The Louisville Cardinal football team continued its struggles Saturday when they invaded Morgantown, West Virginia.  The Cards couldn’t find the end zone at all during the game and it cost them.  West Virginia did just enough to keep the Cards hope of their fourth victory on the shelf as Louisville fell 17-9.  The Cards have now dropped to 3-6 on the season and a dismal 0-4 in the Big East.  If you missed the action, here is what took place:

Recap

The Cards got off to the start that they needed.  WVU received the opening kickoff and started their first drive from the 25 yard line.  The Louisville defense made a statement early and held the Mountaineers to a three and out.  However, the Louisville offense couldn’t fare much better than what the Mountaineers had done and they were forced to punt after picking up just one first down.  The two teams played a field position game in the first quarter as neither team’s offense could score, and punts came on every drive.

With6:14 left to play in the second quarter, Louisville’s offense found the big play.  On 1st and 10 from their own 32 yard line, coach Kragthorpe dialed up a little razzle dazzle.  The Cards ran a reverse to wide receiver Trent Guy, and the speedy wideout raced down the sideline for a gain of 53 yards to the WVU 15 yard line.  The Cards were hurt by a holding penalty on the next play and ended up settling for a field goal on the drive making it a 3-0 game. 

The Mountaineers answered right back.  After Louisville took a 3-0 lead, WVU started a drive on their own 28 yard line.  The Louisville defense which had played exceptionally well up to this point, finally made some mistakes.  The Cards had the Mountaineers backed into a 2nd and 19 situation on their own 41 yard line after an L.D. Scott sack.  Tehdefense then let WVU off the hook.  WVU quarterback Jarret Brown found a hole in the Cardinal secondary and completed a 29 yard pass to Alric Arnett for a first down.  The Mountaineers would go on to score a touchdown when Brown completed an eight yarderto Jock Sanders giving WVU a 7-3 lead with 29 seconds before the half. 

Louisville wouldn’t go to the locker room quietly.  Guy returned the ensuing kickoff 32 yards to the Louisville 45.  The Cards still had two timeouts and were thinking about scoring.  Stein completed a pass to tight end Cameron Graham for 15 yards, and then completed another pass to Scott Long for 9 yards to the WVU 31.  Darius Ashley rushed for four yards to the 27 yard line to set up a field goal try.  Chris Philpott, who took over the field goal kicking duties this week due to the struggles of Ryan Payne, booted home a 44 yarder and Louisville’s deficit was cut to 7-6 at the break. 

The Cards received the opening kickoff of the second half andcouldn’t do anything with it.  Louisville went three and out andgave the ball back to the Mountaineers near mid field.  WVU made the most of the opportunity to extend their lead.  Sanders took the first snap and ran 18 yards to the Louisville 37.  Two plays later Brown showed some mobilityof of his own and scrambled 24 yards to the Cardinal four yard line.  Tavon Austin  ran the ball into the end zoneon second and goal extending WVU’s lead to 14-6.  WVU added a field goal later in the quarter, and after three periods the Cards trailed 17-6. 

Louisville showed that it still had some fight as they started their first drive of the fourth quarter.  A WVU fumble at their own 46 was recovered by the Cards, setting them up with great field position.  The Cards moved the ball well with the short field and were in a first and goal situation at the nine.  After back to back Ashley runs were stuffed, the Cards were in a third andgoal situation from the 10.  Will Stein then found Douglas Beaumont in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.  Unfortunately, holding was called on the play and Beaumont’s first career touchdown was wiped out.  Instead, the Cards faced third and goal from the 20 and were forced to kick another field goal making it a 17-9 game. 

With it being only a one possession game, the Cards still had a chance if they could get the ball back.  The defense stepped up in the fourth quarter and forced WVU to punt twice, giving the offense an opportunity to tie the game.  Unfortunately, the offense struggled and didn’t come close to the end zone.  The Louisville offense never ran a play on the WVU side of the field the rest of the game, and were stopped on a 4th and 24 to end any hope.  The Cards looked at the scoreboard in the end and saw a 17-9 loss.

My Thoughts

1) Will Stein is not the answer.  I’m not sure what Kragthorpe hopes to accomplish with this kid at quarterback, but he just can’t cut it.  If Adam Froman is healthy, he is the best option.  I know that Stein a Trinity grad and Kragthorpe’s son is on the Trinity football team, but let’s stop playing favorites.  Against good competition like WVU, you need to put the ball in the endzone.  Stein finished the contest with 14/26 passing for only 100 yards.  We need someone who can get the ball to Scott Long and Douglas Beaumont.  Long finished with only 22 yards receiving and Beaumont with 15.  These two are the biggest threats we have on offense and they need the ball.  Stein can’t get it to them.  He is too small and unathletic to be leading this offense.  I can’t help but think that if Fromanwas quarterback, Louisville would have at least found pay dirt once.  It’s time to face the facts andput Stein back on the bench with a clipboard. 

2) Darius Ashley continues to be a beast.  Ashley, who was recruited by WVU but chose to come to Louisville, finished the game with 33 carries for a career high 164 yards.  Ashley was the only bright spot on this Louisville offense and continues to get better every game.  He runs hard on every play and has tremendous speed.  He is not afraid to take contact and get the extra yards.  More people on this team need his hard nosed mentality.   

3) Great job by the Cardinal defense.  The Cards D did an excellent job stopping the run and pressuring Brown into making some tough throws.  Noel Devine, the Big East’s leading rusher, was held to only 56 yards rushing.  WVU was only able to muster up 100 yards of passing as Brown was pressured most of the day andsacked a few times.  The defense came up with two turnovers (1 INT and 1 fumble recovery) and put Louisville in position to win the game.  They just had no help from the offense.  When you give up only 17 points, you should win.

4) Thank god Ryan Payne did not see the field.  Coch Krag finally made a smart decision and benched the bare footed failure.  Chris Philpott, who normally handles kickoff duties, did a great job kicking field goals.  Philpott was 3/3 on the day, including a long of 44.  Hopefully Kragthorpe will stay smart and let Philpott kick again next week.  He has shown he is head and shoulders better than Payne. 

Looking Ahead

The Cardinal football squad will continue to search for their first Big East win next Saturday.  Louisville returns home to PJCS to take on the Syracuse Orangemen.  Both Louisville and Syracuse are winless in the Big East and 3-6 on the season.  It’s a battle for the outright last position in the conference standings.  Kickoff is set for noon and hopefully there will be more than 20,000 in attendance.  Keep supporting the squad Cardinal fans no matter how bad things are.  The players deserve our support as they haven’t given up and neither should we.