Tag Archives: Louisville Cardinals

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week X

Football, Gaming,

It’s not like it hadn’t happened already this season. Several times over.

But when it’s the school you favor, the school to which you are devoted, you pay more attention.

And it hurts most, because the peril has struck home.

The University of Louisville Cardinals were rocked by the COVID last weekend. On the morning of Game Day.

Not only were they decimated on the defensive side of the ball, but because of that sudden disruption, discombobulated also when the Cards were in possession of the pigskin. At least until MC, Javian, Dez, Tutu and the Gang settled in and made a game of it against Virginia Tech.

Too little, too late, as some are wont to say.

For the Red & Black Faithful, it’s easy to believe the outcome might have been, could have been, would have been different if so many regulars hadn’t been protocoled & quarantined out of action.

So, not only was I, as a Cardinal fan, sad about the L, it was the only pick I missed. Indiana, Cincy, Georgia and Auburn all prevailed as your erstwhile Swami predicticated.

That 4-1 slate upped my record to 27-19-3 for the season.

Don’t duck, here come this week’s winners: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week X →

Louisville CardFile: Virginia Tech

Football,

The inevitable outcome of the Cardinals’ encounter with Virginia Tech rose like a Halloween ghost at the graveyard at 12:58, three hours and a couple ticks before kickoff.

Football SID Rocco Gasparro’s email to the media was short.

Not so sweet:

The following players are unavailable for today’s game against Virginia Tech:
DL Micah Bland
DL Ja’Darien Boykin
DL Malik Clark
DL Yaya Diaby
P Ryan Harwell
S Isaiah Hayes
DL Dayna Kinnaird
LB Monty Montgomery
DL Tabarius Peterson

Thus the COVID struck the Cardinals with terrible swift sword.

Louisville’s defense was thin enough, iffy enough, already.

Losing five defensive linemen. Losing playmaking linebacker Monty Montgomery. Losing safety Isaiah Hayes. Not to mention punter Ryan Howell, who had emerged out of a mediocre crop.

So, as game and gritty as the Big Play Cardinals proved to be, it was never going to happen.

It was Trick not Treat, an All Hallows Eve to forget. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Virginia Tech →

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week IX

Football, Gaming, ,

Oh, this season is so so so strange.

Badger QB RFr Graham Mertz has the game of a lifetime in his first start, comes down with the COVID, then the whole program shutters for a time.

Southern Miss fired Jay Hopson after an opening game L to South Alabama, naming Scotty Walden interim coach. Then Walden catches the COVID, then announces he’s exiting Hattiesburg — right in the middle of the season — to coach FCS Austin Peay. After sufficiently quarantining we have to hope.

What. Is. Going. On?

Meanwhile I was 3 up, 2 down last time out. Coastal Carolina, Ohio State and Louisville won. Iowa State and UK lost.

On the season, 23-18-3.

This week’s picks: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week IX →

Louisville CardFile: Florida State

Football,

Raise your hand if you saw this coming?

Liar, liar, pants on fire, everyone of youse.

Louisville 48, Florida State 16.

I did not see it coming. You did not see it coming.

Coach Scott Satterfield. make that Sage Satterfield, saw it coming.

“We told them last night and in the Friday night meeting that we thought we had a great opportunity today to explode as a football team.”

 * * * * *

The Louisville coaching staff knew what issues needed to be addressed earlier in the week. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Florida State →

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week VIII

Football, Gaming, ,

There’s no other way to say it.

This season is getting curioser and curioser by the week.

(OK, sure, there are other ways to say it, but I went with the words of Charles Ludwidge Dodgson.)

There was something dumbfoundingly Orwellian about Kentucky’s complete evisceration of Rocky Top. The Wildcats hadn’t won in Knoxville since Newspeak became Big Bro’s language of choice.

And here we are when it’s being spoken by more and more people, and UK turns the Orange over under sideways down.

I mean the next thing you know, the Big Ten schools will actually be playing football.

Oh yeah, they are going to start . . . when we are already in Week VIII.

Anyhow, that Kentucky upset was the only game I missed.

Miami bounced back from its Clemson debacle.

Saban proved, as he has done every single time the situation has presented itself, that he can beat his former assistants. Even if he spends game week CEOing from his den.

Notre Dame held off Louisville, though my Cards were game, and full of fight.

Tulsa woulda upended Cincy . . . if the game hadn’t been postponed. It was a DNP.

3-1-1 for the week raises my numbers to 20-16-3 for the season.

This weekend’s winners:

Iowa State @ Oklahoma State. In the topsy turvy B12, only the Cowboys remain undefeated. For clarification’s sake, I’m talking T. Boone Pickens’s Cowboys, not Jerry Jones’s Cowboys. Iowa State, after a surprising setback to the Ragin’ Cajuns on opening day, hasn’t lost in the league. No conference cupcakes either on that roster of vanquished. Okie State hasn’t played in a few weeks, giving the Mullet extra time to prepare his troops for the important clash. But Matt Campbell is every wag’s Next Great Coach. Plus his coif looks perfectly normal. Cyclones.

Georgia Southern @ Coastal Carolina. Knowing my affinity for offbeat mascots/ nicknames, Bookstore Billy called. “Have I got a nickname for you. At Jack Benny Jr. High in Waukegan, Illinois?” My guesses: “Rochesters,” and “Penny Pinchers.” Correct answer, and a truly cool moniker, “The 39ers.” Should you not get any of the references, ask your Aunt Martha. A cool mascot is why I have joined many, jumping on the bandwagon of the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. No Little Red Roosters, they be borne of Chaucer. They also be 4-0 with a W over Kansas, and, more impressively, over Louisiana. Grayson McCall is a fast riser on the QB You Never Heard Of Who Will Be Playing On Sundays list. Georgia Southern’s not chopped liver, but I, for one, am not disregarding the Canterbury Tales.

Nebraska @ Ohio State. A friend was driving through Ohio in the spring of 2012, listening to sports talk radio. It was all Buckeye chatter, and the general belief was Urban Meyer would go undefeated in his debut campaign in Columbus. Which he did. There is no collegiate sports program with a fan base quite as obsessive, or obnoxious, as THE OSU’s. That includes you, BBN. How much did they want it on the banks of the Olentangy? Ryan Day and his staff are so intense, they moved out of their homes to lesson the chances of falling prey to the COVID. The Husker Nation is also pretty locked in, and Scott Frost turned whiner when it looked like his gang wouldn’t get to play, threatening to compete whether the B10 did or not. The reward: A trip on opening day to the Horseshoe. Where they have not a chance.

Kentucky @ Missouri. Terry Wilson is only the second UK QB ever to have career Ws over both Tennessee and Florida. The other one? Haven’t a clue. Bob Hardy? The Wildcats have beaten a 2-2 team, Tennessee. The Wildcats have lost to a 2-2 team, Auburn. The Wildcats have beaten a 1-3 team, Mississippi State. The Wildcats have lost to a 1-3 team, Ole Miss. Meanwhile, the Tigers beat LSU, and lost to the Vols and Crimson Tide. Which is to say, during this All SEC All the Time season, UK and Mizzou appear pretty evenly matched. Big Blue has won five in a row in this series. Will Kentucky make it a half dozen? I’m assuming their heads will still fit in their helmets after last week’s heady headturner in Knoxville, so, yeah, I guess, yes.

Florida State @ Louisville. The Seminole roster is chock full of former future Cardinal signal calling stars. Chubba Purdy. Jordan Travis. As predicticated here sometime back, one of them will be starting in Cardinal Stadium Saturday, since it has been obvious for years that James Blackman wasn’t going to be the guy to lead Florida State back to glory. It’ll be Travis this weekend. Big W last time out for FSU, besting overrated Carolina. Big Effort last time out for U of L, going facemask to facemask with the Fighting Irish in South Bend. For whom will the Mo continue to flow? The Good Guys.

— c d kaplan

Louisville CardFile: Notre Dame

Football,

My my, what a delightfully boring affair that was.

When the Irish, up 5, got the ball on their own 23 yard line with 7:55 on the clock, I thought, “If the Cards can just hold here, at the very worst, they can wave goodbye to TDJ, and get outta South Bend with smiles on their faces.”

So it came to pass.

Notre Dame went on one of those manly man 13 rushing play, 2 passing play, eat up the clock and let’s get this over drives. Cool.

Louisville’s D, which fashioned far and away its best performance of the season, heck, in a long while, never broke. One 24 yard scamper was the only hint of a threat in that last sequence.

There was no surrender. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Notre Dame →

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week VII

Football, Gaming, ,

How appropriate is it that Mike Leach — Mike “Are his synapsis really connected?” Leach — is a perfect paradigm for College Football 2020.

One week his offense steamrolls the defending national champs for 17 TDs and 4,000 passing yards. Air raid on parade. Two weeks later, the only item in Mississippi State’s shopping cart while Krogering is a safety. Pearl Harbor.

One day, Dan Mullen’s calling for a packed house. The next day his program is shut down when 19 in the Gator pigskin family test positive.

It would be nice for your resident, relied-upon sage to advise he’s got a bead on what’s going on.

I haven’t a clue.

As my results continue to show. Last week, Texas and TCU, and especially U of L let me down. Clemson the Cats down the road came through.

2-3 keeps my head slightly above water at 17-15-2 for the campaign.

I trundle on: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week VII →

Louisville CardFile: Georgia Tech

Football,

On a night somewhat unique for the American sports landscape, the Will to Win was on display.

Unfortunately for the University of Louisville football team, and its loyal fanbase, it was not to be found along the Cardinal sideline in Wet ‘lanta.

In the American League’s loser-leaves-town Division Series decider, Devil Ray journeyman Mike Brousseau stepped to the plate in the home 8th to face NY fireballer Aroldis Chapman in a 1-1 game.

The last time the two matched up was September 1 when the Yankees’ closer played 101 mph chin music with Tampa’s utility guy, resulting in a bench clearing brouhaha. And suspensions.

Fighting off nine pitches in the “major league at bat,” Brousseau parked the next one for the game winning and series winning run.

The fortitude to dig deep. The Will to Win.

Down 3-1, Miami faced bubble ejection in Game 5 of the out-of-season NBA Finals against the LA LaBrons.

In the final moments of his :47:17, 35 point, 12 rebound, 11 assist, 5 steal masterpiece performance, Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler was so exhausted after being fouled on a drive, he couldn’t stand straight, and was slumped over a railing beyond the endline to summon enough energy to step to the charity stripe.

He netted both FTs. Then two more seconds later, which were the game clinchers, Miami thereby staving off elimination against the highly favored Lakers.

The fortitude to dig deep. To perform beyond any reasonable physical expectations. The Will to Win.

 * * * * *

Meanwhile, with 1:32 left before halftime, in a stadium named for iconic GT coach from yesteryear, Bobby Dodd, inventor of option football (“belly series”), the U of L Cardinals had found a rhythm. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Georgia Tech →

Let’s Get This Pigskin Party Started

Fandom, Football,

OK, so the Fighting Schnells of Florida Atlantic have had their game with Southern Miss postponed/cancelled.

Les Miles has come down with the COVID.

Baylor has suspended football operations for a bit.

The health czars in Colorado have given the Buffs approval to start practice.

And the Brigade in Annapolis will be in Navy-Marine Corps Stadium to watch the Middies battle the Owls of Temple.

So it goes.

The yin and yang of football — and life — in this Year of Our Lord 2020. Though it’s hardly in balance. Much more yin — the dark side — than yang.

But we’ve got college pigskin to savor. Thank you, Bronconakurskius, Greek God of Gridiron. Continue reading Let’s Get This Pigskin Party Started →

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week VI

Football, Gaming, ,

Since I had another OK, but still less than optimal weekend last, I’ve decided to change things up yet again.

No elongated opening shtick.

All together now: “Awwwwwwwww.”

Three Ws — Georgia, SMU and Iowa State — and two Ls — BC and Kentucky. Troy and South Alabama were a DNP.

For the year, 15-12-2.

This week’s locks: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week VI →