Manday Musings: the Weekend that was in Pinkie Sports 11/2 edition

Another weekend complete and a lot to talk about. The Cards won a game by 8, even though they should have won by 21, the Cats lost a tough one to Mississippi State, and Brett Favre still aggravates me.

The Cards took the field to a sparse crowd of 21,500 on Saturday and came away with their third W on the season. I have received some questions regarding why I do not address the Steve Kragthorpe situation or his questionable decisions in this weekly article and the answer is simple: I believe coach Kragthorpe is gone after this season, based on people I have spoken to, therefore, I want to focus on the players who will be a part of the program for the next several years in a positive way. I cannot stand people who continually dwell on the negative, that is a horrible way to live life. However, if anyone would like to view my thoughts on the Kragthorpe situation, those can be viewed here.

As far as the win on Saturday goes, it was a better performance than the final score of 21-13 suggests. Louisville left 13 points on the field due to quarterback Will Stein’s inability to complete a 6 yard pass to a WIDE OPEN Trent Guy in the end zone and the Shoeless One’s (placekicker Ryan Payne) continued failure to successfully make chip shot field goals. That being said, I thought Will Stein played a good game.

Will Stein broke Brian Brohm’s record for touchdown passes at Trinity High School and almost everyone you talk to raves about his intangibles. Having said that, it is highly, highly doubtful Stein is not the long term answer at the quarterback position for Louisville. I personally would like to have seen redshirt freshman Zack Stoudt get time under center, but as of now Stein has won the job. I was happy to see Stein get the chance to play because I played football for his dad and I can still remember Will, at no more than six years old, running around our practices reciting the playbook to perfection.

The running game was solid as Bilal Powell had a very good game as he rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries and ZERO fumbles. A very solid game for Bilal, but the star of the game was running back Darius Ashley. The redshirt freshman ran with power, vision, and patience. He finished with 77 yards, 2 touchdowns, and should have had a touchdown reception as the Cards had Ashley for six on a wheel route, but he dropped the pass. This guy will be big time player before he leaves the ‘Ville.

Darius Ashley celebrating one of his two scores on the day

The Cats dropped a tough one on Saturday to Mississippi State and in the process, fell to 4-4 on the season. Quite frankly, I thought the players performed better than their coaching staff. I’ll get into Joker’s playcalling, but I thought defensive coordinator Steve Brown called an equally poor game. I know injuries may have played into that, but at what point do you finally just stack the box and make the Bulldogs beat you passing?

I watched the game on television, so I’m sure there may be things I missed because of the limited ability to view the entire field during plays, but Mississippi State’s quarterback Tyson Lee is not that good. Going into the game, Lee completed 102 of 172 passes for 3 touchdowns and 9 interceptions, for the season. On Saturday, he had his best all around game, statistically speaking, which amounted to 10-17 for 145 yards, a touchdown and 2 INTs. I have never been a defensive coordinator, but it would seem to me, especially considering the way running back Anthony Dixon is gashing the rush defense, to take your chances with Tyson Lee throwing the ball.

Switching to offense, is there anything more to say about Randall Cobb? Even though I was under the impression most everyone knows about him being a great player, offensive coordinator Joker Phillips apparently forgot. Guy has already covered this, so I will not spend too much time with it, but HOW DO YOU NOT PUT THE BALL IN HIS HANDS DURING THE MOST PIVOTAL MOMENTS OF THE GAME? 

My own personal opinion is that Joker probably out-thought himself. Playcalling is a difficult task and sometimes the playcaller can either overthink things. Coach Brooks did admit after the game they scrapped the Wildcat due to it’s ineffectiveness, and for the record Mississippi State was doing a good job defending it, but Cobb can do more than run the Wildcat. I think next time, or at least hope, Cobb has the ball in his hands during a crucial moment of the game.

Joker had a rough game

On a positive note, I thought Morgan Newton continued to improve. Obviously, as a true freshman, his progress will not be swift, however it appeared to me he looked more comfortable with the offense and I think it showed by him being used as the primary quarterback. That being said, he made one terrible decision with the interception inside the 10 yard line, but he was trying to make a play and let’s be honest, Mike Hartline made those same kind of mistakes during his time as quarterback.

Looking at the upcoming schedule, the Cats face Eastern Kentucky and Vanderbilt the next two weeks. They will beat Eastern and they need to beat Vandy. However, that task just got tougher as Vandy showed a lot in their loss to Georgia Tech. After those games, the Cats visit Georgia, then welcome Lane Kiffin into Commonwealth Stadium to end the season. With the Cats sitting at 4-4 right now, I think 6-6 is how they finish. They are better than Eastern Kentucky and Vandy, but Georgia still has a ton of talent as does Tennessee and I think that will be too much to handle.

Time for the quick hits:

-Brett Favre beat the Packers yesterday in his return to Lambeau Field. The man is still good, I am not disputing that, but now that he beat a marginal Packers team in Green Bay, I can already see the ESPN football crew imploring all of us to bow down and kiss his feet. I AM NOT GOING TO DO THAT, HE’S JUST A FOOTBALL PLAYER. Plus, it’s extremely unsanitary.

-Louisville’s television play-by-play voice, Drew Deener, had a tough job ahead of him in replacing that insufferable tool Ari Wolfe. While it was a terrible move to not use voice of the Louisville Bats and Louisville women’s basketball, the awesome Jim Kelch, for that position, Deener has been pretty good in my view. At the very least, he knows who the Louisville players are, something our boy Ari struggled with frequently.

-Finally, is there anyone more annoying than Fox broadcaster Joe Buck? Yes, his name is Tim McCarver.

I can't stand these two