09-25-2005, 04:42 PM
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Sunday, September 25, 2005
Jerry Brewer
Cardinals lost more than game; they lost respect
TAMPA, Fla. — Um, about that clear view of a BCS bowl …
It's been obstructed.
Uh, about all that love from the pigskin nation …
It's been taken away.
Er, about University of Louisville football fans acquiring justified haughtiness …
It's been put on recall.
South Florida beat the ninth-ranked Cardinals so thoroughly last night that the crowd started the "Over-rated!" chant in the third quarter. It was 38-7 then. People showed amazing restraint to wait that long.
The embarrassingly erratic Cards, supposedly and soon-to-be formerly a top-10 team, wound up losing 45-14. The nation's best teams don't let mediocre clubs pound them. Not in this manner. Not with so much at stake.
Welcome to the Big East Conference, Cards. You just let a Conference USA tag-along knock the shine off your season outlook.
From the beginning, South Florida looked faster, more athletic and more inspired than its highly rated counterpart. South Florida dominated in every aspect of the game.
And now for the outbreak: The Cardinals just got a rash that won't disappear easily. Yes, they could recover, win out and earn a Bowl Championship Series berth. But all their hype is gone. And the struggling Big East's greatest hope has been exposed as something less than special.
Weaknesses exposed
South Florida exploited every Cardinals weakness. You can write that question mark next to Louisville's secondary in ink now. You just discovered how suspect the entire defense can be when the guys up front don't play incredibly. You should be concerned that this offense isn't finishing drives, that the special teams are sketchy and that, once again, Louisville has not handled the favorite's role well.
It was bad, ugly. Bulls wide receiver Amarri Jackson entered the game with 61 all-purpose yards this season. He scored two touchdowns and passed for another in this game's first 34 minutes.
For the first time since 2003, the Cards played flat and suffered a blowout. They provided South Florida with its most impressive victory ever. They lost more than a game. They lost their mojo. They lost the faith they had built, too.
Sports Illustrated spent last week working on a feature story on U of L. Writer Tim Layden attended last night's game. As he left Raymond James Stadium, he declared SI already had canned the piece.
Broken team, broken dreams
Louisville is back in Rodney Dangerfield's old neighborhood. All those positive vibes earned through consistent and explosive play will be replaced with disrespect and doubt. Top-10 teams don't play like this. Most top-25 teams don't play like this. The pollsters wouldn't evict the Cards, would they?
They should. ESPNU had it right wanting to restrict access to this game. It was trying to save your television sets from being smashed.
Broken TV. Broken team. The repairs will be costly.
"This is the type of game that challenges a team's leadership," Petrino said. "We can either come together or fall apart."
Said senior wide receiver Joshua Tinch: "We're not going to let one game tear us apart."
The season is three games old, and the Cards are in recovery mode. South Florida just ended their dream of an undefeated season. It's a sad and unexpected reality.
Fans did the wave during the third quarter. The entire stadium was into it, except for a section containing about 4,000 or 5,000 red-clad folks. The fans went around and around, doing the wave, breaking only when the U of L fans refused to participate.
The red ones sat, arms crossed. The wavers booed.
Party's over, for sure.
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Sunday, September 25, 2005
Jerry Brewer
Cardinals lost more than game; they lost respect
TAMPA, Fla. — Um, about that clear view of a BCS bowl …
It's been obstructed.
Uh, about all that love from the pigskin nation …
It's been taken away.
Er, about University of Louisville football fans acquiring justified haughtiness …
It's been put on recall.
South Florida beat the ninth-ranked Cardinals so thoroughly last night that the crowd started the "Over-rated!" chant in the third quarter. It was 38-7 then. People showed amazing restraint to wait that long.
The embarrassingly erratic Cards, supposedly and soon-to-be formerly a top-10 team, wound up losing 45-14. The nation's best teams don't let mediocre clubs pound them. Not in this manner. Not with so much at stake.
Welcome to the Big East Conference, Cards. You just let a Conference USA tag-along knock the shine off your season outlook.
From the beginning, South Florida looked faster, more athletic and more inspired than its highly rated counterpart. South Florida dominated in every aspect of the game.
And now for the outbreak: The Cardinals just got a rash that won't disappear easily. Yes, they could recover, win out and earn a Bowl Championship Series berth. But all their hype is gone. And the struggling Big East's greatest hope has been exposed as something less than special.
Weaknesses exposed
South Florida exploited every Cardinals weakness. You can write that question mark next to Louisville's secondary in ink now. You just discovered how suspect the entire defense can be when the guys up front don't play incredibly. You should be concerned that this offense isn't finishing drives, that the special teams are sketchy and that, once again, Louisville has not handled the favorite's role well.
It was bad, ugly. Bulls wide receiver Amarri Jackson entered the game with 61 all-purpose yards this season. He scored two touchdowns and passed for another in this game's first 34 minutes.
For the first time since 2003, the Cards played flat and suffered a blowout. They provided South Florida with its most impressive victory ever. They lost more than a game. They lost their mojo. They lost the faith they had built, too.
Sports Illustrated spent last week working on a feature story on U of L. Writer Tim Layden attended last night's game. As he left Raymond James Stadium, he declared SI already had canned the piece.
Broken team, broken dreams
Louisville is back in Rodney Dangerfield's old neighborhood. All those positive vibes earned through consistent and explosive play will be replaced with disrespect and doubt. Top-10 teams don't play like this. Most top-25 teams don't play like this. The pollsters wouldn't evict the Cards, would they?
They should. ESPNU had it right wanting to restrict access to this game. It was trying to save your television sets from being smashed.
Broken TV. Broken team. The repairs will be costly.
"This is the type of game that challenges a team's leadership," Petrino said. "We can either come together or fall apart."
Said senior wide receiver Joshua Tinch: "We're not going to let one game tear us apart."
The season is three games old, and the Cards are in recovery mode. South Florida just ended their dream of an undefeated season. It's a sad and unexpected reality.
Fans did the wave during the third quarter. The entire stadium was into it, except for a section containing about 4,000 or 5,000 red-clad folks. The fans went around and around, doing the wave, breaking only when the U of L fans refused to participate.
The red ones sat, arms crossed. The wavers booed.
Party's over, for sure.