There is a clock on the outside of Lambeau Field.
For the uninitiated, that is the Packers football stadium in Green Bay, CheeseHeadLand U.S.A.
It intentionally runs 15 minutes ahead of what the time really is in the frozen tundra, according to the Greenwich Mean standard.
The reason is simple.
Vince Lombardi, yes that guy for whom the high school is named in “Rock & Roll High School,” remains an icon to those cheezers in the area, though it’s been decades and decades since he won the first two Super Bowls.
One of his famous edicts, words to live by still for the acolytes, “If you’re five minutes early, you’re ten minutes late.”
Lombardi Time.
Which being ahead of schedule is the subject I arrive at in the wake of U of L’s 75-60 victory in South Bend Sunday night.
There are any number of long held standards of excellence in sports. 50% from the field. .300 BA. A Hat Trick. 100 yards rushing.
20 Win Season.
The ever stupefying Louisville Cardinals on February 16, 2025 stand tall at 20-6. With more Ws already in the ACC — 13 — than the last two years total combined, in or out of the league.
Which unfathomable statistical hallmarks have been reached, oh, give or take the margin of error, a full year ahead of when they might have reasonably been expected.
I’ll take your fifteen minutes, Vince, and compound it by . . . a whole lot, like a full trip around the sun.
Were Vince Lombardi coaching the Cardinals, he’d be late. Very very very late.
But, he’s not.
Pat Kelsey is.
And the man’s plan is way ahead of schedule.
That’s Kelsey Time. Where the clock is always springing forward.
So, yeah, in a town when TDJ hangs up his cleats, he dons a singlet and continues to invoke weirdness upon all who come and visit. Like the Mad Hatter discovering his tea party is in the Garden of Earthly Delights. Stuff happens and those not wearing Irish green find themselves shorn of luck.
Kyle Kuric getting teed up in ’11. A Russdiculous 5 OT setback in ’13.
I mean Digger beat the unbeatable there.
Not Sunday.
* * * * *
Thanks to a trio of threes from the coach’s son, the Irish got out early on the Cards.
Fools gold.
Because, as is their wont, sooner or later, Louisville will steady.
On Sunday, Boom! ensued.
From 12-18 down, the Cardinals went on a five minute plus scoring spree. A baker’s dozen straight. 25-18.
From which point on, they adhered to Mr. Bunny’s admonition: “Do No Relinquish the Lead.”
One of the key aspects of this team’s character is their ability to answer. They’ll be ahead. A foe will creep back. U of L will seem to wobble. Fans will be reaching for Tums. But . . .
So, after that surge, the Cards cooled.
A 4:08 drought ended with a James Scott FT.
That parched period continued from the field for five and change. Which ended with a Scott slam. 29-24.
Meaning U of L’s most always present defense held while the offense went fallow.
The battle stayed close until the end of the 1st. Louisville piddled about with the last possession before the break.
After a PK timeout with :07 on the clock, a deflection, Cardinal ball in the offensive end corner — Read: Worst Place —for an inbound pass at :02, the rock jetted to You Know Who along the sideline.
Reyne. Three. Horn.
35-28 at the half.
* * * * *
U of L had to answer early on due to a slow start after the break. The Irish cut their disadvantage to one possession.
And then. And then. And then . . . new papa Terrence Edwards triple. J’Vonne Hadley deuce. Scott +1. 47-38.
ND measured again.
Mature mettle prevailed.
The Cards had a seven point advantage at 51-44. They then proceeded to introduce the Irish to a nine pound hammer. A 9-0, 13-2 onslaught over 2:47 pushed the lead to insurmountability. 64-46. At which point, late on a Sunday night, the good guys had netted their last seven shots.
To seal another victory with seven still to play, winning eventually by double what they should have won by, i.e. 15.
* * * * *
It is of course pro forma to recite individual stats.
But the more I watch these Cardinals, the more insignificant who does what on what night seems.
Five guys scored in double figures.
Hannibal Lector also had 10 boards to go along with his ten points.
Chucky Hepburn had six assists to go along with his 16.
And I can never get enough of J’Vonne Hadley.
He is the soul of this outfit. He is the true progeny of Mike Lawhon, Herb Crook, Ellis Myles and Dwayne Sutton. Always steady. Always doing what needs to be done.
Ten and 7.
* * * * *
So, at 10:00 o’clock or so on a snowy night in a town where an Irish opponent’s momentum way more often than not disappears into a Black Hole that hovers near the Golden Dome, the University of Louisville Cardinals captured their 20th win of the season.
75-60.
Huzzah!
— c d kaplan
Perhaps even more so than last night at the Yum! for a battle against the U of L Cardinals, Cal Berkeley wasn’t getting a lot of ink when arriving for its one previous game in town.
