Recap

We were all hoping to send the 2009 senior class out as winners in their final home game at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, but the Cards couldn’t muster enough offense and fell to Rutgers 34-14. Even though the Cards gave up 34 points, the defense played well enough to win. The offense, yet again, could not sustain drives andonly found the endzone twice.

Rutgers jumped out early to a 14-0 lead thanks to a Louisville defense missing tackles like it was their job. The Louisville offense wasn’t much better. The offensive line, as has been the case way too often this season, could not block anyone. Therefore, the Cards could not rush the ball or pass protect to give their quarterback or wide receiver’s a chance to make a play.

Louisville’s offense did wake up mid-way through the 2nd quarter and put together a solid drive capped off by a touchdown reception by Trent Guy. The Cards cut into the lead and just needed their defense to do something. That didn’t happen. Rutgers went back to marching right down the field and scored two more times before half. As we hit halftime, Rutgers was up 28-7 and a rerun of last season’s beatdown in Piscataway were starting to enter everyone’s mind.

However, the Cards came out of halftime and showed fire. The defense made adjustments, played with big time energy, and forced the Scarlet Knights to a three and out to start the 3rd quarter. When Louisville’s offense got the ball, they suddenly looked like they knew what they were doing. The Cards’ offense executed, did not commit penalties, and eventually got on the board with a 1 yard touchdown run by Darius Ashley. The Cards were now only down 28-14.

The defense came back out and continued their strong play. The defensive line became disruptive, stopped the run, and forced Rutgers into obvious passing situations. The defense held and Rutgers was forced to punt. Louisville’s offense came back on the field and started another decent drive. There also was an extremely scary moment.

Junior wide receiver Doug Beaumont, a phenomenal kid and tough, tough football player, ran a seam route andwas absolutely leveled by a blow to the head by Rutgers safety Zaire Kitchen, prompting a 15 yard penalty. Beaumont was motionless for quite some time before being carted off the field. He gave a thumbs up to a rousing ovation from the loyal fans who chose to attend.

At this point, the fans were fired up, as were the players and if the Cards put a touchdown on the board, Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium would have erupted. With Uncle Mo on their side, Louisville would have had a great shot to win. Unfortunately, the Cards could not finish the drive and ultimately had to punt. From then on, the Cards could not regain their momentum and eventually fell 34-14.

Word came in as the game concluded Beaumont’s x-rays were negative and he would be fine. Win or lose, that is fantastic news. We are all extremely relieved to hear that and wish Doug Beaumont the very best as he recovers.

My Take

In my opinion, this game came down to one thing: lack of rush defense. Rutgers rushed for 239 yards and because of that, Louisville’s defense was playing at a disadvantage. When a team is just gashing you with the run, the obvious thing to do is bring more guys into the box. However, when that happens you leave the corners on an island and force them to play man coverage, not exactly Louisville’s strength on defense.

When Louisville’s defense plays well, they get strong play from their defensive line, particularly from their front four. When the defense is at their worst, the front four might as well do jumping jacks on the line because they would get the same amount of pressure, which is none.

Besides seeing the seniors go out on a winning note, there was not much to look for in this game because of Louisville’s 4-6 record. However, I did see something during the game that definitely shocked me.

After Doug Beaumont’s injury, the entire Louisville team was out on the on the field as Beaumont was being looked at by doctors. During that time, coach Steve Kragthorpe was involved in a HEATED discussion with several of the officials.

As the discussion progressed, Kragthorpe’s anger increased. At first, it was just funny to watch because for some reason, an angry Kragthorpe cracks me up. However, this was different. He was not arguing a questionable holding call, he was legitimately pissed. This incident culminated in two Louisville players having to physically restrain Kragthorpe from going after the officials.

As they pulled their coach away from the officials, almost all of the fans still in attendance stood up and gave Kragthorpe a standing ovation. The Louisville players were clearly fired up by this display and I definitely thought this was the type of thing needed to win the game. Unfortunately, that did not happen, but the reaction of the team to Kragthorpe’s demonstration definitely caught my attention. I can’t help but think if that type of emotion was shown more frequently, the perception of Kragthorpe would be totally different.

On the subject of coach Kragthorpe, he essentially made his pitch for staying in his postgame press conference. He cited how the players played hard all year and the young talent in the program as the main reasons for him to come back for a 4th year. Kragthorpe acknowledged, like he has all year, he has not won enough games and understands the frustration of the fan base and said plainly, “I don’t want to move my family, I want to continue to be the coach here.”

While I do think a change is necessary and coming, I can see a scenario, a possibility not a probability, in which he is retained. There is indeed young talent in the program, the players do like the coaching staff, andthe depth is closer to being balanced. However, I do think too much damage has been done, so to speak, and feel a coaching change will be made, but as of now, Steve Kragthorpe is still the coach of the Louisville Cardinals.