. That’s a power look.
Speaking of Chane Behanan he had 11 points and 4 rebounds but his presence in the game was much bigger than the box score.
Russ Smith made some miraculous shots tonight and got to the basket whenever and wherever he wanted. Just when you think he can’t amaze you anymore he takes it to another level. Russ 2.0 was the second leading scorer behind Trez with 14 points.

The competition hasn’t been top notch but the play of this basketball team has been. We can only hope that they keep speeding past the competition like this all year. I know that now we are all ready to see our Cards take on a team of a higher caliber and hopefully that happens on Sunday afternoon. If UNC gets past Richmond it will happen. I don’t think the Tarheels are playing their best basketball at the moment but they do have the athletes to perform well. The Cards will face Fairfield on Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Arena to advance to the Title game Sunday. Looking forward to this weekend! Go Cards!

Coach Pitino after the game:

It was a beautiful November evening for the first night game in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in 5 years. The Cards started off slow but got things going in the second half to beat the Cougars 20 to 13. With the win the Cardinals take possession of second place in the AAC and now move to 9-1 on the season. Louisville is 9-1 for the second straight season which is the first time that has happened and this is the 12th time in school history that they have reached the nine win mark. The Cardinals take the lead in this series with Houston 8-7, and they will renew it when they move to the ACC. This football program has now only lost one game in the last 358 days.

Usually when writing these articles after a game it is Teddy Bridgewater and the passing game getting most of the ink. And while they did put up some decent numbers it was the running game that ruled this night. Teddy threw for 203 yards and for the first time in 22 games he didn’t have a touchdown pass. The high receiver on the night was DeVante Parker who had four receptions for 72 yards. But again the big story of the night was the dominance on the ground by Dominique Brown. He was a beast with the ball in his hands tonight and ran for a career-high 137 yards with two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score in the third quarter. At times he was making it look easy and like he was running downhill. He had 27 carries on the night and the previous high this season for carries had been 18. You could just sense that Brown was going to eventually have a game like this and he has now emerged as the Cardinals go to back. This kid has really made a remarkable recovery to get where he is right now. He is running the ball with just as much power as he ever did. It seems like running the ball is going to be the name of the game at Louisville in the future and it seems like Charlie Strong wants it that way. Maybe he is preparing for life after Teddy. I would prefer to see a more high powered offense and throwing it up and down the field, but it looks like we are going to have to get used to a more methodical approach to the game. The Cardinals had the ball 37 minutes to Houston’s 22 minutes.

Lost in the shuffle of all the concern about the offensive production is the fact that Louisville has one of the more elite defenses in the country. They have been pretty dominating all year long and they haven’t allowed a 1st quarter touchdown this season. It is the #1 scoring defense and the #2 total defenses in the country with two of the nation’s sack leaders in Marcus Smith and Lorenzo Mauldin. Smith had 3 tackles tonight with one sack and Mauldin had 5 tackles with one sack. This group found their backs against the wall again tonight with Houston looking to drive the ball down the field and tie the game with 2:50 on the clock. Charlie asks the group to step up and deliver and they did. Marcus Smith and Roy Philon had back to back sacks on Houston QB John O’Korn that resulted in -18 yards. The defense would hold the Cougars to a 4 and out on their final possession. Brown was the man tonight but this defense deserves a lot of credit as well. It is one of the best ever for Louisville.

I know most like to complain about the offense being too slow and a lot of folks don’t feel like Shawn Watson is using the tools he has effectively in regards to Teddy and the group of receivers. I personally don’t care how the Cardinals win football games just as long as they win them. And as I mentioned earlier I think they are preparing this team and program for life without Teddy Bridgewater and I think that Charlie Strong prefers a rock em sock em type of offense to an air it out one. He has the horses to back it up especially with a guy like Dominique Brown emerging. I have a feeling we are just seeing the beginning of something very special with this kid.

Cards Take The Field For Houston:

Coach Strong After Houston Win:

Teddy After Houston Win:

Roy Philon After Houston Win:

Marcus Smith After Houston Win:

James Burgess After Houston Win:

Dominique Brown After Houston Win:

Home » Houston You Have A "DOM"blem » Houston vs. Louisville » Houston vs. Louisville

   

 

The Cardinals got off to a quick start tonight but it was delayed by about 20 minutes due to the lights being out in the KFC Yum Center. They would eventually get the lights turned back on after a brief delay and our Cardinals would be off to the races. They jumped all over Cornell from the opening tip and turned their lights out beating the Big Red 99-54. The Cards are off to a 3-0 start to the season and have won 19 straight dating back to last year. They also won the 1700th game in the programs history tonight. These guys haven’t lost a basketball game in 280 days.

The Cardinals looked very dominate tonight on both sides of the ball. The offense looked crisp and although they turned the ball over 10 times they weren’t careless even with a huge lead. This was the first game in the last six dating back to last year where the Cards had a double digit turnover night. They shot the ball exceptionally well tonight and the 59% shot from the field was the best since 2010. Every guy on the bench tonight would score except one and 5 players were in double digits. All of the rotations looked good and it seems that the new guys are adjusting and learning where they need to be on the court. The defense was also very good tonight and they forced 19 turnovers with 12 steals scoring 29 points off of those turnovers. There was a lot of activity in the press and guys were closing out the passing lanes and getting deflections. This group was very active on the defense tonight.

Kevin Ware, Luke Hancock, and Chane Behanan all played more significant minutes tonight and each of them looked comfortable on the floor. Chane had the best night of the three getting a double-double with 12 rebounds and 13 points. He was a physical presence on the court and thats exactly what Louisville needs from him. I glad he’s back! Kevin had some very good moves to the basket and scored 5 points. Luke scored 12 points tonight and was the only Cardinal that looked good from the charity stripe going 6 for 7.
The player of the game (and I type this with a big smile on my face) was Wayne Blackshear. Could this really be the break-out year we have waited for out of this guy? He has been very good so far in the first couple of games and tonight he was a beast. He hit 4 three point shots, scored 20 points and had 2 blocks with 1 steal. The only thing he could have done better was rebound. He has said that during the off season he was in the gym everyday getting up shots and making himself a better basketball player. So far that hard work is paying off.
Montrezl Harrell was again very dominate on the floor. And while he didn’t really have an explosive offensive night he did grab 15 rebounds. We are going to need his dominance on the glass more than we do his points this season in my opinion.

I know it’s early and I know that we have only played one legitimate NCAA team in College of Charleston, but from what I’ve seen so far this is going to be a special group. Going to back-to-back Final Fours and winning a National Champion has given this group a swagger and they have an attitude that they aren’t going to lose. You can tell that each time they take the floor that they are trying to be better than they were the night before. Winning breads winners and these Cardinals are winners. Every time I see them I get excited about what is to come. Hope you are ready for another exciting ride Cardinal Nation.

U of L coach Rick Pitino after win over Cornell:

U of L’s Russ Smith on the win over Cornell:

(Photo By: Jeff Reinking | Louisville Athletics)

Tonight was another ceremonial one in the KFC Yum Center and it began with the unveiling of a banner adding coach Rick Pitino to the school’s list of Naismith Memorial Hall of Famers. The Cards would finish this night off winning their 18th game in a row beating Hofstra 97 to 69. The 18 game win streak ties for the longest ever. The Cards are now 2-0 in the early season and 2-0 in the series vs. Hofstra.

Despite some nervous moments early in the second half it was another easy victory tonight by the Cards and they seem to have things rolling right along. Now with all of their pieces back in place they can really start to focus on the little things to get better as they head into some tougher games. Two of those pieces Luke Hancock and Chane Behanan made their returns to the team tonight. The two of them didn’t have much impact on the game as they both still have to work on getting in game shape.
The story on this night would be the play of the Louisville guards and the hot shooting. Chris Jones and Russ 2.0 combined for 50 points, 12 assist and 6 steals. Russ was lights out shooting 12 of 22 from the field including 5 of 12 from beyond the arc. Russ now has 1286 points and passed Chuck Noble tonight moving him into 32nd all-time in scoring at UofL.
Chris Jones got his 20 points but most impressive was the fact he had 7 assist with no turnovers. In 55 minutes played this season he has 12 assist with no turnovers. He has really stepped in and filled that spot nicely. The team as a whole only has 8 turnovers in a two game stretch and that’s the fewest in Coach Pitino’s 13 seasons. This team makes good decisions and takes care of the basketball. That’s a very good thing especially this early.
The shooting was another area that I highlighted in my pre-game article and it was much improved from the last time out. The Cardinals finished 12 of 31 from deep and shot 35 of 68 overall (51.5 percent), a big improvement from the 38-percent last game. One guy who had a hot hand at the right time tonight was Wayne Blackshear who made three straight 3s for nine points to help Louisville break the game open with a 26-2 second-half run. Wayne has had two very solid games for this team and if he continues to produce it is going to be big for the Cards. He would finish with 9 points but most important were his hustle stats 2 blocks and 3 steals.
Montrezl Harrell was abusing the rims again tonight in the KFC Yum Center and was the 3rd leading scorer in the game with 19 points. But his most impressive stat of the night was going 5-5 at the free throw line. With the new foul rules he is going to be spending a lot of time at the charity stripe this season especially as we get into March. His free throw shooting will be critical. Coach Pitino had pointed out that he had started to line out on his improvement due to not having anyone to compete against in practice. With the return of Chane Behanan he will start to be challenged more and this will help him get better.
The area of concern coming out of the last two games and tonight is the rebounding. I look for that to improve as Chane gets more acclimated to the team but right now it is an area that is in need of some answers. I knew coming into this game that Hofstra had some good re-bounders on their team and I pointed that out in my pre-game article. They out-rebounded the Cards tonight 35 to 34. When we start to play more long and athletic teams this is an area that concerns me. One positive is that our guards especially the new guys aren’t afraid to bang and hit the boards. That will help. As a team the Cards did dominate the paint area on offense scoring 44 points to their 16.
Defensively this team is right on track and tonight they forced 22 turnovers leading to 30 points. They have forced 43 turnover in their last two games.

While writing this article I’m looking in on the Kansas vs. Duke game at the time Dick Vitale and the other guys are talking about teams who are real contenders this year. Dick said that “everyone should watch out” for this Louisville team and went on to say that he feels that they can be a team that does repeat this season. I agree with Dick. Now that everyone is back and all the ceremonies and fluff stuff is over its time for these guys to get focused on the task ahead. And there is no better coach in America to make sure that happens than Rick Pitino. This team can repeat but still have a lot of work to be done. They are on the right path and are looking great for a group that has only played two real games together. I like what I’m seeing and can’t wait for the next one. GO CARDS!

U of L coach Rick Pitino after win over Hofstra:

U of L’s Wayne Blackshear after win over Hofstra:

Today Cardinal fans and the Louisville Basketball team put the exclamation point on the National Championship Run by hanging the 2013 Banner in the Yum Center rafters. The Cards also kept their run from last year going winning their 17th straight game beating the College of Charleston 70-48 in the season opener. With the win the Cardinals start the new season 1-0 and now hold a 4-0 record against the Cougars. Opening at home for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, the Cardinals have won 10 straight season-openers and 19 of the last 21 overall. Saturday’s game was Louisville’s earliest season-opener in school history surpassing the Nov. 11 openers in each of the last two seasons.

I was there when they won it and today I was there when they hung it. Last season was very special to me and the other Cardinal fans who had never got to experience a National Championship of their own. Most of us were kids when the Cards hung the last banner. But now we have our own moment and today we all shared that moment one last time in the KFC yum Center. The pageantry was great with the dedication videos and the speech by coach Pitino. It was all done very well and the University should be commended. Every time we go to a game or attend other events at the Yum Center we can look up and see that 2013 banner and remember how special that season was.

With the celebration behind them the 2013-14 group had business to take care of today against a very formidable foe in the College of Charleston. I think the excitement of the day a perhaps first game jitters got the better of the Cards in the first half and they played sloppy basketball allowing the Cougars to hang around. They hit only 4 of their first 17 shots. They were out-shot, out-hustled and out-rebounded in the first half and only led by two points 29-27. If those locker room walls could talk they probably wouldn’t be able to say in public what Pitino told his team at the half. They came out in the second half and were able to turn the momentum of the game around. The Cougars did hang around until about the 6:55 mark but that’s when we seen what we did many times last year. Duke’s coach Mike Krzyzewski called it the “BOOM”. Today College of Charleston felt that “BOOM” late in the second half when the Cards went on one of their flurries outscoring the cougars 21 to 3 in the closing minutes. It really did feel like last year and it looks like this team could end up having that same trademark.

Six Cardinals made their career debut in the Louisville uniform today Chris Jones, Mangok Mathiang, Terry Rozier, Anton Gill, Akoy Agau and David Levitch. Chris and Mango made the biggest impact out of this group. Jones is gonna be really big for the Cardinals this year and I really love his game. He had 12 points and 6 rebounds with 5 assist. The “Mango” looked really promising in his debut as well. This kid has exceptional speed for his size and his vertical leaping ability is also very good. We needed somebody to step up in the front-court and this guy just may be the one. He had 7 points and 10 rebounds. Russ 2.0 hasn’t missed a beat and got to the basket when he wanted and pretty much took over the game scoring 21 points with 5 assist. I’m so glad I get to watch this kid play another entire year. It will be fun seeing other coaches try to stop him. I was also very impressed with Montrezl, Wayne and Stephan. These guys combined for 27 points and 21 rebounds. I had been critical of Wayne and Stephan earlier in the scrimmages but today they put together a great game. Both of them played very aggressive and assertive. If we can get this from them every week that will be a game changer.

I thought the team looked pretty good today considering all the new pieces and considering that some of the most important pieces are still not on the floor. Chane will be back in a few weeks, Luke starts to practice on the 15th and Ware will be good to go in a few weeks. This is going to be a very good basketball team folks. Barring injury or any other suspensions we could all be gathering in the Yum Center next year to hang number four. We should get a good feel to where we are at in a couple of weeks when the Cards play UNC. It was another great day to be a Cardinal Fan. Go Cards!

Rick Pitino on the banner ceremony before the game:

U of L coach Rick Pitino on beating Charleston in opener:

My video turned out terrible but The University’s video is incredible so here it is:

Home » It Started With A Banner, & Ended With A Boom » Louisville vs College of Charleston » Louisville vs College of Charleston

   

 

Tonight in the KFC Yum Center it was a night of returns as the Cards beat Pikeville 90 to 61 in the final exhibition of the early season. This was the 3rd game in a series between these teams that were all pretty much dominated by Louisville. The Pikeville group should do very well this year and they do have some pretty good athletes on their team. One of those athletes was “The Bullet” Elisha Justice. The former Cardinal made his final appearance in the Yum Center tonight as a player and perhaps the excitement might have got to him a little as he would only score one point in the game. Going into this second and final exhibition it looked like “The Bullet’s” return would be the headline for most of the post-game stories, but it was another guy that stole the show in this one.

“The Moment”

220 days and roughly 7 months ago Cardinal Nation stood silent in Lucas Oil Stadium as one of our own lay on the court with a gruesome injury. You could hear a pin drop in that place on that day and it was one of the most emotional games that I’ve ever attended. Tonight it was a different story and Cardinal Nation roared when Kevin Ware got up off the bench to check into the game during the second half. When he took his first three point shot and hit it you couldn’t hear yourself think among the 19,000 fans in the Yum Center. It was one of the most inspirational moments that I’ve witnessed during a ball game. Kevin has put in the hard work and the dedication to recover from an injury like he suffered and it has been a remarkable recovery. Kevin has said many times and again tonight that he was inspired by having the Cardinal fans support him through his emotional journey back to the court and it was great hearing all those folks at the game tonight be so moved by his return. Kevin would score 6 points and grab 4 rebounds in his return tonight and it looks like he is back where he belongs with his brothers playing basketball.

Cardinal Nation was in the mood to celebrate after the excitement of Kevin’s return and the win but Coach Pitino wasn’t in that type of mood at all. He seemed concerned about the performance on the court. In particular he didn’t like that his guys only out-rebounded Pikeville 44 to 40 and was concerned about the energy of some of his players. He said again tonight in his post-game press conference that this Louisville team is several weeks behind from where they should be and says that there have been way too many distractions leading to this. Coach Pitino remains positive about the back-court and he should be because this is one of the deepest, talented, and most versatile groups in the country. Jones, Russ 2.0 and Rozier lead the way tonight in this group. It was good to see Russ have 7 assist, Jones was a scoring machine with a team high 19 points and Rozier looked very poised again playing like a veteran with 8 points and 5 rebounds. Coach Pitino attributes the competition in practice between these guys as the reason they are doing so well early on. All eyes seem to be focused on the front-court where the Cards are a little light especially with Behanan out. There is one guy in that group that’s doing pretty well and that’s Montrezl Harrell. In the last two exhibitions he has only missed 2 shots and tonight he was the second leading scorer with 18 points but did have a disappointing 6 rebounds. Coach Pitino said tonight that Montrezl has leveled off because unlike the back-court isn’t getting challenged enough in practice. Mango did a decent job on the boards tonight with 9 rebounds but does need to look for his offense more. Wayne had a decent night production wise but he is the one player on the team struggling with the new foul rule and has been in foul trouble the last two games.

A lot of good vibes in the KFC Yum center tonight and really not that much to complain about from a fan standpoint. These guys will get all the kinks worked out and from the way it sounds should have everybody back real soon including Chane Behanan who is currently working out privately with Wayne Turner, but hasn’t been welcomed back in practice yet. That is info that came out of the locker room tonight. The next time our Cardinals hit the floor it will be for real. They will face a very good College of Charleston team on Saturday. Saturday will also be the day where the National Championship banner will be revealed.

Home » Back "WARE" He Belongs » UofL vs Pikeville 11/6 » UofL vs Pikeville 11/6

   

 

Coach Pitino Post game:

Kevin Ware talks about his first game back:

(Photo cred @JodyDemling)

The old saying goes that when the bull throws you, you’ve got to get right back up on it. Last week the Cards got thrown, but today they took the Bull by the horns and got back to their winning ways. With the 34 to 3 win over South Florida Louisville now takes the all-time lead in the series 6 to 5 and have now won three straight in the series. Our Cardinals are now 7-1 with four games remaining on the schedule.

Coach Strong after the win over USF:

(Video courtesy Jody Demling)

Teddy Bridgewater after the USF game:

(Video courtesy Jody Demling)

Today’s game with the South Florida Bulls will be the last in this series for the foreseeable future and the Cardinals completely dominated from start to finish. Louisville had the ball for 41 minutes to their 18, 485 total yards to their 133, and 26 first downs to their 8. The Cards by the way lead the nation in 3rd down conversions. A lot of folks aren’t happy with the offensive play calling, but today it got the job done and that’s all that matters. The offensive players that stood out today were Teddy Ballgame (344 yards with 3 touchdowns), Dominique Brown (186 total yards with 1 touchdown), and Gerald Christian (83 yards with 1 touchdown). Dominique has really come into his own here towards the end of the season averaging 7.9 yards per carry over the last five games. He has emerged as the best running back on this team and one of the most reliable players. He had his shot in the starting role today and took advantage of it accounting for 38% of Louisville’s total offense. I’m looking forward to seeing what he does the rest of the way.

Today the chatter on social media and on local talk radio was about the offense not being where it needs to be. There are a lot of folks that feel like the play calling is too conservative at times. I agree with that but I know that there’s a method to the coaching staffs madness and I’m not in any position to really comment on their decisions. I support this team in good or bad. My biggest gripe of the day was being reminded of how horrible the AAC is. I am looking forward to this last season in a bush league. No more playing in front of 5000 fans in a road game. I am looking forward to the ACC and better football environments.

Enjoy another Cardinal football win folks and it looks like things are going back in the right direction. They shook of a heartbreaking loss, went on the road and dominated. The only thing we can control as fans is how we support our team. This season Cardinal Nation has done that better than ever. Let’s keep it going.

The Louisville Cardinal football team lost their very first game in Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium and tonight they lost the 100th game there. Cardinal fans were very optimistic about a undefeated season and possible National Title game, but tonight those scenarios disappeared as our Cards lost a tough one to a very talented and poised UCF team 38 to 35. Like the rest of you I took this loss hard and partly because I had forgot what it felt like. Louisville hadn’t lost a football game or a basketball game in about 250 days. It was a great run but one that ended tonight.

Coach Strong after the game:

(Video courtesy Jody Demling)

This football game was about as close as you could get stat wise with UCF having 446 yards and Louisville having 445. The Knights won the battle on the ground with 196 yards rushing and the Cards won the battle through the air with 341 yards. The three skill players that stepped up tonight for the Cardinals were Dominique Brown (88 yards, 2TDs), Eli Rogers (95 yards, 1TD), and Teddy Ballgame (341 yards, 2 TDs). I thought that when the Cards went up 28-7 in the third quarter it was going to be their night but then UCF ripped off a stunning 24 consecutive points to wrest the lead with just less than eight minutes to play. All the credit goes to them for maintaining great poise especially their quarterback Blake Bortles (250 yards, 2 TDs). He was calm, cool and collected as he led his team to victory. UCF also had the “perfect storm” in running back Storm Johnson who made big plays on the ground and through the air. This guys had 109 yards rushing and 79 yards receiving. In my opinion he was the difference maker in this game and the Cardinals defense just didn’t have an answer for him.

Teddy Bridgewater after the game:

(Video courtesy @TheCrunchZone)

The Cards must now regroup and get things back together again and learn from the mental mistakes in this game. There is still a lot on the table for this season. Louisville still has a chance to win the AAC and to go to another BCS game, but now there is no room left for error. Another mishap and the Cardinals will likely end up in the Russell Athletic Bowl. And if UCF wins out that is the probable outcome anyway. Tonight the Cards just didn’t get it done, but over 55,000 fans kept up their end of the bargain and it was one of the best game atmosphere’s that I’ve ever been a part of. So kudos to you Cardinal Nation. Lets keep the passion and support going for this football team. They are the ones out there putting it all on the line and putting in the blood, sweat, and tears. Two more home games to go.

Cards take the field to a awesome crowd at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium:

Card March:

Home » Knightmare » Louisville vs UCF » Louisville vs UCF