Louisville beats Eastern Kentucky 23-13 for first victory of Strong era

Charlie Strong earned his first career victory the way that most victories will likely come this season -- by keeping his team focused and disciplined and headed on the right overall course, despite whatever individual breakdown, mental error, and failure in execution came their way. It was an uneven win; most this year are going to be like that. Rebuilding is going to be like that.

These Cards will not play a perfect game this season, and this one was no exception. Inconsistent offense. More dropped passes. Froman went hot, then Froman went cold. The defense seemed to wilt late. Too many penalties. There's going to be plenty to dissect this week in terms of player performance, coaching performance, even fan performance (what the hell with all the empty seats?).

However, now is a time to take pause and acknowledge that Charlie Strong has gained his first career win (and that Doug Beaumont finally scored that first touchdown!). It may not seem it now -- an uneven win against a less talented team (I think) -- but today is the start of something special. It's an odd thing to get a gatorade bath for beating Eastern Kentucky, but it can be said that Strong earned every last drop. Victory number one. More to follow. Congrats Coach Strong!

Go Cards!!

If you're reading this you can get our predictions here and here. Game available online here. Now turn off the computer and cheer or Bilal Powell will humiliate you and make you cry -- without saying a word.

...and predictions

I told Mr. Red a few weeks ago that if Louisville beat Kentucky in its opener, it wouldn't surprise me if they dropped their next game against Eastern Kentucky -- something along the lines of the emotional tailspin would have been too great, etc. That's immaterial now, but something about this game still scares me.

Doubtless Louisville will be hungry for Charlie Strong's first win, so at least we don't have to worry about focus. But don't forget that this game is important to Eastern Kentucky too. Seven of EKU's players hail from Louisville, including starting quarterback and Ballard alum T.J. Pryor, who threw for 315 yards last week in the Eagle's loss to Missouri State. Am I also bothered by the fact that Eastern Kentucky hasn't won a game against an FBS school since 1985, when it destroyed -- surprise, surprise -- us? At home? Yes. I hate it when history gets clever.

However, it is also my conviction that Charlie Strong is impervious to fate. And Division II schools. So...

Look for Bilal Powell again to provide the greatest amount of firepower for Louisville's offense. His overall numbers will warrant national attention after the game. Our passing attack will be plagued by fewer drops, but there will still be some and they will come at critical moments. Adam Froman better make some nice scrambles upfield -- I'm not predicting but I sure as hell am hoping. The Cards defense will play much better. EKU QB TJ (acronyms!) Pryor will burn the Louisville secondary with a few big throws early on, but the Cards defensive line eventually will rattle him enough to force some bad decisions. Assuming that the Louisville's D comes up with a few big turnovers in the second half, call this one for the Cards in a game closer than expected, 31-24. Player of the Game: Powell. Honorable mention: freshman safety Hakeem Smith.

Predictions, predictions...

I think tomorrow spells the coming out party for the Cardinal O-line. The passing attack falters again, but veteran o-line opens enough gaps to let both Bilal and Vic have big afternoons. The game is never in doubt, the Cards score first, and a special teams touchdown puts it away early.

Two more guesses. Doug Beaumont gets his elusive touchdown reception at the end of the 2nd quarter and the stadium goes nuts. Froman struggles again. Despite a solid win, an INT and a lost fumble lead to more conversations about Justin Burke after the game than one would hope.

OH-VER-RAY-TED

A new curmudgeonly feature I'm gonna take for a spin. 5 things that fit the bill...

1) Jason Whitlock, the "controversial" sports columnist. In my opinion he's the black Skip Bayless; his loudness must be equated with humor or trenchant commentary by some exec somewhere. But he's always wrong, he's always abrasive, he's rarely funny. Read him at your peril.

2) Victor Anderson. Yep, yep, I said it. This ain't no cheerleader site. You think Bilal Powell's resurgence happened in a vacuum? You think Coach Strong just plays favorites? Vic's gotta step it up.

3) The movie "The Usual Suspects". I mean, really, it's not that good. I'm a big fan of film-noir, crime fiction in general, or really anything of quality. But this movie was a poorly cast POS. The waifish-British guy as a criminal leader? Kevin Pollack as a "tough guy"? Benicio del Toro in some sort of role when no one can understand a word he says? Steven Baldwin...well, you get the idea.

I love the concept of an underworld Illumanati figure like "Keyser Soze". But the film just didn't live up to it.

4) Dick Vitale. Take a bow and step away, Dick. Just call it a career. Do us all a favor.

5) Josh Chichester. Obviously, I hope I'm proven wrong. He seems to be a decent b-baller and a decent f-baller, but he's not special at either. I don't have high hopes, either. The tight end move for him was strange, a 6'9'' blocker is near unheard of on the gridiron. He's a catcher of the football, a red-zone weapon.

But till now, it's been a lot of verbage over a player with little production.

Paper Tiger

To follow UofL is to follow UK, for better or worse, we're conjoined. So I've been watching the NYT story about Enes Kanter and the alleged salary and benefits he received while playing for his Turkish team.

But for me the most interesting, though least surprising, is the reaction from the UK fanbase. It's uproar, it's pandamonium, it's shoot the messenger (a fine sports reporter in Pete Thamel) and it's "FREE ENES!" tee-shirts. They don't know, nor want to know if the accusations are true. They just don't care.

Whatever means justify their success on paper. For me, that's the biggest craw-sticker when it comes to the Cal-led Cats, it's that so many don't really know, or care about good basketball. They care only for arbitrary rankings from the two demi-gods, Scout and Rivals.  If their team signs a #7, then whoever signs an #8 can SUCK IT, seven is better than an eight, right?

Case in point, ask how many Cats fans knew who Kyle Wiltjer was two-weeks ago. Probably around 1.5%. But once they see the arbitrarily assigned number next to his name, without seeing a lick of his skills? "Yeaaaaaaah...Chane Behanan SUCKS! You can have him!" (BTW, I watched what I could about young Kyle, he seems tall, sure, but slow to me. Yao Ming-ish, skilled, but frail).

Not quite sure what my original point was. But it just seems fitting that for the "New UK Reign" that sucks so much of the oyxgen from the room, it's funny that a few faxes, a few pieces of paper, may likely torpedo their hopes next season.

How 'bout a magic trick?

This faux Q n A is in support of the BSU Broncos and their quest to pull out a rabbit and blow up the BCS status quo...

Q. We have to keep it, the regular season is the playoff system...

A. It's not. Once a team can go undefeated without a crack at the Title, which has happened thrice now, it's not a playoff system, it's a figure skating competition.

Q. Buuuuut...they're in a joke of a conference, I mean, c'mon look at that schedule?!?

A. Then play us. It's Catch 22; The "blue bloods" won't schedule us because they have nothing to gain, and yet we garner no respect when we do beat one, like we did on Monday (props to VTU for having the Onions to schedule aggressively).

You think we, Boise State, are an embarassment to the "blue bloods"? How many times has Ohio State been destroyed in a major bowl on primetime? And I mean embarrased. Has anyone ever questioned their credentials?

Q. C'mon, I mean really, look at that conference???

A. What are we supposed to do? Schedule a scrimmage against the '85 Bears to prove our worth? We win every game against every "big school" that has the guts to play us. The system sucks, no argument here.

But it's nut up or shut up; schedule us or shut up.

If we take care of business against #24 Oregon St., and then run the table after that, if we're undefeated yet still left out of the Championship Game...again. Well, paging Tyler Durden. This whole thing's gotta go down.

Recappin'

Random hits and misses from last Saturday's matchup...

Thumbs UP: Charlie Strong. He looked in control from start to finish, from his presence during warmups, to rallying the defense on the sidelines during timeouts, adjusting at halftime, and striking the right tone in his post game press conference. An enormous difference from, well, you know.

Thumbs DOWN: Cardinal playcalling. Not so much an indictment of all the calls throughout the game, as some have criticized. I do think the Cards needed to take a few more chances, but I'm cognizant of the fact that it was the first game of the season for a unit that's gone through 3 offensive systems in 3 years. It was never going to be the Greatest Show on Field-Turf.

Also, as Eric Crawford and others have noted, the Cardinal receivers just couldn't get open consistently. And when they did, it looked like they had eaten some greasy french fries pregame cause they couldn't hold onto the ball. Michaelee Harris and Josh Bellamy were sorely missed.

I'm talking in particular about one of our playcalls, when the QB takes the snap and then hands off to the running back as he crosses in front of him. The back can't generate any power or momentum, the D can easily see the flow of the play, and we were taken down quickly once he made his cut, ya know, vertically, the direction we're supposed to be going. Burn that play.

Thumbs UP: The renovated Papa. It was everything it was billed to be. Clean, accessible, state of the art. My vantage point from the UPS FLIGHT DECK was terrific, perfect sightlines for the action. It's also a different experience watching the game from that altitude, you really get a coordinator's eye-view of the X's and O's. It's a stadium we should all be proud to call Our House. But leads me to...

Thumbs DOWN: Almosts. Like every football game, the coulda woulda shouldas are easy to point out. But this year, from the UPS FLIGHT DECK, it was near heartwrenching to watch how many almost plays were there to be made. A split second break earlier from a corner that would have been a pick-6, the one man that if Powell could have shook would have opened up to daylight. The opportunites were there, just too many times the Cards didn't make the play. Either way, it's to be expected from a young team, and it's still a vast improvement from seasons past, when there wouldn't even be a jersey in the vicinity to make a play.

Thumbs UP: Bilal Powell. He lived up to the considerable hype placed upon him by Coach Strong and displayed his slimmed-down explosiveness on his 80-yard burst. As Mr. Black previously alluded, last year he gets caught from behind.

Thumbs DOWN: The UK asshole that vandalized 40 cars in a UofL parking lot in the cover of darkness after the game. If one had been my car, I'm not sure how I would have reacted. It's possible I would have sworn a blood vendetta and made it my life mission to track the guy down to kick him squarely in the nuts. I'm not kidding. I'd neglect work. I'd be disbarred. My family would fall apart. I'd end up with a straggly beard pouring over grainy evidence in a ratty apartment somewhere, all for the possiblibity of a free kick at this guy's balls. And it would be worth it.

Thumbs UP: UK's first half playcalling. The first two drives, or strikes rather, were perfectly orchestrated. Joker correctly guessed that UofL's adrenaline and inexperience would lead them to overplay the ball. He playactioned, the Cats punched immediately, scored in two plays, and in my opinion, effectively ended the game. Not for what it did to the Cards per say, but for what it did for the Cats. It removed any doubts or jitters they may have had, and allowed them to settle in and play relaxed and composed with a 7-point cushion.

Thumbs DOWN: Calipari stalking, wait, stalking sounds too cool, let's say prancing. Cal prancing the sidelines obviously trying to get the attention of the UofL basketball recruits in attendance. I'm not up in arms, it's a minor thing, but it's further proof of his ginormous ego and lack of class.

Thumbs UP: UofL special teams. Good returns and made field goals??? Pinch me. I know I shouldn't be ecstatic about drives stalling out without a TD, but a competent field goal unit was encouraging to say the least.

Thumbs DOWN: Counting down the days till we can shed the intolerable burden of four in a row.

Thumbs UP: Hope. The Future. The University of Louisville.

Chane

I've been on a Chane Behanan bender this afternoon. He's an excellent talent, most surprising for me are his polished ball handling skills and soft touch around the rim. While an excellent athlete, Chane does not appear to be 6'8'', as being reported by some. Looks more like 6'6'' to me. More importantly, though, he's got the body of a power forward and will only grow more into the role when he enters Pitino's famous conditioning program. He also comes off as a genuine, humble, nice kid in the interviews posted on the CJ website. Welcome aboard, Chane.

Behanan to the Cards

5-star power forward Chane Behanan has picked the Cards. Help is on the way. Stay tuned for more.

Go Cards.

Lamenting the passing game

Playing to Adam Froman's strengths is only half the battle. Fact is, if half of the six dropped passes are hauled in, you can tack on another hundred yards and a touchdown to the quarterback's stat sheet.

As pointed out in Eric Crawford's column on Sunday: only six combined receptions from our wideout. That sucks. Deion Branch used to pull in six receptions on opening drive.

It's never good when your jersey number gets ingrained to memory for all the wrong reasons, but that's what happened in the section where I was sitting with regard to #21 Troy Pascley and the number of passes he dropped. You can only watch so many dropped balls before it starts to sink in.

During the game, everyone kept asking, where's Doug Beaumont? three receptions for forty yards isn't near enough, especially when the plays he did make were the few clutch passing plays pulled off. Even Strong acknowledged in his press conference on Monday that Beaumont was streaking across the end zone wide open during that failed final drive. If Froman makes that pass, it's a whole different ballgame.

Verdict on Josh Chichester's move from wide receiver to tight end after one game: disappearing act -- and that's tough to do for someone who's 6 foot 9.

It's already been commented on elsewhere that Josh Bellamy's injury screwed up a lot of our game plan, not to mention my prediction for the game. Here's hoping that we will receive positive news about his health and that he can play this week against Eastern Kentucky.

Yes, during their 2010 debut the Cards' receiving corp set the bar, shall we say, a little low. Let's hope that this it all the more rewarding to watch them improve steadily, starting this weekend.

"It's only a game Focker!"

Thinking about how best to judge Adam Froman's performance on Saturday, I am inspired to turn to Jack Byrne's advice to Gaylord "Greg" Focker in the volleyball scene of "Meet the Parents."

Jack Byrne: "Larry, keep flowing where you are, you're doing great. Denny, take the deep shots. Greg, nobody's expecting much out of you, so if I set you up with the ball, do you think you could jump up and spike it?"

For better or worse, Froman is our Gaylord Focker: we know he's not going to zip those passes to all corners of the field the way Redman, Ragone or Brohm used to do it, but he's what we've got and we have to find a way to utilize his strengths.

Did we do that on Saturday? Froman completed less than fifty percent of his passes and threw for just 129 yards. On too many plays, he seemed to look only to his first receiving option, rather than check down to his second, third or fourth receivers. Officially, he rushed five times, for five yards.

At this point, I have to agree with the premise, if not the endpoint, of the question asked by a poster at Card Chronicle during his review of the game: if Froman earned the starting nod in part for his mobility (at the expense of Justin Burke's arm strength, or Will Stein's, um, friskiness), then why aren't we calling plays that allow him to be mobile? (Eric Crawford also made some points along these lines about playcalling on his blog... gotta hand it to him -- Crawford has been on fire ever since the game clock hit zero).

By no stretch of the imagination am I throwing in the towel on Adam Froman; as I wrote a few weeks ago, I don't think we fare much better with Burke or Stein. And I do believe that Froman can move the football for us. My point is that we need to call plays that work to his strengths. It's not like Louisville needs to adopt the old Nebraska Cornhusker option attack to make this work. But if Froman is in there because he can scramble upfield, can't we figure out a way to allow him to scramble upfield? Bet there is, Panama Red.

You stay classy Kentucky fan(s) Part II

Now this crap just pisses me off. But when there are pretenders on the other side sponsoring something called "Louisville Hate Day," is it all that surprising?

I feel sorry for the students, some of whom might not even be ardent football fans.

Hat tip: Card Chronicle. Good job guys.

Bilal!

I've been a little surprised at a few in Cards Universe who have reacted lukewarmly to Bilal Powell's performance against Kentucky -- 16 rushes for 153 yards and a touchdown. (Eric Crawford reported in his column this morning that it was the tenth best rushing day in college football's opening weekend) Some have hinted that if you take away his 80 yard touchdown dash, the overall achievement isn't so laudatory. But that line of thinking doesn't hold water:

1) if you really want to go about subtracting it, you've still got 15 rushes for 73 yards, or 4.8 yards per carry. I'll take five yards a carry any day of the week and twice on whatever day ESPN tells us we get to play.

2) you can't take the long run away from his performance; the fact that he could take off like that is precisely the point. A year ago, Powell gets caught from behind. Fifteen, twenty yard gain tops. End of story. This year, the leaner, faster, more confident Powell is the story, i.e. the supposed "new face of the program."

When the long run is included, Bilal averaged 9.5 yards a carry. He did have that fumble in the fourth quarter; for him to fully take on the leadership mantle, Powell has to resolve that career-long weakness. But on a day that Louisville's offense was otherwise anemic, its play-calling less than inspired, Powell provided all our lift, powering upfield with forceful runs through the middle and harnessing new speed to the outside. "Face" has arrived and should be recognized as such.

The beginning

In the end, the margin of victory was decided on the third play of the game.

Congrats to a fine performance by Kentucky. It can be no easy feat to come into our house and play as well as they did. We would like to make it even more difficult to achieve, but nevertheless... they simply outperformed and out-executed us. No sour grapes here.

That said...

If anyone doubted the damage wrought by three years of Kragthorpian ineptitude, Saturday should help correct the record. The rebuilding job is for real. Watching from where I was in the end zone, you could see it in the lateral movement of both teams -- UK's guys were faster than ours. A lot faster. Charlie Strong will come into his own as a head coach this year. For whatever reason, I think we will remember these Cards for years to come. But Tom Jurich said it right: we're going to have to recruit our way back into this rivalry. We simply do not have the thoroughbreds.

Yet there were real signs of progress from the year before, evidence that this program is headed in the right direction. Our execution and performance improved steadily as the game went on. Players ran, rather than walked, on and off the field. Personal fouls and embarrassing taunts were, to my recollection, nonexistent. Our head coach did not tuck his clipboard into his pants.

There are some certain benchmarks that I will follow this year; they are, for me, very important signs of whether things have changed from last year. These include:

Penalties -- 4 flags for 30 yards. Compare to Kentucky's 11 for 90 yards. Mission accomplished.

Turnover advantage -- 2 for us and none for them. Hardly perfect -- Bilal Powell has to learn how to hold onto that ball. But there were several games last year where that number was a lot higher. I'll take it but pray that we'll soon find ourself on the top of that stat line.

Getting the offensive play-calls in fast enough -- solid. Can't say that I liked all the plays called in, but coach-to-player play-calling was done timely enough that it did not interrupt the flow of game. Minimal confusion, no emergency timeouts. Major improvement.

Players' shirttails tucked in -- every one of them.

After the game, all our players advanced to the southeast corner to sing the U of L fight song, one of the new rituals introduced by Strong. As they approached, the fans that remained cheered and applauded wildly, in spite of defeat to the arch-nemesis entered into the record books only seconds ago. Every one of our guys held their heads up high. Disappointed; not embarrassed. Determined. There's hope.

A step out of the gutter

We lost. Other than that, it was fun. On a perfect September day the Cards lost their 4th in a row to a despised rival. As intolerable as that is, the sentiment most pervasive before, during, and after the game at sparkling Papa Johns was one of renewed pride and optimism.

Because amid the missteps, and they were considerable, the indicators were there, from crisper tackling (in the second half), fewer penalties, and better technique. The Cards fell to a better opponent, but they went down swinging, and proved that this is indeed a new team and a new era.

We lost, it stings and stings bad. But unlike the previous 3 losses, this morning I'm not wondering when oh when we can take back the Governors Cup. This time, I'm confident we're on the right trajectory. The only variable is time.

We'll break down the details of the match tomorrow, but for now, get outside and take your mind off football. Have a great Sunday.