The Pinkie Previews: Southern Mississippi at Louisville

Miller | Oct 09, 2009 | Comments 0

Date – October 10, 2009
Time – 7:30 pm
Site – Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium
Television – ESPNU
Radio – 840 AM WHAS

pjs The Pinkie Previews: Southern Mississippi at Louisville

Papa John's Cardinal Stadium aka The Oven

Louisville and Southern Miss will do battle for the 28th time on Saturday in a game featuring a coach whose job status is very much in question, a Southern Miss starting quarterback making only his second career start, and due to the game being broadcast on ESPNU, awful announcing. However, the good news is that I can see plenty of commercials about brownie cutters and meatball rollers…just annoys me thinking about it.

Last week, I called the game against Pitt not a ‘must win’, but close. However, this week is a no doubt ‘must win’. The Cards are a very unimpressive 1-3 and have not shown any progress since the Kentucky loss. The Louisville offense has really struggled with scoring (which is their main job as I understand it) and the defense is giving up points like there’s no tomorrow. The players could use a win and quite frankly, coach Steve Kragthorpe NEEDS a win.

Southern Miss comes into the ‘Ville 3-2 on the year and 1-1 in Conference USA play. The Golden Eagles have defeated Alcorn State, Central Florida, and Virginia this season, but have lost their last two games at Kansas and UAB. Basically, the Golden Eagles are undefeated at home and completely defeated on the road, however they were without their top two of their best offensive weapons for the UAB game.

Southern Miss is coached by Larry Fedora, an offensive minded coach who in his second year at the school. In 2007, Fedora came to Southern Miss from Oklahoma State where he spent the previous three seasons as offensive coordinator. Fedora also spent three years at Florida where he served as running game coordinator and offensive coordinator. He is currently 10-8 as a head coach.

fedora1 The Pinkie Previews: Southern Mississippi at Louisville

Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora, seems to me he should embrace his last name and sport one

The Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi come into Louisville missing a key cog in their offensive wheel. Starting quarterback Austin Davis is out for the season and starting in his place will be Martevious Young. Young is a 6-1 188 lb redshirt junior from Alexander City, Alabama. He has had an injury plagued career so far at Southern Miss, but gets his second chance at starting against the Cards. In his previous start, on the third play from scrimmage, Young broke his leg and missed the remainder of the year. From what I can gather, he is a scrambling type quarterback so it would appear the best strategy would be to keep him in the pocket and prove he can throw the ball consistently.

The Golden Eagles feature some quality players at the skill positions. Running back Damion Fletcher, a 5-10 182 lb senior, has rushed for over 1,000 yards each of his first three seasons and is already the all-time leading rusher in Southern Mississippi history. In 2009, Fletcher has rushed for 371 yards on 76 attempts with 4 TDs. For his career, he has 4,658 yards and 40 TDs, very impressive numbers wherever you play. Louisville will need to contain him in order to have a chance.

Southern Miss also has a very talented wide receiver in DeAndre Brown. Brown is a 6-6 238 lb beast and is a match-up nightmare for anyone, much less for a team with an underpeforming secondary. Brown missed the Golden Eagles loss to UAB, but has been declared 100% for the game on Saturday.

brown The Pinkie Previews: Southern Mississippi at Louisville

Wide receiver DeAndre Brown is a big weapon on offense for the Golden Eagles

The Cardinals simply just need to worry about themselves. Louisville kills themselves more than anything. The Cardinals commit way too many stupid penalties and have far too many careless turnovers. I truly believe if Louisville could just stop tripping over themselves, they might actually be a decent squad. However, they have not shown the ability to do so. If they want to have any kind of season, the Cardinals will come out and play inspired on Saturday because staring them in the face is a brutal stretch of tough games, many on the road.

The Cardinals will start junior Adam Froman at quarterback for the second strait game, but Justin Burke will most likely see some action. Burke was injured and missed the Pitt game, but is ready to go for Southern Miss. I expect to see multiple packages with both Burke and Froman on the same play. Remember, Froman has played on special teams for Louisville and has played some receiver at junior college so he will not be a decoy receiver out there.

froman The Pinkie Previews: Southern Mississippi at Louisville

Froman is a football player, not just a quarterback

However, the most important thing for me will be the running game. In order to run the ball, someone has to block the defense and it appears the Cardinals are taking steps to help that. Jeff Adams will make his first start of the year at tackle. The Trigg county native had the flu in fall practice in which he lost 20 lbs and has struggled to gain back the weight. He appears ready to go and will be helpful due to his experience.

It appears we may see junior college transfer Joe Evinger play as well. Evinger was a four star JUCO recruit who arrived late in fall practice and has been trying to get caught up on the playbook. It appears he is now caught up and I hear there’s a good chance he sees significant action on Saturday.

Bottom line, the Cardinals need an offensive line to establish a running game.Coach Kragthorpe said in his Monday press conference that he has to find more ways to get Victor Anderson the ball. He also informed us the team who scores the most points usually wins the game, however he is correct. Anderson is Louisville’s gamebreaking player and he needs the ball in his hands. That being said, Anderson has been roughed up a bit, but as far as I know he will be at full strength on Saturday.

The Cardinals need this game, plain and simple. We will find out if they have the resolve to come out hungry and determined. So come out to Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, be loud, cheer for the Cards, and help them towards a victory over those Golden Eagles.