Game Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Papa John's Cardinal Stadium: Louisville, KY
Television: ESPN2
Favorite: Louisville by 39.5
All-Time Series: Louisville leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Louisville won 44-17 in Nashville last season
Anxiety Level (1-10): 2.3. This is the first game AAS ("After Appalachain State"...raise your hand if you got it without having to look inside the parentheses), a new era in which all anxiety levels are automatically bumped up one point.
Pregame Meal: TBD
Game Attire: Black Carmody jersey on top of white "Cardinals Rule" t-shirt. I'm still not sure if he's ready for the big time yet, but another chance to get his feet wet can't hurt.
True story, last week when I went to get my haircut before going to the stadium, the woman cutting my hair took a moment to read the back of my "Cardinals Rule!" shirt (no, I didn't have the balls to wear the jersey inside Super Cuts) and said it was one of the "coolest" and "funniest" shirts she'd ever seen. Now each Christmas one of my friends and I have a tradition of giving each other the corniest (a substitute for a far less mature word) U of L-related shirt or other form of merchandise that we can find, and this little guy dominated my gift on Christmas Day 2005.
I don't know how many of you all have actually seen this shirt, but for those who haven't, here is what is written on the back ("Cardinals Rule!" - obviously - is what's written on the front):
"Why Does Cardinal Football Rule?
--We Just Win
(You Don't Stand A Chance)
--We Give Our All
(You Just Give Up)
--We Bump-And-Run
(You Just Turn And Run)
--We Kick Field Goals
(Yours Are Wide Right)
--We Score Touch Downs
(You Keep Fumbling)
--We Are Always Ranked
(You Just Dream About it)
Any More Dumb Questions?"
I think you can see where this woman was coming from.
Predicted Star of the Game: Brandon Cox. You get the feeling after reading all the stuff in the papers the last couple of days that someone is going to get two sacks, and I'm just going to gamble and say that B-Cox is that guy.
Poll Results:
"Who deserves the MVP award for the Murray State game?"
- No Injuries - 60 votes (37%)
- Brian Brohm - 57 votes (36%)
- Harry Douglas - 26 votes (16%)
- Gary Barnidge - 10 votes (6%)
- Sergio Spencer - 4 votes (2%)
- Trent Guy - 1 vote (0%)
Game Will be a Horrible, Horrible Failure If: We lose a starter for the UK game. The first half is eerily reminiscent of the first half a year ago. Defense doesn't record a sack or a turnover and makes many of the same mistakes it did against Murray. Brohm's stats look human.
Notable and Quotable:
--Louisville has won 19 straight games at home, and Brian Brohm hasn't lost a game at PJCS since his sophomore year of high school, including a perfect 13-0 mark as a Card.
--Harry Douglas is seeking his fifth straight 100-yard receiving game, while Brohm will be looking for his fifth straight game with 300 passing yards or more.
--"I think our players may be a little more confident having played them last year. We hung in there pretty well until the third quarter. If we could have played a little better then maybe we could have made it a game into the fourth quarter."--MTSU head coach Rick Stockstill
--"I think he (Brian Brohm) is as good as there is. He is a legitimate Heisman candidate. He is tall, he can make all the throws and they are throwing the ball all over the place."--Stockstill
--"There will be no more games like that. We're going to get to the quarterback."--U of L defensive end Brandon Cox
-- "You've gotta play every week with a bulls'-eye on your chest at a place with a Top 10 ranking. We know we're going to get everybody's best effort every time we play. The thing we've got to do is make sure we're in total command, with total focus on the task at hand."--Steve Kragthorpe
CC Precition: Louisville 56, Middle Tennessee State 9
I want these shades on tonight, I need these shades on tonight