Cardinal football by the numbers

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 11:00:06 -0000

A bye week coupled with the disappointment of last Friday's loss has left us with nothing productive or particularly interesting to discuss (side note: How do you guys feel about the football team's new head coach? Doing a good job? Doing a bad job? Still too early to tell? We should probably spend the next week and-a-half talking about that because I'm sure it's a dialogue that will result in a unanimous conclusion we all find pleasing).

I'm not in the mood to make up anything appropriately cheeky (read: annoying), and the restrictions I've put in place in order to keep my premature basketballulation from doing more damage to the city than Ike three weeks ago don't allow me to write about the sport extensively yet, so this morning you get numbers. It's like an un-frosted strawberry pop tart (second side note: the pop tart people have been frosting their strawberry product since like '88, if you try to pawn the original off on me in any setting, I will throw shit and make you cry).

National rankings are the numbers in parentheses.

TEAM RANKINGS

Rushing Offense: 212.75 ypg (18)
Passing Offense: 222.5 ypg (52)
Scoring Offense: 28 ppg (61)
Rushing Defense: 70.75 ypg (11)
Pass Efficiency Defense: 109.08 (39)
Total Defense: 252 ypg (13)
Scoring Defense: 23 ppg (60)
Net Punting: 29.64 (113)
Punt Returns: 7.71 ypr (76)
Kickoff Returns: 14.70 ypr (118)
Turnover Margin: -.25 (T-75)
Pass Defense: 181.25 ypg (35)
Passing Efficiency: 119.16 (78)
Sacks: 1.25 pg (81)
Tackles For Loss: 5.5 pg (63)
Sacks Allowed: 1.75 pg (65)

Individual Rankings

Rushing: Victor Anderson - 105.25 ypg (T-20)
Passing Efficiency: Hunter Cantwell - 120.38 (77)
Total Offense: Hunter Cantwell - 207.5 ypg (59)
Receptions Per Game: Doug Beaumont - 7.25 (T-10)
Receptions Per Game: Josh Chichester - 4.25 (T-97)
Receiving Yards Per Game: Doug Beaumont - 96.25 (19)
Interceptions Per Game: Woodny Turenne - .5 (T-24)
Punting: Cory Goettsche - 38.18 ypp (74)
Punt Returns: Doug Beaumont - 8.6 ypr (47)
Scoring: Victor Anderson - 9.0 ppg (T-31)
All-Purpose Runners: Victor Anderson - 121.0 ypg (66)
All-Purpose Runners: Doug Beaumont - 110.0 ypg (T-88)
Sacks Per Game: Maurice Mitchell - .5 (T-74)
Sacks Per Game: Earl Heyman - .5 (T-74)
Tackles For Loss Per Game: L.D. Scott - 1.25 (T-40)

Thoughts

--Wow, we really suck on special teams. Jesus, 118th on kick returns? How many teams are there in D-1, like 175? There's 119? Eat all of that, Kansas.

--Ron English rules.

--Doug Beaumont rules slightly more effectively.

--When do you think was the last time we ranked outside of the top 50 in passing offense? I was gonna say yesterday, but that's only because I'm a smart ass.

--My god we suck on special teams.

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.

SB Nation - Maurice Mitchell

Cardinal football by the numbers

Louisville 38, Kansas State 29