Tag Archives: Louisville Cardinals

Louisville CardFile: Pittsburgh

Football,

One of the first things I do on Sunday mornings in autumn is check out Chris Vannini’s compilation of college pigskin statistical anomalies from the day before’s games.

Among this first big Saturday of the season’s curiosities is that Mike Leach-coached QBs have rung up 600+ yards in a game on 11 different occasions, as Stanford transfer KJ Costello did against Bo Pelini’s D in Baton Rouge. While the rest of Chinstrap Nation has done it only 9 times.

While stats don’t always explain the whys and wherefores of a victory or setback, sometimes they do.

Which brings me to the University of Louisville’s 20-23 defeat to Pat Narduzzi’s Pitt Panthers.

I hope my abacus has been working correctly. If so, U of L’s rushing numbers are telling.

And, to be frank, woeful. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Pittsburgh →

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week IV

Fandom, Football, Gaming, ,

The Houston vs. Baylor battle, put together mere days before, was cancelled. As the Cougars’ buses to carry them to Waco were waiting to be filled with footballers.

Little did I realize that would be the highlight of my weekly predictioneering.

Georgia Tech fell back to the norm against Central Florida. Boston College’s QB transfer from Notre Dame and new head coach won the day at Duke. Tulane let a 24 nil halftime advantage slip away, enabling the Midshipmen their biggest comeback in school history.

Which left it up to my Cardinals to save the day. Of which possibility I began to get queasy, when seeing that the mediocre Flames of Liberty overcame the horrors of the peccadilloes and precipitous downfall of Familia Falwell (Jr.), and upended Western Kentucky, Louisville’s opening game conquest.

Soooooooo, it was, sigh, an ofer weekend.

0-4-1 puts me at 8-9-1 on the season. Buoyed by the spirit force of Woody “Bear” Schnellenbechler, I forge ahead. Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week IV →

Unrequited Cardinal Hoops Fantasy Exposed

Basketball, Fandom,

For a long time I’ve fantasized about how the last score of years might have been for Louisville basketball, had Tom Jurich swung and missed on Rick Pitino, and been able to sign his second choice.

Jay Wright.

Whom I will get to in a moment.

First, a for personal story for context. How such a delusion worked out for me in the past.

Thus, I start with . . .

. . . Cindy Turner.

Whom I met in the 7th grade, immediately falling into what would prove to be the eternally unrequited morass of a major crush. Continue reading Unrequited Cardinal Hoops Fantasy Exposed →

Louisville CardFile: Miami

Football,

Rhett Lashlee sounds like a character in a “Bounty Law” TV episode. The gunslinger who rides into town one day, helps Rick Dalton capture the black hats, eschews a celebratory sarsaparilla at Kate’s Saloon, woos the school marm’s sister with his charm, then rides off into the cacti and tumbleweed a hero.

In real life, he’s Miami’s estimable OC, and he veni vidi vici-ed U of L, victoriously boarding a flight with the Canes back to the State of Miami.

Truth is a more talented, more craftily coached visiting Hurricane squad exposed Louisville Saturday night. Certainly the Cards defense. And, in the first half anyway, U of L’s O.

 * * * * *

In the 2d half, Manny Diaz’s vastly improved team scored 27 points on 20 offensive plays, needing only 7:58 of clock to do so. Continue reading Louisville CardFile: Miami →

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week III

Football, Gaming,

It is about now in a normal season when we begin to get some sense of which 11s have been over/underrated, who among the upper echelon have been over/undervalued, and where a sleeper might be lurking.

But not this campaign, when two major leagues haven’t started playing . . . yet . . . when some schools are letting fans in, most not in masked mode, while others are hosting foes in empty stadia. When some some schools have been forced to suspend operations to calm the virus, while others are in full throttle. When the volume of electronic whistles is discussed more than the RPO.

When nobody has a clue which teams will be shorthanded come kickoff.

Geesh.

But, thanks to a couple of gimmes last weekend, steady if not overly impressive efforts by App State and Louisville, and a serious late comeback by the Green Wave of Tulane, I can view my pick Florida State’s lame effort with some equanimity.

Then there’s this. The Big Ten announced Wednesday morning that it will commence gridiron tussles on 10/24. I trust all my readers recall what yours truly posted on this very site five days previous.

Allow me to jog your memory: Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week III →

Cardinal Game Dispatch: WKU

Football,

I knew Doc and I were on the same wavelength, when reading his in-game email. The subject line, “Where are You?”

He was inquiring rhetorically of the current whereabouts of gadfly, Corso-era punter Scott Marcus.

I had just jotted in the margins of my game notes, “Wilbur Summers???” That T.W. Alley-era punter stands alongside Klaus Wilmsmeyer among the elite of Card kickers through the decades.

Our cause for consternation was the pratfalls of new U of L punter Logan Lupo.

On the Cardinals’ first possession of the game, he fumbled the snap, giving the visiting Hilltoppers a 1st & Goal, a yard away from paydirt. A snap and conversion later, the guys in Red & Black were down, 0-7.

The ball was wet, so there’s a reasonable excuse for that one.

But, on Louisville’s first possession of the second half, Lupo, a rugby-style kicker it would seem, drifted inexplicably and unnaturally to his left, took an extra step, thus allowing a Topper to block a second attempted punt. Continue reading Cardinal Game Dispatch: WKU →

Seedy K Q & A: Coach Satt and the Cards Future

Football,

Set up questions. Reasonably legit answers.

Seedy, long time reader, first time questioner. If Scott Satterfield stays at U of L, can the Cards turn into the next Clemson? — Amos Alonzo Kragthorpe

That surname sounds soooooo familiar, have we met?

Anyhow, the quick answer is Yes.

Caveats to follow.

Funny you should ask. I was reading an article just the other day at one of the too many sports sites I devour daily, and a reader asked the same if not as specific question of a true college pigskin expert.

I’ve long been of the opinion that U of L is properly poised to move into the upper echelon. In fact theathletic.com’s college football editor Stewart Mandel years ago placed Louisville in a category by itself, when categorizing the tiers of programs nationally.

What he said was something like, if everything fell in place, U of L could find itself among the Ohio States and Alabamas on a regular basis.

Obviously things haven’t evolved in that direction quite as much as Cardinal fans would hope. Continue reading Seedy K Q & A: Coach Satt and the Cards Future →

Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week II

Football, Gaming, ,

In the name of mercy, no more brickbats. Please!!!

I feel the pain — literally — some have intended to inflict.

Though surgery isn’t necessary, I am in the care of a physical therapist for injuries caused by the barbs of one of the more vocal members of my antagonista.

In the guise of remorse, and the necessity of transparency, I report from the get go that I, if not foremost, am among the many who were not quite ready for this already absurd college football season.

I predicted that Middle Tennessee would venture to West Point and come away with a victory.

Blue Raiders 0, Black Knights 42.

Yes, it was also my surmise that Annapolis would sail away with a win over Brigham Young.

Middies 3, Mormons 55.

Battered is a more apt description of my physical condition than black and blue. It is little consolation that some oddsmakers in Vegas feel the same.

Which is not to mention that the pigskinners of my choice, overwhelming favorite Southern Mississippi, apparently forgot to wear their Brett Favre-Autographed© Copper Fit Tackling Gloves™, allowing South Alabama’s Jaguars to slip out of Forrest/Lamar Counties with an upset.

Which setback was so alarming to the powers that be in Hattiesburg, they fired Golden Eagles head coach Jay Hopson, after that opening L, despite his winning record and four bowl appearances.

He is not alone. If only for PR purposes, and to pass the proverbial buck, I too have cleaned house here at Seedy K Enterprises. Among the dispatched, Leonard Pynth Garnell III, Director of Theasaural Didactics, and Malcom Univac, Director of Analytical Computer Optimization. Continue reading Seedy K’s Peerless Pigskin Prognostications: Week II →

Cards vs. Cats, Sort Of

Basketball, , ,

Thanks to the Southeastern Conference decision to play pigskin during the pandemic within the confines of its own confederacy, there will be no Feathers vs. Fur football matchup for the first time since The Schnell, demonstrating his patented stentorian perseverance, willed the annual rivalry.

(My apologies for way too much alliteration in the opening paragraph, even a whole article.)

Yet hope remains that Louisville and Kentucky shall meet on the hardwood somewhere over the rainbow. This season. Fingers crossed.

But there is a fascinating reasonable facsimile — at least a bone (with lots of meat still on it) tossed our way — in what has gone down in the first round Western Division matchup between the absurdly nicknamed Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets.

Former Louisville Cardinal Donovan Mitchell vs. former Kentucky Wildcat Jamal Murray. Continue reading Cards vs. Cats, Sort Of →

Last Card Fan in Stands has Hope

Fandom, Football,

Red Ruffansore was not going to suffer the situation any longer.

Though veterans all of such pre-game preliminaries, his gang in the parking area outside IU’s Memorial Stadium had been trying for almost an hour to get a fire in the grill. To no avail, and to the bemusement of other tailgaters in the immediate vicinity.

Red — his nickname used per his request — looked at his watch. Then gazed toward the stadium, with a look of time and distance calculation in his eyes.

Taking one last glance at the cold grill, then at his companions, Red checked a pocket for his ticket, and, head down eyes forward, headed toward the gridiron with dispatch.

Red Ruffansore does not miss a kickoff of a Louisville Cardinal football game. At least not for four decades. With one exception, which we will address in a moment.

Nor does he miss a play at the end of a game, the extent of which dedication shall also be set forth soon enough.

The above moment from an away game is shared merely to underscore Red Ruffansore’s mindset. He is as faithful a Cardinal football fanatic as anybody. Continue reading Last Card Fan in Stands has Hope →