I've mentioned the numb feeling I have regarding the Louisville football program multiple times over the course of this season. It's the reason behind the lack of stimulating (or at least wordy) postgame and pregame blather on this site.
I still care and I still want the Cards to win every time they take the field, it's just that now, with rare exception, I expect them to lose and am not surprised in the least when they lose by a lot.
That's really all I can say. This sucks.
I caught a little bit of the press conference yesterday and Steve Kragthorpe is the happiest head coach who hasn't won a conference game in over a year ever. I suppose it's just that he's come to terms with the fact that he's done here and that the Derby City is never going to view him in a particularly positive light.
Or maybe he's thinking about the fact that he's being paid more than a million dollars to do a job he's been consistently terrible at for 36 months. I'd probably smile and tell jokes in situations where it seems ridiculous too.
I'm being 100% serious when I say this: my biggest focus for the rest of the season is keeping people healthy for next year.
The whole "Vic isn't healthy enough to start but he's healthy enough to play sparingly" thing is maddening. It won't happen, but the best thing for the program is probably for No. 20 to be shelved for the rest of the season. Darius Ashley's talent is becoming evident, Bilal Powell is playing hard: go ahead and protect your best player so that he can be used by a coach with at least some degree of competence.
I know how much he loves Louisville and how much Louisville loves him, but I wish I could go back in time six years and tell Scott Long to go play college ball somewhere else. No one deserves what's happened here less than he does.
Can you name one player who looks like he's gotten better over the course of the season?
I had a former player tell me after taking in a practice this spring that this team "really wasn't all that far behind the Orange Bowl team in terms of talent," but that the difference was none of these guys were going to improve under this staff. I'm not sure how much I agree with the first part of the statement, but the second definitely appears to be spot on.
Our ninth reason to be excited about the 2009 season was having a game on Halloween. While what's taking place on the field Saturday is likely to be less than appealing, the show in the stands should be interesting.
The folks at Bag Krag are attempting to "set the Guinness World Record for Bagging Krag," and they're apparently receiving a healthy amount of support.
We’re going to have complimentary paper bags and, in the spirit of Halloween, plenty of markers and accessories to decorate your bag. Don’t miss this opportunity to be a part of world history
There will be more details to come as the week progresses. In the meantime, please continue Bagging Krag and filling our inbox with photos.
The folks at Inside the Cards are also in on the act, and justify it here.
The "I was hoping Tony Pike would play" comment was unbelievably ridiculous, and Eric Crawford did a terrific job of addressing it yesterday.
If Steve Kragthorpe were retained for another season, I'd set the over/under of the subsequent Zack Stoudt transfer announcement at 30 seconds.
I don't understand Kragthorpe's animosity towards Brian Kelly. Is this really still because some of his players prayed around the Cardinal logo last year? Or because they were hired at the same time and Kelly has won about 73 more Big East games?
Has there ever been a head coach who's been so consistently awful with timeouts? It's borderline amazing. I really do think the man is just completely overwhelmed during games.
We are currently just a four-point favorite for a home game against a 2-4 Arkansas State team. Let that sink in for a second. Three years ago at this time we were an undefeated month away from playing for the national championship.
How in the hell did this happen?