After an unthinkably bad start to the season, Louisville football fans might soon have to embrace the truth that the Cards will have a losing season for the first time in a decade.
Two and four. It’s where we are, Louisville football fans. Full stop. It’s time we embrace the facts: Louisville is going to have a losing record.
An opening season loss to Alabama makes sense. A struggle exacerbated by multiple lighting delays resulting in a late three-score win over Indiana State, justifiable? An ugly and sloppy three-point win over instate little brother, Western Kentucky: all red lights blinking.
In the last three games, the truth has fully revealed itself: a 24-point loss at Virginia, the heartbreaking giving away of a game to Florida State at home, and then a 35-point loss at home, on national television, to Georgia…Tech.
Yes, expectations were set way too high by Head Coach Bobby Petrino (as Jacob Lane pointed out a few days ago), but it is simply time to come to terms with reality. Puma Pass is nothing like what we expected. The defense, crucial to any legitimate success for the Cards (as Lane also pointed out before the year began), is not improving under Brian VanGorder, their third Defensive Coordinator in as many years. The offense cannot get out of its own way, and the defense cannot get in anyone’s way.
More from Louisville Cardinals News
- How to Get $615 in Kentucky Pre-Registration Bonuses with DraftKings + Bet365 Promos!
- Kentucky Sign-Up Promo: Win up to $415 in Bet365 Bonuses on Launch Day!
- How Louisville Fans Can Claim up to $415 in Bonuses with Bet365 Sign-Up Promo!
- FanDuel Kentucky Sign-Up Promo: Get $100 Bonus PLUS $100 off NFL Sunday Ticket GUARANTEED!
- Claim $100 Bonus Today with BetMGM Kentucky Pre-Registration Offer!
So, what now?
It may be time to buy into the future of this inexperienced team, and specifically the young talent on the roster.
It’s time to allow true freshman quarterback Jordan Travis to start the remaining two games of his eligibility under the new redshirt rule (or at least receive snaps). It’s time to get Tutu Atwell more touches—in the backfield, in the slot, on screens, legitimately wherever. Fellow freshman Hassan Hall needs to get continued touches in the backfield and on the goal line. Though Coach Petrino has said for two straight weeks we’d see this, it’s yet to come to fruition.
Simply put, Bobby won’t abandon his own confidence, or his belief in his system, but what he must do is begin to sell the season as a rebuild year, and a profitable maturation process for the young talent on the roster.
Why embrace the truth of a losing season? Because the writing is on the wall.
ESPN’s FPI Projections currently have the Cardinals losing their remaining six games, with only their home clash with Wake Forest as a game the Cards truly have a shot to win.
Cardnation, it’s time to embrace the young talent, a rebuilding season, and hope for a light at the end of the tunnel.