I played but a single year of organized football, as a JV DL at Atherton HS.
More than a half century ago, when players wore hip and knee pads and helmets that were a concussion waiting to happen, in the age of the Straight T-Formation, when they still gave us salt tablets in the August heat to prevent sweating.
I claim no expertise.
But I watch a lot of football. And have attempted to get some sense of the game beyond my abject fandom of the sport.
During the Louisville Cardinals games, I monitor the stats as they accumulate, attempting in my feeble way to detect trends. To discern what may work or not in any given situation of consequence.
So, at 10:46 pm Saturday night, in overtime with winter afoot both meteorologically and pigskin-wise, when the singular play will present itself that shall define the entire campaign, here’s what I am thinking:
The Golden Bears essentially have three ballers who have been the main perps of this upset about to come.
Do everything possible to see they are not the guys to beat you.
Jason-Keawe Sagapolutele confirmed his burgeoning rep as a frosh phenom. The QB flamethrower from Hawaii had to that moment completed 29 pass in 46 attempts for 320 yards and a TD. His throws were darts, on target, and in most every case where U of L’s defenders couldn’t stop them.
Louisville’s D had 3 sacks only and hurried him just three other times in the night’s creeping chill.
I’m thinking, there’s only thirteen yards for receivers to run routes, for U of L’s secondary to cover, so pressure the hell out of the rookie. (Whether that’s the correct critical thinking for the situation or not I frankly do not know.)
Of those completions, 15 had been to Jacob DeJesus for 155 yards. About such a performance it is oft writ, the other team had no answer. One big catch after another.
I’m thinking, double cover the guy, from the moment of the snap, make somebody else beat you.
Also put a spy on Kendrick Raphael, just to make sure. The Cal RB, their third threat, had 83 yards in 19 carries.
I needn’t reiterate to Louisville fans what happened.
U of L did not bring the house. Though J-KS took a short drop on a quick hitting play, and it might have been of no consequence.
U of L did not double team DeJesus. Who was wide to the left, and feigned a crossing route after the snap. His sole defender bit. The receiver cut outside, and undraped upon grabbed Sagapolutele’s missle just across the goal line, just inside the out of bounds line.
Ballgame. 26-29.
U of L’s second league loss, putting it behind Georgia Tech, Virginia, Pittsburgh, SMU and Duke, all of whom have but one blemish.
Season for all intents and purposes.
Goodbye legit shot at the league title.
Hello Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.
After the game, Jeff Brohm:
One receiver got open whenever he wanted to and that was not a good plan to cover him.
The disappointment is when they throw to one guy that much and you don’t have a plan to cover him better, and you don’t cover him better, even at the end to allow their best player to be one-on-one for an easy throw in the corner.
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.
— c d kaplan
The good news is that if any of the power force schools who won coaches saw this game, we won’t have to worry about them hiring away Brohm
Not to mention that our quarterback is not very good
That may actually bad news
They were never going to hire him anyway. Unlike a great many U of L fans, folks at those schools actually pay attention to a coaching candidate’s entire resume. I tried telling people on the Chorn this is exactly what we were getting because paid attention to his WHOLE career at Purdue, not just the big wins he has become known for pulling off. I was roundly dismissed as being an idiot, because facts, you know. Some people don’t like facts.
That said, he is the best we can get, and keep, to provide some stability to the program. I believe he will eventually put together a team good enough to crash the playoffs, because despite his short comings he is driven and is a hard worker. Anyone who ever thought he could win a national title here was delusional. We don’t have the payroll to buy a roster that would be a legitimate national title contender, and Brohm would end up getting out coached somewhere along the way in the playoffs even if we did. I’m not sorry he is here, because we are Louisville, not LSU or Penn St, and he’s a good fit for us and the level of our program.
Perhaps we convince the Cal QB to enter the portal and come to the Ville next year. Throw in their top receiver while we’re at it.besides his immobility Moss holds the ball way to long.
It was extremely apparent last night that the coaching staff and by extension the players did not take Sagapolutele seriously, which is highly egregious given the fact that he is probably the best QB in the league. This wasn’t a secret before the game. I was shocked at the obvious lack of game planning to account for one of the most dangerous players in the ACC. The lack of respect for him and the Cal passing game was mind blowing. Brohm himself lamented this in his post game comments.
it is time to retire Moss and let the young Adams kid to find out whether Brohm will want to develop him or will again choose to find another older experienced qb who wants to show that they’re better than the NFL thinks they are. As you said, we’ve had another “just ball eligible” season and can again finish the year with losses again if Brohm stays with Moss against Clemson, SMU and UK (who actually has played with a freshman QB
There’s no need to pile on as you summed things up well Seedy. But how in the world can anyone watching that sad debacle think that Miller Moss’ inadequacy and Jeff Brohm & staff’s inability to adjust to the 3 aforementioned ballers (as he so clearly pointed out himself in your well chosen post game quote) were inexcusable examples of why we don’t belong in the playoffs. We got such great help earlier in the evening in Charlottesville – everything was right there in front of us for the taking and still there was no offensive ingenuity or adjustment as Moss time time after got slayed in the pocket looking like a deer 🦌 in the headlights.
I think the one other thing that worried me as I looked at our remaining ACC games was maybe the Dabos would wake up next week but far more disconcerting was the thought of Brohm teasing the fan base & then the Cards going down to SMU & getting our asses kicked ‼️
Fear not boys – on to Tuesday & the Kelseys showing up big time against the Cats 🏀
Cards have as good a chance at losing out as they do of winning out.
This is my fear. The Louisville team who lined up Saturday will lose out. Hopefully the one that played Miami will show up Friday.
There is a reason why USC benched him
Beat UK
All season I’ve wondered how Moss was so good in that bowl game against us and when would we see that Miller Moss? I finally realized it was because our defense was terrible that game- he had time to throw and his receivers were wide open. I’m ready to see Adams or Allen take over.
I still believe in our defense, though I agree we should have had stronger focus on their playmakers, just as they took away Chris Bell. Give the Cal qb credit, many of his completions were against tight coverage, and as accurate as he was we did force a good number of incompletions.
Sagapolutele is for real. This was a known factor way before this game for anyone paying attention. Apparently our coaching staff wasn’t among those anyones.
After benefiting from that 18 yard punt near the end of regulation – I would have rather seen an off tackle run for about 8-12 yards and a long field goal try than the plays we saw
1000%
Go to an attack method that had been having scant success the entire night instead of running the ball, that was having success? Wtf? You have a kicker who has hit multiple 50+ yard field goals. Wtf?
We need to put to rest this myth that Brohm is a offensive genius. He’s not, and he never was. He’s a guy who has dedicated his life to learning and mastering offensive strategy and QB coaching. He’s good enough that he is capable of putting together some extremely impressive gem game plans at times. He is not genius enough to consistently impose his will on opposing defenses the way we saw Bobby do in his prime, and he never has been. Not at Purdue and not here. He put up big numbers at WKU, only, and that was with a QB who was head and shoulders more talented that most everyone else in the league. Brohm has been riding on that reputation for decades now even though he has failed to replicate it at Purdue, or here. Seems the false narative is finally running out of steam.
Pony man and Seedy said it all to well, with a side of awful defensive calls.
For any interested in reality, here is Sports Reference’s ranking of Brohm’s offenses coaching in power conferences.
Purdue
2017 – 92
2018 – 53
2019 – 89
2020 – 73 (covid)
2021 – 62
2022 – 75
Louisville
2023 – 44
2024 – 7
2025 – 36 (so far)
Are these offensive genius stats? One season in the top 10. Two seasons in the top 40. FOUR seasons in the top 60. Need I go on?
WKU was a long time ago, and a totally different enchilada. How has this bullshit narrative about his offensive prowess persisted for so long? It’s inexplicable. He didn’t have a truly exceptional season in a power conference until just LAST SEASON! ⁰
All this aside, he does win an acceptable number of games for a program at Louisville’s level and the conference we are in. Let’s just cool the jets on the unreasonable expectations we have for him and an upper mid level program, and enjoy the fact that the days of getting blown out by EKU are decades in the rear view mirror. I do expect us to continue to have a realistically acceptable level of success, and do believe there will be break through seasons here and there just like there has for sometime now. Reasonable perspective is our friend.
FYI, I’m in total agreement.
Some perspective on WKU
Brohm earned his inflated reputation at WKU, but it’s important to put that in perspective. He was Petrino’s OC at WKU. He did what he did running an offense that Petrino installed while still in his prime, with Brandon Doughty, a future but brief NFL quarterback. And in CUSA where he had a decided major advantage in talent at the most important position on the field. His schematic advantages are probably more attributable to running Petrino’s offense, with his own contributions, that was already in place and he knew well. His third and best season there he had Mike White at quarterback, who transferred in from South Florida and was still in the NFL until being released by Cincinnati earlier this season. That’s two NFL QB’s and running largely Petrino’s offense in CUSA. That gave him a huge advantage not entirely of his own making.
The numbers are impressive, however.
WKU
2014 – 6
2015 – 3
2016 – 1
It was a long time ago, and an entirely different situation.
Cards dropped to #19 in AP Poll and #21 in Coaches Poll. Vegas Insider says we are -3.5 in Saturday’s games vs Clem’s Son.