U of L is Now a . . . School?

As I hear tell, the University of Louisville is now a Football School.

Given how wobbly the other major men’s sport has have been lately, it could be, it might be true.

Unless, of course, it’s a Volleyball school.

Or, with good reason, arguably a Swimming school.

But, for our purposes here, I’ll buy in. Despite my deep seated belief that hoops, once the ship is righted, will be top o’ the pyramid regardless.

We all expected an uptick when legacy Jeff Brohm returned to where he once belonged. The fanbase has been apoplectic.

So too, local scribes with a propensity toward pigskin.

Like Card Chronicle’s ConorShea, who has applied his seriously complex, perhaps telling and most difficult to understand CUCFWTT. (Conor’s Ultimate Cardinal Football Win Trend Tracker.) According to which unwieldy analytical logistics the Cards are trending upward winwise. Like, if they were a stock, they would be dubbed a buy.

Truth be told, it’s not just locals who are high on the Cards.

My two favorite national football “experts” Stew Mandel and Andy Staples, both at theathletic.com, keep throwing Louisville in when writing about various schools’ progress in the ACC and nationally that are rising to the upper echelon.

From their mouths to God’s ear.

Not much regret in these environs about the abdication of Coach Satt to that school up the road.

Oscar Brohm is now beyond peradventure Louisville Cardinal football fan #1.

* * * * *

Brohm and staff essentially held together a fairly nifty recruiting class, for which Satterfield does deserve some credit for assembling.

Then there’s the portal thing.

Where the Cards have harvested significant transfers from, oh, Penn State, Baylor, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Oregon, Miami, Wisconsin and Georgia, where even the 5th string guys are good.

While the transfer thing is most fluid, and guys everywhere have wanderlust, this is a makeover to be cherished. It’s not quite as extreme as Coach Prime’s at Colorado, but it is considerable and heartening.

* * * * *

Something happened along the way to this year’s Louisville Cardinal Nine.

Dan McDonnell’s troops started out 16-1, vaulting up the polls.

Then fell off the ledge. They are 13 up and 14 down since. And are no longer Top 25.

Falling recently twice to Duke on consecutive walk offs, then going ofer the series by giving up 3 in the bottom of the 8th became a point of consternation.

A pal, who is the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to baseball, wrote me out of the blue to decry Coach’s pitching choices and maneuvers in those games. It is not the first time I’ve heard these plaints. Such inexplicable strategy may be McDonnell’s Achilles heel.

Tis time to right the ship.

Beat Clemson.

— c d kaplan