Cards fall to South Florida 34-22; attain bowl ineligibility

Louisville came into today hoping for a win and a chance at bowl eligibility, but due to yet another poor offensive showing the Louisville football Cardinals will not reach a bowl game. The Cards definitely fought hard and played their tails off, but in the end, they could not muster a consistent offensive attack to win the game.

Often times during the game, the depleted Louisville defense would hold South Florida and give the ball back to the offense. However, the offense could not sustain enough drives to at least let the defense grab a decent breather on the sidelines.

Louisville’s offense once again could not find a rhythm early, a common theme during Steve Kragthorpe’s time as head coach, and promptly went three and out after receiving the opening kick. After a 56 yard Corey Goettsche punt, the Bulls took over at their 20 yard line and quickly went down the field for a touchdown and 7-0 lead. South Florida would add another touchdown and led 14-0 after the 1st quarter. However, the Cards got their stuff together in the 2nd quarter.

South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels on a touchdown run

Louisville put together a decent drive and Chris Philpott, who has grabbed a stranglehold on kicking duties, converted a 37 yard field goal to put the Cards on the board. Louisville’s defense stiffened up and forced SouthFlorida to punt. The Cards then found a nice rhythm offensively andeventually found the pay window with a 20 yard touchdown pass from Adam Froman to Scott Long. South Florida now only lead 14-10.

The Louisville defense again held the Bulls, and forced another South Florida punt. The Bulls punted to the dangerous return specialist Trent Guy and Guy made them pay. Guy fielded the punt, started left, then broke back towards the middle and was gone. In the end, it was a 60 yard punt return and the Cards took the lead.

On the PAT, Louisville back-up tight end Pete Nochta did not even touch the outside rusher on his side and the extra point attempt was blocked. It was an unbelievable error in my opinion and something I cannot blame on the coaching staff. Not any coach in this country, or any country that plays our version of football, instructs a player to not block someone on a field goal or extra point attempt. That being said, these types of mistakes have become way too common the past three years and with that occurring today, I came to as close to mentally losing it as I ever have.

With the Cards up 16-14 and only a few minutes left in the 2nd quarter, the Bulls drove down the field. The Cards’ defense was on their heels, but did hold South Florida to a field goal andwent into halftime with a one point deficit. If I was told before the game the Cards would be down 17-16 af half, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. Suffice to say, I was encouraged as the 2nd half began.

Unfortunately, when the 3rd quarter began, the Louisville offense once again disappeared. The Cards’ defense was on the field way too much and as a result, South Florida put 10 points on the board. Louisville added 0 points and found themselves down 27-16 as the 4th quarter commenced.

The Cards had the ball andall of a sudden found their offense. The Cards marched down the field and found the endzone on a great 17 yard touchdown run from Darius Ashley. On that run, Ashley got outside on the right edge andas he hurdled a player around the 5 yard line, took a shot from a defender in mid-air. However, Ashely stayed on his feet and spun into the endzone for the score.

Ashley right before scoring a touchdown

The Cards were now down 27-22 and went for two, as they should have, to get themselves within a field goal. The attempt failed and with 14:20 in the 4th, the Cards were down five points. In the end, the Cards could not muster the offense and the defense allowed a late score to end Louisville’s hopes of winning the game.

With their loss today, the Cards are now 4-7 on the season and will not go to a bowl game for the third strait year. The attention will now turn to coach Steve Kragthorpe’s job status. I will address that situation in a day or two, but for now I’d like to see the Louisville fans come out for the final game of the season to support the seniors on Senior Day. I realize they play at 11:00 am the day after Thanksgiving, but these kids have played their butts off during their time at Louisville and deserve to get a strong showing from the Louisville fans.

The coaching situation will work itself out, Tom Jurich will make sure of it, so I urge all Louisville fans to come out, give a great farewell to the seniors, and cheer on the Cards to a victory over Rutgers.