Louisville’s tune is quickly becoming one step forward, two steps back.
After an invigorating victory in Lexington two weeks ago, the Cardinals weren’t able to muster the effort to take down an upstart Marshall team. The Cards gave up a 13-7 lead at halftime in an abysmal second half. UofL looked uninterested as they gave up 353 total yards to the Herd.
Freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater showed more glimpses of greatness in his first half as a starter. Bridgewater made a 9 yard TD run in the second quarter that looked Vick-like. He also connected with Victor Anderson in the second with a 41 yard pass.
Despite a stellar second quarter, Louisville was dominated in all areas of the game. The Cardinal defense couldn’t get any pressure on Marshall quarterback Rakeem Cato. Punter Chris Philpott had an extra point blocked, a missed field goal, and several ugly punts.
Perhaps the only good that has come from the aftermath was Coach Charlie Strong’s heavy words in his press conference. Strong came into the conference very visibly upset and appeared almost to tears. Strong blamed both the coaching staff and players for the sub par performance. “You don’t practice well, you won’t play well,” remarked Strong about the lack of effort during the team’s bye week.
There are many lingering questions following the Cards’ second loss of the year. Chief among them is if anything can be salvaged of the season? To quote Strong, “this team isn’t where it should be.” Louisville will have to make some serious improvements to even have a chance at a bowl game.
The sad reality of this game is that Louisville was upended by a vastly inferior team. The team that dazzled the Cardinal Faithful and the one seen in front of 53,267 people Saturday were two entirely different teams. Charlie Strong has a lot of work to do before this team can start garnering some serious recognition.
Lastly here is the Charlie Strong press conference. It’s a must see for any Louisville fan.
