This Will Become My "Recap"

[Empire Lindy]

But while I'm in strem-of-consciousness mode, let me make some observsations and explain why Coach Kragthrope isn't (YET) a mistake on the part of Tom Jurich and the Louisville athletic department.

ONE, and this is a HUGE one... I had no idea how incredibly terrible this defense was nor how incredibly important Okoye, Gay, Harris, Brown, and Sharp were. I always liked Brandon Sharp... thought he became a completely different player when Petrino wisely sat his brother at Cincinnati two years ago and gave the SS job to Jonathan Russell (speaking of, what the hell happened to him?). But Brandon Sharp and Gavin Smart weren't exactly top-notch NFL prospects much less DI stars. We had (supposedly) good enough recruits with guys like Heath, Turrene, and a host of DB's I am forgetting. If you ask me, PETRINO totally wiffed on all the defensive recruits in his last two seasons. How else do you explain Peanut Whitehead becoming a ghost, having almost NO pressure from the defensive line, and every fucking player in the secondary A)sucking and B)not even being the blue-chip recruit we signed for those openings? You can't pin BAD players (see: Richard Ragling, starting safety) on that side of the ball on Coach Krag. You just can't.

Two, because of #1 above, our offense (and right or wrong, Coach Krag and Charlie Stubbs) is under extreme pressure to abandon the run way too early and make Brohm throw the ball at least 40 times every single game. Having that kind of imbalance will lead to the turnovers we saw today and the short, stalled drives that put our punt team on the field way too often. If you can't wear down their defense with the prolonged drives and power running, you can't hope to turn those close games into big wins by the 4th quarter.

Three (and this is just a side), let's not forget that Syracuse, despite all their offensive ineptitude (until today), has had a strong defensive unit both of the past two years we have played them. That game up there last season we only managed 28 points (including a garbage TD by Kolby in the last 100 seconds). We also had to force a fumble at the goal line and overcome a 6-0 start. The year before it was a 24-17 game before Strip came in and ran for two 4th-quarter scores in the final 3 1/2 minutes. All this stuff about our offense looking bad against the worst team in DI... well, they looked pretty bad for most of the previous two games agains the "worst team in DI".

Now I'm not making all these points to dismiss the facts. We're in big trouble this year. Our defense is worse than the worst nightmares we could have imagined. Brohm is looking at a Chris Redman-like season where the only way we stay close with teams is by him throwing for 500 yards and 4TD's. It didn't work in 1998 or 1999 and chances are it isn't going to work in 2007. I'm still not going to just chalk up a 2-10 season and do my UK impression (when is Midnight Madness?), but I will admit that things are bleak this season with an improved Cincinnati on the schedule along with South Florida, Rutgers, and West Virginia.

Until we can see what kind of players (hopefully defensive ones) Krag brings in next February, it's hard to say what direction we are truly headed for long term. For now, I'm going to don my red sunglasses, assume this is just a short-term decline in the Cardinal Stock Market, and not run like crazy to unload all my UofL shares. If the class tanks, Mike Cassity returns, and we have Hunter Cantwell and another shitty defense returning for 2008, then talk to me about clearance mark-downs.

[farmdude]

Does Peanut look like he is smaller than he was when he came here to you?

[HarveyGlass]

Nice post.
The radio guys said Syracuse was picking on Turenne non-stop. And just abusing him. So much for that "stud".

I agree about them abandoning the run, and I excused them a little in the UK game, just because it was 13-0, on the road, big rivalry. The nerves get tense in a situation like that.
But forgetting about the run in a 7-0, or 14-7 game at home against a doormat is just weak. If for no other reason, you run just to keep our shitty defense off the field.

And forget about USF, WVU, RU, and Cincy. We will be underdogs in those games. The real question is will we be favored on the road against a bad NC State team next week?

This hurts because, for other big-time programs, this is an abomination and they will be "back" to their old self next year. For us, the country is going to assume that we're "back" to where we belong. As underdogs.

[CardinalJunky]

Actually, seeing Peanut at the Cardmarch, I was thinking he was quite a bit bigger.

He is a no show or whatever. What the hell is happening? Freddy

[bling49]

Originally Posted by Empire Lindy

. Brohm is looking at a Chris Redman-like season where the only way we stay close with teams is by him throwing for 500 yards and 4TD's. It didn't work in 1998 or 1999 and chances are it isn't going to work in 2007.

Nothing against our current tight ends but Redman and Ibn Green had been playing together since little league and thos two were money. They knew exactly what the other was doing and at crunch time they were a dependable combo.

I think Brohm to Douglass have had that the last 6 games but the same magic isnt winning us ball games now.

Our offense puts up enough points and yardage that would normally control a game but our defense is giving up way too much to our opponents.

Defensive backs are our most glaring weakness and a dominant pass rusher were used to (Dumervil, Okoye) has yet to emerge this year.

Pressure by comittee not a one man wrecking ball is going to have to emerge on this years squad.

This team is far different than the team from last year despite the familiar names (Brohm, Douglas, Cantwell, Spillman, Uruttia ect) , they havent gelled yet and may not in time to save the season.

Where is Brock Bolen ??????????????

[cardfan]

Time to clean house. Krag is a cancer..

[swole]

Bolen has been injured since the Middle TN ST game. I saw him on the sideline in street clothes.

[Psychoboys]

Originally Posted by cardfan

Time to clean house. Krag is a cancer..

Amen

[Needabuzz]

I personally think that they really need to get rid of the Cassidy or add someone else to the staff to help him get the defense on track. Just look at what that did for UK last year. The made a switch at the D. coord. position and they went on a run.

The defense looks way worse then the defense even did in the Redman days. Ragland is just plain and simply terrible. The D linemen are not good and the CB's are not good the LB's look good to me and thats about it.

[HarveyGlass]

I know people think we don't have the players, but I think the defensive coaching is making the players look bad. And, in turn, the players lose faith in their coaching and play even worse.