Louisville Athletics: The state of the university address

We’re back for another edition of the The State of the University Address. This week, we check in on football, basketball, recruiting and everything in between.

Opening Statement

Well, this week started out with a bang for Louisville athletics with the Vince Trya comments. It stirred up a quite a few tweets last week. We all know that we carry a very small weight when it comes to recruiting, it’s our job as fans to create an very lively atmosphere that makes recruits want to play here.

Then, Saturday happened. The Cards were pegged as one of biggest underdogs in 40 years, and things didn’t get much better once the game began. At all. It got a lot worse, in fact. When you laugh at your pain, however, it helps a little bit.

Football

Football took the field once again this week against No. 2 Clemson in (fake) Death Valley. Bobby Petrino decided to switch things up this week, and deferred to the second half. It was a nice thought, but it didn’t matter. Clemson scored on their opening drive in 4 plays, and followed that up with a 1 play drive for 70 yards.

It was all downhill from there. The final score was 77-16 as the entire Clemson roster had their day against Louisville. First string, second, third string, and hell even Dabo Swinney’s son got a touchdown.

Things need to change, and those changes need to happen quick. I’m not a fan of firing coaches during the season,  but this is a unique situation. Bobby Petrino, Nick Petrino, and Brian VanGorder should not be on the sideline Friday when the team takes the field against Syracuse. It has reached a level of embarrassment that Louisville has never seen.

Not even under the Cooper or Kragthorpe days. There’s a major disconnect between staff and players somewhere. I, myself, will be quite upset if Bobby Petrino is calling plays against Syracuse. I don’t think there is any way you can let him finish the year out.

Also, former 4-star recruit Russ Yeast has decided to transfer. Add it to the list of grievances, along with Freshman quarterback Jordan Travis, and likely many others.

Football Recruiting

Well, it was a bad week on the recruiting front for the Louisville staff. 3-star OL Jamari Williams decommitted, and then committed to Arizona hours afterward. JUCO Tight End Austin Griffin also decommitted over the past week. Griffin was rated as the #1 TE in JUCO and was Louisville’s top recruit.

Western Hills RB/ATH Wandale Robinson from Frankfort, KY announced his commitment to Kentucky also. Another prospect from the state that the staff missed out on. Robinson ranks 4th in the state according to KY Preps.

That leaves two of the top ten uncommitted so far: Christian Academy Wide Receiver Milton Wright and Moore High’s J.J. Weaver. According to most experts, Wright is a Purdue lean and Weaver is a Kentucky lean. The faster Bobby is let go, the quicker the new coach can come in a save face and try to sway those two to stay home.

It was a rough week for the staff to say the least. This class wasn’t going to be deep in general but they continuously strike out on recruits. Louisville’s current class is ranked 70th on 247 Sports behind a lot of teams that we shouldn’t be behind.

Men’s Basketball

Chris Mack and the Cardinals took the court for their second outing against Simmons College in what as a 90-41 victory in the final tune up before the season.

Steven Enoch led the Cardinals with 16 points. Followed up by Malik Williams and Jordan Nwora, both with 12. Steven Enoch is making his presence known during the exhibition games, so it’s got me looking forward to get the season going to see how it translates for him.

The Cardinals open up this week in the Yum! Center against Nicholls State and Chris Mack has a request from Card Nation.

It’s so dope that our Coach has and embraces social media. Y’all show up and show out for the opener.

Women’s Basketball

Jeff Walz and his team come into the season ranked 5th in the country by the AP Poll. The Cardinals are becoming a staple as a top-tier program in the women’s game. So this should be no surprise to Card Nation or the actually nation of women’s basketball fans.

The season hasn’t even started yet but it’s hard to look to January 10th, which is the showdown with the No. 1 ranked team and defending National Champs, Notre Dame. Louisville beat the Fightin’ Irish twice last season, but watched them cut down the nets in April. Everyone should have their eyes on that one.

Asia Durr and company will have to do a lot of work before they even step into the Yum! Center this season. They open the season up with threes straight road games and then head to Las Vegas to play in the Southpoint Shootout. Finally on Nov. 26 they open up with Arizona State in the Yum!.

Another key date to look forward to is December 9th as rival Kentucky comes into the Yum! Center to do battle. The Cards took care of business in Lexington last season winning 87-63 and will look to have a repeat of that same outcome.

Basketball Recruiting

Not really a lot of news here lately but this is exciting.

Even if the class is sealed for 2019 is already filled, it will still be exciting to keep up and see what these guys are doing during their high school season. See how they move in the rankings. We will discuss all that here along with visits and other little tidbits that are out there.

Cardinal Alumni

Donovan Mitchell gave solid effort for Utah on Halloween night with 26 points and 5 assists but the Jazz lost to Gorgui Dieng and his T-Wolves squad. Dieng put up 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists in the win.

Terry Rozier helped his Celtics squad took down the last undefeated team in the NBA this past week by posting 7 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Montrezl Harrell dropped a dub dub over the weekend as his Clippers squad took on the Brooklyn Nets. Harrell finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Harrell is on the same team as Mr. Sixth Man his self, Lou Williams, but he’s making a strong case for the award his self during this early portion of the season.

Lamar Jackson’s number 1 hater, Joe Flacco completely ruined a chance for Lamar to get his first ever TD reception this past Sunday. Flacco “didn’t see” Lamar, who was wide open, and could’ve just walked into the end zone.

Jaire Alexander and the Packers went up against the Patriots but took an L. Jaire had a few nice plays and held his own even against Josh Gordon.

Closing Statement

That’s all for this weeks edition of the “State of the University Address.” It’s been a rough week football-wise but that was to be expected. Only three more weeks (at the most) of having Bobby Petrino on the sidelines. I think I speak for all of Card Nation, I feel like I’m living in a nightmare watching him coach this team.

I’m looking at this season as the minor setback, but there will be a major comeback in the next few years.

Until next week Card Nation, take care and Go Cards!