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When I was around eight or nine years old, I recall a trip to the Kentucky State Fair where my eyeballs and my stomach were in a battle to see who could outduel the other with regards to intake. Corndogs, elephant ears, sugar water they labeled as lemonade, and of course a little seafood platter from the Mike Linnig’s tent. It was all consumed and tucked away nicely, but the Himalaya certainly did it’s best to undo what had been done. This extremely fast fair ride had my insides jump up inside my throat at one moment and then back down to the depth of my stomach the next. We went forwards, backwards, and while unconfirmed, I believe at one point in time we were upside down. As I walked down the ramp after this incident, with music blaring and the strobe lights flashing in my face, I thought…“I’m not sure what that was, but I’m never doing it again”. Fast forward about thirty plus years and my experience on Saturday was eerily similar watching Louisville take on Pitt. I held onto my lunch, but the range of emotions and my overall wellbeing mimicked that of riding a poorly constructed fair ride on a hot afternoon in August. The guys took some early hits, and I think most of the fanbase was pulling up men’s basketball highlight clips from the previous week before the first quarter was over. But, taking advantage of Pitts faults, and getting the passing game going, the Cards climbed right back into it and pulled off one of the better comebacks I’ve seen from this program in quite some time. Let your stomach recover and soak up a 4-0 start.
OFFENSE It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, and it was everything in between. While excited to see Isaac and Duke back in the mix one had to assume their uncertainty late in the week meant they were not close to 100%, and the result at the end of the game confirmed it. A half step slower on the cuts, and breakaway speed not being what it has been meant the ground game never got going, and while I’ve avoided it thus far, it’s no longer fair to give the benefit of the doubt to the offensive line which is frankly not doing their job as it pertains to the rushing attack. Too many times guys are staring at Isaac or Duke or Keyjuan before they even get the handoff, and that must be corrected or changes should happen. But back to the happy stuff. It seems like taking Miller Moss on the road allowed him to see his shadow, and here’s hoping for eight more weeks of stellar QB play. While I’m not one who has been dragging Moss through the first quarter of the season, he will tell you his play has not been up to par, but Saturday he finally found a rhythm and ended up dropping over 330yds, with 3 TDs through the air and one on the ground. He looked the part, and his confidence and leadership where on full display when the Cards fell behind by 17 and then 10 later in the game. If this is the Moss we see moving forward I like our chances against anyone, but we must get the RBs going.
DEFENSE It was the best of times, it was…wait I’ve already used that one. While one can’t pin the entire 17 point deficit on the defense, the start to this one was ugly. Pitt was slicing through the Cards defense with relative ease the first two drives and I was Googling “how to take back a pat on the back”, the one that I handed out to Ron English last week. Then, something changed. The guys settled in and what we saw in the second half was a team dialed in and focused on not letting Pitt get anything going offensively. Pitt was held to 100 total yards in the second half, and three total first downs. Three drives ended with interceptions, two drives ended with turnover on downs, and one drive ended with a punt, oh and a total of zero points scored. Pure domination. A healthy Holstein was pulled from the game late, their leading rusher had 36 yards, and with the exception of former Cardinal “Blue” Hicks the wideouts were held in check most all afternoon. Ron English back pat, fully reinstated. What seemed to flip the game was the front getting pressure (2 sacks/5 TFL), and the linebackers making plays across the middle (16 TKL/3 INT). Yes, the deep ball to Hicks bit us, but overall Holstein was lured into making throws that bit him as well, and the passing defense held strong as a Top 15 unit nationally. This was the first real test, and even after a tough start, they finished the job well.
SPECIAL TEAMS I told you last week the habit of seeing Lacy return punts was likely coming to and end. Pitt punted three times, and only once did Lacy even have a chance to make a play. But the tradeoff resulted in decent field position for the offense, and a short field, plus a big leg, equals more scoring opportunities. Miller mentioned it postgame but getting to the ball to around the 40 yard line and thinking we’re already in scoring position is a huge advantage. Matching his 57 yarder from last week Keller boomed another FG through at Pitt and then barely missed adding a third from 55+ later in the game. Coop of course drilled his lone attempt, and the boys are 9 of 10 on the season. A question mark prior to the year this kicking unit has delivered, helping the team win games already.
