The biggest “what ifs” in Louisville basketball and football history

What if James Quick had gotten the first down instead of going out of bounds?

Just thinking about this kills a little part of me. The year to overtake Clemson (at least for one season) was 2016, even though Louisville had done their best to compete with the up-and-coming program the previous two years.

After dominating their opponents to the tune of 254-90, including the 63-20 beat down over Florida State where Lamar Jackson took his Heisman candidacy to the next level, all eyes were on the Cards to take down Clemson.

We talked with Colin Holba, a former Louisville football player, earlier this summer and he told us that there was no doubt in this team’s mind they could beat Clemson. Say what you will about Bobby Petrino, but he played a big role in helping this team believe that they were going to win the 2016-17 National Championship.

If Louisville had been able to clean up some things in the first half, I think they would’ve had a better chance to pull ahead later instead of having to play from so far behind, considering they had to punt the first three drives of the game while limiting Clemson to the same.

Louisville coming back from 18 down was a miracle in itself, but they got back into the game and were right there with Clemson until the end. Clemson scored to go up 42-36 with just a few minutes remaining, and Lamar Jackson began to engineer a game-winning drive.

He went 5/5 to start the drive and had two beautiful runs that took them down to the Clemson 9. On third down, he throws a strike to Cole Hikutini in the endzone that was incomplete but should have been pass interference, setting them up to have to pick up a first down to keep the game alive.

Jackson hits receiver James Quick (the same receiver who had a chance to seal another come from behind victory two years earlier) on a crossing route. As he approached the first down marker (which was a controversy in and itself) Quick heads out of bounds a yard short, instead of fighting through the would-be tackler or diving for the extra yardage.

So what if he had picked up the first down?

Well, Louisville had all the momentum on that drive. They had gone 72-yards in a little over 2:30 and were in prime position to score. A score would have essentially wrapped up the game, though DeShaun Watson would’ve had a chance with about 33 seconds left.

That game would’ve moved Louisville to 5-0, with wins over no. 2 ranked Florida State and no. 5 ranked Clemson and would have made them the team at the College Football Playoff from the ACC.

As Holba told us on the BRL Podcast, we know that Petrino’s message after the loss was keep winning. If you keep winning, you’re going to have a chance to make the playoff regardless, especially if Clemson falls (which they did).

The message would’ve been the same if Louisville was undefeated, but they would have controlled their own destiny. They wouldn’t have had the disappointing moment where three or four of the top five teams in the playoff discussion lost, and still, Lousiville wasn’t included in the top four. Thus leading to the bottom falling out, playing a big role in the losses to Houston and Kentucky.

Though their relationship could be labeled as dysfunctional, maybe a win at Clemson could’ve served as the duct tape necessary to keep things above water between Bobby Petrino and defensive coordinator, Todd Grantham.

A 12-0 Louisville team, or even 11-1, would’ve been in the ACC Championship game against Virginia Tech, where they absolutely could’ve won thus leading to their first-ever College Football Appearance.

Could they have beaten Alabama, Oklahoma, or Michigan State? I can’t say for sure they would beat any of those teams, but with weapons like Lamar Jackson on one side and Jaire Alexander on the other, they without question could’ve been in a spot to compete.

Had James Quick picked up another yard, the trajectory of Louisville’s football program could’ve gone a completely different route then it did. Maybe we don’t ever have the dysfunction between Petrino and Grantham, which meant there would have been no hiring of Peter Sirmon, which wouldn’t have led to an 8-4 season which ultimately led to the firing of Sirmon and hiring of Brian VanGorder.

We’ll never know, but one-yard could have made all the difference in where Louisville could’ve been and where they are today.