Louisville football fans can rest easy; Booger McFarland eats crow

It’s always seemed like ESPN Analyst Booger McFarland had a bone to pick with Lamar Jackson. While that may or may not be true, he finally admitted he was wrong.

It’s seemed that Booger McFarland has had it out for Louisville football for quite some time now, particularly when it comes to former Heisman Trophy Winner and the greatest player in program history, Lamar Jackson.

Back in 2016, McFarland became one of the most notoriously hated analysts by Cardnation when he went on ESPN radio after a 52-7 Louisville football win over Boston College and uttered the following words:

“Louisville is just Lamar Jackson and a bunch of dudes.”

Louisville had proven to be a legitimate contender for the College Football Playoff while simultaneously Jackson was inching closer and closer each week to being the first-ever Cardinal to win the Heisman Trophy and putting himself into the conversation as a future first-rounder in the NFL Draft.

Up until the end of the season, Louisville looked unstoppable. Jackson led the way setting the tone for the success the program encountered over the next two years but guys like Jaire Alexander, Trevon Young, Jaylen Smith, Dez Fitzpatrick, and a ton of others proved they were quality football players at the collegiate level.

Those comments from McFarland were just the beginning of what would be a testy few years between himself and the Louisville fan base.

Next came the statement that today fans still love to bring up to prove the ineptitude of the ESPN analyst.

As Lousiville was preparing for their 2017 season with Jackson looking to prove that he could not only be a great runner but a great passer and potential NFL quarterback, McFarland wanted to shut it down.

He tweeted: “It won’t happen but if Louisville were really thinking about Lamar Jackson’s future they would move him to wr, that’s where he will play in NFL.”

That tweet set off an unreversible disdain from Louisville fans in his direction that would be beyond repairable and it didn’t stop there. As the NFL Draft came and went, Booger kept on tweeting.

Over the last few weeks as Lamar Jackson has proven himself to be not only a very reliable quarterback, both passing and running but also a potential MVP candidate for a 6-2 Ravens team, Louisville fans have made sure the big fella knows just how wrong he was.

As in the case with most sports reporters and analysts, McFarland was silent. No apology, no I was wrong, no you guys were right – nothing. When he’s talked about Jackson, he’s only continued to say “he can’t keep running” or “he isn’t a good passer,” only further pissing off the most protective fan base (which I love and participate in) across the country.

I have many questions. First off, how dare you? Second, why won’t he admit he’s wrong? We all know Booger McFarland was just attempting to provide a popular hot take that would cause reaction and debate across not only Louisville fans but any team who potentially would draft him.

But finally, to his credit, Booger McFarland admitted he was wrong.

Appearing on the Stephen A. Smith Show on ESPN radio McFarland and Smith talked about a variety of topics, including the sensational Sunday night performance against the undefeated New England Patriots where Lamar Jackson finished with 163 passing yards (completing 74 percent of his passes) and a touchdown as well as gaining 61 yards on the ground and scoring another two touchdowns.

McFarland said:

“This group has a confidence now that you can see it coming through the TV screen and that’s all coming from Lamar Jackson. He’s playing at an MVP level. He’s making it tough on defense. He’s changing the way teams play defense against the Baltimore Ravens.

Probably biting his tongue as hard as he could, McFarland went on to say:

"“His maturation from the guy we saw against the Los Angeles Chargers who couldn’t complete a pass in the playoffs to where he is now, I think you have to give him a lot of credit. He’s making a lot of people believers, myself included because I was not a believer. But I think if you look at the growth he’s made as a quarterback in and out of the pocket, I’m truly amazed and truly happy for the young man because he set out years ago saying he told his mom years ago “I want to be a quarterback.” and when schools didn’t recruit him to play quarterback he didn’t look at those schools. So you have to give him a lot of credit for his conviction, not just now but going all the way back before he went to Louisville.”"

“It’s been amazing to watch and he’s clearly right in the MVP conversation,” McFarland said throwing Jackson into the discussion with names like Russell Wilson and DeShaun Watson, ultimately showing just how far Jackson has come as a passer.

So how am I supposed to feel about McFarland eating crow?

Well, to start, it’s about damn time.

For eight weeks now Lamar Jackson has continued to prove that the hype he came into his second season with was well-warranted. As McFarland pointed out during the interview, Jackson deserves a ton of credit for how hard he worked this offseason as improving his craft not only as a runner but as a passer.

In his rookie season, Jackson struggled to throw the football accurately and looked like the next coming of Robert Griffin III at times. But to his credit, he won. The Ravens used his talents, which yes, included running the football, to their advantage and it paid off.

The Lamar Jackson we Louisville fans have all come to love, knew he wasn’t going to settle for just being a runner. That became very apparent during his first two starts where he combined to throw for 596 yards and 7 touchdowns while still dominating on the ground when the game allowed.

Since then, Jackson has thrown for 1,217 yards and five touchdowns while running for another 511 yards and scoring an additional five scores on the ground. More importantly, his Ravens have beaten two of the NFL’s top teams in Seattle and New England, only further adding to Jackson’s MVP caliber start.

This is only the beginning of a special career for number 8 and it’s great to see people who were once blind to his greatness now able to see clear as day.