SB Nation - Joe Tronzo

On Syracuse

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:04:09 -0000

Experiment results: not talking about it doesn't, in fact, make it go away

If the 2007 loss to Syracuse was what ushered in the notion that there was something wrong with the Louisville football program, it's the 2008 loss to the equally dismal Orange that has reintroduced it.

A week after a win over No. 14 South Florida and the most positive buzz surrounding the program since Andrew Robinson tossed for 423 yards and four scores inside Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, the Cards landed on another chute and fell to an Orange squad that had been 0-6 against FBS opponents, and had been outscored by a total of 223-134 in those games.

We've been able to dance around this for the first two months of the season, but the performance of the rest of the Big East and U of L's inability to roll over a weak non-conference schedule have made it perfectly clear: this is, at best, a very average football team.

Still, the loss to Syracuse doesn't automatically brand the '08 Cardinal football season a failure. What it does do is kill momentum, enrage a large portion of the fan base, and drastically increase the likelihood of the '08 Cardinal football season ultimately being branded a failure. If Louisville handles business in what should have been the lone sure win remaining on its schedule, then all the Cards have to do is win two of four to finish the season 8-4 and ensure positive offseason vibes regardless of postseason performance.

That's not to say 8-4 and positive offseason vibes are out of the question. In none of U of L's final four games will their chances of winning exceed 60% or their chances of losing dip below 40%. A quartet of tossup games will be the ultimate determinant of this season's definitive label.

The tools are there for a 3-1 or 4-0 finish, but it's on the players and the coaching staff to regroup and have the mental toughness to step up and save the season.

More scattered thoughts:

I'm not going off on Kragthorpe, but Johnny Cochran couldn't defend going 0-6 against Kentucky, Syracuse and Connecticut in the two years after a one-loss season that culminated in an Orange Bowl victory.

Also, here are the rankings of Big East coaches who have lost to Greg Robinson in the four years G-Rob has been in the league:

1. Steve Kragthorpe - 2
2. Randy Edsall - 1
3. Everybody Else in the World - 0

I think the intense reaction to Earl Heyman's postgame quote -"Coming off a big win against South Florida, you have to refocus in and sometimes that can be hard. To be honest with you, I think it's kind of good for our team. We got a wake-up call." - was a little bit unjustified. Sure the quote was ridiculous, but I think it was simply the product of a guy reaching for the right words after a stunning loss in his senior season and grabbing nothing but inappropriate cliches.

There's no excuse for Troy Pascley dropping a pass with no one in an Orange uniform within 20 yards of him, but I still wonder why we're sending a guy who hasn't played in a month on a route we think can result in a score. If you think this play has the potential to go big, why not send Beaumont or Guy deep?

Curtis Brinkley is legit, but there's no excuse for letting him go for 166 when he's playing on a team with a below average quarterback and next to no talent at wide receiver.

I wish Kragthorpe would at least say something to his players during timeouts. I don't have to know what it is, but it would make me feel better.

ESPNU continually bringing the Syracuse student on for sideline reports made me about 3.7% more upset than I would have been otherwise. Woodny Turenne catching a pass, Bill Ashburn returning a punt, Vic Anderson being a senior and Greg Tomczyk being black didn't help either.

Does this station just not care about being compeltely wrong 20% of the time?

Abdul, it's time for this to stop, man.

Not that he would have automatically sparkled with him, but Hunter Cantwell really needed a healthy Scott Long for 12 games to come close to having the type of senior season so many of us were expecting.

If you're searching, Victor Anderson and Johnny Patrick are reasons to be excited about the next couple of years.

Johnnie Burns has done a tremendous job in his first and only season at tight end. The effort he's put into making himself a boon to this offense is evident every time he steps on the field.

How about Joe Tronzo stepping up and making some huge plays? It's always a pleasure to see guys who do all the little things getting a small taste of the spotlight.

No praise for the defensive ends after this one. There was no pressure coming from the edges, and Syracuse's tackles aren't that good.

Mike Rutherford's Saturday night culminated with him stumbling around the Highlands wearing a full wardrobe of normal clothing and a giant Snoopy head.

Thank you, Cardinal football.

Connecticut 26, Louisville 21

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:34:49 -0000

Sigh. The weekend's over, it's time to face this one.

If I said "I don't understand how we just lost that game" - or some slight variation - one time Friday night, I said it 20 times. Three days later I still have no handle on how it happened. Of course this is what fans of UConn victims have been saying for the past two years.

It's not a debate anymore, Vic Anderson is the real deal. If I could have frozen time the moment he caught the dump pass from Cantwell near the end of the first half, I would have put the odds of him getting into the endzone at no better than 10:1. He has the potential to be very special.

I have my doubts over whether or not a quarterback unable to move well enough to make a simple handoff should be taking snaps with the game on the line, but I suppose you have to listen to a senior leader when he says he can go. Bum ankle or not, there's no excuse for Hunter making that throw, especially given the amount of time he had.

Josh Chichester's good is still outweighing his bad, but both are unquestionably present. Cantwell was definitely too keyed in on the big man after the first quarter, a habit which likely cost us six points when he missed a wide open Brock Bolen down the right sideline.

Awesome to see Bilal finally break out. The prospects of an Anderson/Powell backfield for the next two seasons might be the biggest thing this program has going for it.

Penalties absolutely killed us. Earl Heyman's questionable roughing the passer led to a Husky score, Abdul Kuyateh's second false start turned a crucial 3rd and 2 into a 3rd and 7, and I'm pretty sure at least one of the 52 not enough men on the line of scrimmage infractions was costly. The final tally shows just seven flags for 60 yards, but the severity of almost all of them made it feel like much more.

Donald Brown is a future pro, and he deserves more Heisman pub than he's receiving.

I don't understand how the secondary continually allows the middle of the field to exist uncovered. I realize that English was bringing Thomas or Buchanan up to help out against the run, but there were three or four plays where the Connecticut receiver camping out between the hashes didn't have a defender within ten yards of him. That just can't happen.

Me thinks Zach Frazer was the better option at QB for UConn all along. If he can keep opposing secondaries at least semi-honest, then this could be a team the nation sees being blown out in a BCS game.

I'm going to go ahead and step up and take a solid chunk of the blame for this one. I left the hat I'd worn for the Tennessee Tech and Kansas State games over at a friend's house a couple of weekends ago, and ended up being forced to go with my number two. I was worried about this from the day's outset, and I think it's safe to say that my fears were confirmed.

I don't blame you, Stoudt.

It's not really his fault, but the ten minutes of cliche after cliche being hurled in a monotone voice that is the Steve Kragthorpe postgame interview is almost impossible to take after a loss like Friday's. A tipsy friend in the backseat of our car hopelessly said, "I can't take it, turn it off" at least three times while Krags was busy delivering the script any one of us could prepare at this point.

The three fourth-down attempts blew my mind. I realize that Dougherty still isn't 100%, but how are we ever going to know what his ceiling is if we never trot him out there? Kragthorpe said the wind was the biggest factor in each of the decisions, but the wind was at U of L's back the third time. Making the move even less understandable is the fact that Cantwell had just left the game, and the only other option besides trying the 42 or 43 yarder was apparently a draw play on 4th and six. Opting not to take three hurt us badly in a couple of games last year (hey, Syracuse), and it might have cost us the game Friday night.

Being removed of placekicking duties did not help Chris Philpott on kickoffs. Desi Cullen, on the other hand, was a huge weapon for the Huskies. Wonder where the hell they found him.

Doug Beaumont: still awesome.

It's not an original complaint, but I had some serious issues with the music on Friday. Playing nothing for five minutes and then blasting the beginning of a song for three seconds before play resumes is frustrating, as is the choice of "Highway to the Dangerzone" in the moments leading up to the biggest offensive play of the game. Full blame for that interception goes to Loggins.

I came scary close to throwing my second-string hat when the deadball timeout was called.

The play worked, but I don't understand not using a lead-blocker on third and short, especially one as capable as Joe Tronzo.

Hope that joint was great, Matt.

Dexter Heyman may have made the most impressive defensive play of the season thus far when he came flying out of nowhere to keep Donald Brown from getting the corner and prancing into the endzone. When I saw the play developing, I didn't think there was any way one of our guys was going to be able to get there.

Chris Campa also deserves a shout-out for flying around the field and throwing some weight around all night. Sans a bad offsides penalty, Mo Mitchell was another standout.

Serious question: was Anderson's return to the 25 after he botched the initial catch the longest kick return we've had all season? I can't remember any better.

The Connecticut player waving bye to the crowd and doing the international sign for "shh" after Cantwell's last interception is almost less cool than Larry Taylor. Almost.

A bye week, and then at Memphis on a Friday night followed by a Saturday home game against Middle Tennessee. The city's not exactly going to be buzzing for the first 3/4 of October...hopefully, I suppose.

508-279. Son of a bitch.

Louisville 38, Kansas State 29

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:28:13 -0000

We'll move quickly since this game is already five days old and Larry Taylor Depreciation Week appears to be in full swing.

This is as excited as I've been about Louisville football since the first offensive drive/play of last year's Murray State game. If the last two weeks have proven anything it's that the effort level is going to be there week in and week out, and that there is a decided dedication to improving the execution. After the Kentucky debacle, this is all any of us could have hoped for.

It would still take something resembling a miracle for this team to have a legit crack at the BCS once mid-November rolls around, but honestly, what team in the Big East terrifies you right now? What team in the Big East do you know beyond the shadow of a doubt would have beaten the Cardinals last Wednesday?

If Connecticut is toppled on Friday then we're all allowed to at least entertain crazy thoughts for a couple of weeks, and that's something to get excited about.

I'm not driving it, but I'm officially on the Vic Anderson bandwagon.

All spring and summer we heard about Vic's speed, but what's been amazing to me is how many times we've seen him lower the boom on potential tacklers in the first three games. It's safe to say that the kid can leg press more than I can.

Another fine, fine game from Hunter Cantwell, but now he has to prove he can do it against a 4-3 defense stacked with talented linebackers. Hunter's been able to sit back and pick apart 3-4 sets for the past two weeks, but Lutrus, Wilson and company aren't going to allow him that luxury Friday night. Robert Vaughn and Darius Butler are also two of the better defensive backs the Cards will see from here on out. Overall, this will be a fantastic test of just how far this offense has come since Kentucky.

Doug Beaumont: when this is all over, let's go somewhere warm and sandy together.

Josh Chichester is still very much a work in progress, which means we're going to have to take the good with the bad for the foreseeable future. The great news is that the good has far outshone the bad to this point.

Even though I think the time for the Tim Dougherty placekicking era to commence is upon us, it's pretty obvious that Chris Philpott is still in possession of a stronger leg and I'd like to see him remain the man on kickoffs.

I love deferring after winning the coin toss, and I hope it becomes a trend. Delayed gratification is the shit.

One of the most positive things I saw on Wednesday was Latarrius Thomas and Bobby Buchanan kneeling next to Richard Raglin when he went down with the wrist injury in the second half. It was just one of those little things that last season was so devoid of.

Speaking of Buchanan, I love the way he's stepped up and embraced the leadership role in his senior season. Even though he's had his fair share of bad moments over the course of his college career, and even though he and Thomas were again the main culprits on Kansas State's four biggest offensive plays, it's impossible not to root extra hard for someone who cares about his team and his program as much as No. 34 does.

Major props need to be hurled in the direction of Greg Tomczyk and Josh Byrom, who made it possible for thousands of fans to have no idea that George Bussey and Mark Wetterer were out with injuries.

Whatever wasn't clicking with Woodny Turenne a year ago certainly seems to have been rectified. Good things happen when you're talented and in the place you're supposed to be.

Let's go ahead and up the amount of practice time devoted to special teams by about eight hours this week.

I think it's safe to say that Bilal Powell is still at his best when he's forced to improvise, a fact which is a bit more discouraging than it was when he was a true freshman. Still, I remain bullish on his potential and think he needs to see at least ten touches a game for this team to have the best chance to reach its ceiling.

The crowd was tremendous for the first three quarters of the game, but it was sort of depressing to see so many empty seats as the Cards closed things out. On the other hand, you can't schedule a Wednesday night game and then be upset when people with families and 8-5 jobs choose not to stay at the stadium until 11:45. It's just the way it is.

Even though it came at the expense of my favorite team, it did bring me at least a little bit of pleasure to watch someone three inches shorter and 25 pounds lighter than myself tear it up in a major college football game.

Black jerseys > red jerseys

Zack Stoudt jersey > Art Carmody jersey

Art Carmody > any other football player to ever put on pads

Raise your hand if you wish the fake dive, pitch to Vic had been put in the playbook a month ago.

Being friends with Brock Bolen and Joe Tronzo is basically a free pass to look at or talk to anyone however you want on Saturday nights.

The inconsistent Mo Mitchell of yesteryear appears to have graduated a year early. Mitchell has been playing inspired football since the first snap of the Kentucky game, and has become the force off the edge that the defense lacked in '07.

No one on the team talks more than L.D. Scott. Focusing on him for a couple of plays every game is hilarious.

It was great to see Daniel Covington flying around the field and bringing the lumber on multiple plays, especially since it appears the secondary is going to be without Richard Raglin for at least a couple of games.

Dan - of having his U of L hat thrown on the ground by a girl outside a bar in Charlotte fame - called the Kansas State fake punt and was justified moments after his dad and I ripped the prediction for a solid 15 seconds. For the record, it was an awful call and we should had the up man who took the snap behind the line.

I'm going to go ahead and give the Card Chronicle seal of approval to the Jeff Brohm moving back upstairs decision.

I really, really want to win on Friday just so the seeds of insanely irrational objectivity can be planted.

Larry Taylor sucks.