It doesn’t take a master handicapper to observe that things aren’t quite going as planned heading into this third leg of the race. Most of the lofty goals the Cards set in the offseason have long since been gone and the individual goal of seeing Lamar repeat as a Heisman winner is nearly off the table. Losing out to NC State in a somewhat unenthusiastic fashion at the ½ mile pole left fans frustrated to say the least, let’s see how the next segment unfolds….

After just getting passed by the Wolfpack the Cardinals appear somewhat demoralized, although still in the mix with the second group of horses it appears they realize the Wolfpack and Clemson may now be unreachable. The Golden Eagles, who have offered little challenge to the Cardinals in races prior are now in the same group and looking to take advantage of a horse that just hasn’t shown the kick many expected to see in the weeks leading up to the race. While Anthony Brown had been labeled as the jockey at the post draw a late scratch put newcomer AJ Dillon in the saddle and he has been grinding from the back of the pack the whole race. Still appearing somewhat stunned from being overpowered by the Wolfpack the Cards have not taken the opportunity to slide onto the rail and for some unfathomable reason seem content staying 6 wide heading into the turn, almost as if they have no interest in playing defense and want to make things harder than it should be. The Golden Eagles are uncharacteristically showing more fight than the Cards and it appears they are actually going to pass them on the inside. Yes, the Golden Eagles have now passed the Cardinals mid way through the turn. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t witnessed it with my own two eyes.

The Cardinals now find themselves in the back of the pack with what appears to be an injured Seminole horse, a pre-race favorite that stumbled coming out of the gate. Lamar is asking for some kick but just hasn’t gotten the response from the thoroughbred he expected to see. Jockey James Blackman is looking to slide past the Cardinals on the inside, even with his injured horse, which may seem unprecedented but with the Cards showing thus far I would not be shocked to see them fall behind the Seminoles either. Lamar is looking to finally guide his horse to the rail and with much less traffic in the back of the pack he found an opening and slid in front of the Seminoles going on the defensive for what seems like the first time since early in the race. Mid way through the turn Blackmon has fumbled away his opportunity to gain position and has now pulled up on the reins, likely looking to just trot to the finish.

Getting a boost from holding off the Seminoles the Cards now look to make a push at the Demon Deacons directly in front of them, who are lagging slightly behind the second group. Never imaging themselves to be in this position Lamar is hoping to remain on the rail and make up some ground quickly before reaching the quarter pole. Deacon jockey John Wolford just peeked back at the Cardinals and is having nothing to do with allowing them space to operate. He is starting to show his horse the whip coming out of the turn and in what should no longer be considered a surprise the Cardinals simply do not have the horse to keep up with the group. The Demon Deacons and the rest of the second group are now actually pulling away from the Cardinals as they come out of the final turn. In what seemed to be a promising race for the Cardinals, they now have no chance of finishing in the money and the last quarter mile appears to be for optics alone.

Concerns from the third ¼ mile:

I understand that in situations like these hyperbole and drastic overstatements become commonplace, but I’m quite literally running out of words to say that haven’t already been said. Instead of flooding your brain with text I’ll simply utter three very simple and very straightforward words to sum up my thoughts thus far.

Shocking.

Frustrating.

Embarrasing.

I was on the train. I was buying into the “we got a real shot this year” hype heading into the season. Sure, we had plenty of questions, but I thought ‘Lamar’ would be a reasonable answer to the majority of them. After all, how could you possibly field the most electric player in college football, with plenty of talent surrounding him, and NOT finish with at least ten wins? It just didn’t make sense.

Reality bites.

For those who may consider themselves visually learners (myself included) lets open the very scary book of ‘stats’ to help piece together just what has happened to the Cardinal football this season and how things have trended since Bobby 2.0 began...

The 2014 team started strong and finished strong in this category, only allowing a tick over three touchdowns per game on average (good enough for 24th in the country). Even though they lost some folks the year prior some of Strong’s holdovers continued to dominate upfront in 2014 and beyond. As those players have slowly left the program via graduation or transfer, the scoring defense has jumped almost a full ten points in four seasons currently sitting at 30.8pts/g (92nd in the country).

So now we know teams are scoring, but maybe its long plays, gadget plays, ‘trickeration’ if you will that is hurting the Cards? Nope. Just like the scoring defense the opponent’s Red zone Conversion percent is going up and has reached a ten year plus high at 88.89%. If you want to round up to 90% for simplicity even my dumb brain can figure out that 9 times out of every ten a team is putting points on the board once they cross the 20 (Cards sit at 103^rd in the country). Craziness.

Similar to the scoring defense the overall defense statistics in terms of yards/game has never been as good as that first season (2014) and has skyrocketed this year to an astronomical number at 410.1yd/g (85th in the country). Unacceptable on any level, but even more so considering you have numerous upperclassmen playing large defensive roles. In fact, against Wake 13 of the 22 players on the two deep depth chart were Juniors or Seniors. ‘We’re young’ doesn’t play well with me, especially nine games into the season.

Yeah, that whole ‘3^rd and Grantham’ thing may have been a nice hashtag or a very simply excuse to blurt out when complaining to your friends about the defense, but on average the last three years (2014-2016) the Cards sat at 18th in the country in stopping opponents on 3^rd down. This year, the Cards are almost a full 10 percentage points higher than last season and are dangerously close to clipping the 45% mark on the season. In laymen’s terms, damn near half the time opponents snap the ball on 3^rd down, they are converting. Inexcusable. Cards sit at 92nd in the country as of today, with only 15 Power 5 teams performing at a worse clip. Who would thought we’d be begging for ‘3^rd and Grantham’ in 2017?

So why are all those numbers so high? Is it just lack of talent, drive, playcalling, etc? One big reason is that the Cards defense is not getting pressure or turning the ball over as often as they used too, which often results in a shorter field and easier points for the offense. (Buckle up because we are quite literally about to go down a slippery slope)

Pressuring the quarterback and getting sacks can almost single handedly kill drives. On the other hand, when you don’t do that, drives are sustained and usually result in more yardage and more points being scored (see charts above). The Cards have gotten worse each of the last four seasons in getting to the QB and if they keep pace the projected 2017 number will be the lowest sack total since 2008 (currently sitting at 58th in the country).

Just as sacks ‘likely’ kill drives, interceptions will undoubtedly kill them, putting the ball back in the hands of the offense. Following a disturbing trend, once again the Cards are on pace for their lowest interception total since 2010 (currently sitting at 57th in the country). Getting the ball back to a very prolific offense would certainly help put points on the board and likely translate to more wins. It is simply not happening.

So, what do we do now? I don’t know. Firing a guy nine games into the season in year one of his contract certainly doesn’t create the best atmosphere for future coaching searches, but at this point I could really give a damn about Louisville taking a PR hit. Sirmon, nine games into his Louisville career, has performed well below any reasonable expectation that may have been set for him coming into the season. The stats don’t lie, the consistent breakdowns don’t lie, the on field confusion doesn’t lie, and the record of 5-4 with an offense averaging 36.7 points per game certainly does not lie. I’m easily one of the more optimistic fans out there, but there is literally zero ‘past performances’ to point to for Sirmon to offer hope that things can be turned around. Mississippi State was a failure, and that failure has now been passed onto the Louisville football program. That can’t be an acceptable standard moving forward.

Why all hope is not lost:

The first post in this series referred to why hope wasn’t lost for the season, and that things could still be turned around. We’re beyond that point. The ‘hope’ for the rest of this season would be to win out, beat a mediocre bowl team, and try and build momentum heading into 2018. A notch down from that would be to simply beat your rival in the last game of the year. A six win season is a disappointment no matter how you wrap it up and stick it under the tree, but beating Kentucky in one of the six wins would at least let you put a ‘real’ ribbon on the box instead of one of those cheep peel and stick versions. It ain’t gonna be pretty either way, but it doesn’t leave you completely embarrassed come Christmas morning.

All things being fair, Petrino has delivered on his promise to bring offensive minded football back to Louisville. I’ll save you the charts but the Cards are putting up yardage and points the last couple years that rival any season in their history. While he certainly deserves a very large tip of the cap to one Lamar Jackson, he has brought in the talent to field one of the top offensive teams in the country. The issue of course is that he may be sacrificing defensive talent to pull in more and more offensive threats…thus resulting in more points, but not necessarily translating to more wins. The quarterback position seems set for a few years and the wide receivers have talent, but grabbing a few more defensive studs should be priority one, two, and three heading into the offseason.

Three games remain. The atmosphere around the Louisville program one year ago this time was palpable. A national story, college football playoff ranking, the best player in the game competing for a Heisman, it was almost surreal. One year later the agony of a 5-4 season almost makes thing feel that much worse after having experienced the high of 2016. If you want to fold up shop, move on to next year, focus on basketball, etc you certainly have that right. Me, I’ve decided to enjoy the last three games for what they are…three more opportunities to watch the team I support, play a game I love, and cheer on the best player to ever wear a Louisville jersey. We clamor for football from April to September every year, your interest in counting down the days until the season kicks off is proof of that, let’s not let a couple poor performances distract us from missing the final ‘quarter mile’ of another Louisville football season. You never know what you might miss.

See you all back here in four weeks.

Go Cards.

Louisville running back LJ Scott announced on Instagram Sunday morning that he will finish his college career somewhere else.

Here was his message:

Three Years Ago God Placed Me Here, The University Of Louisville, To Fulfill A Purpose. To Not Only Touch Lives But To Open My Heart And Allow Mine To Be Touched As Well. To Not Be Good But To Be Great In All Aspects Of Life. And Most Importantly To Not Be Successful But To Be Significant. My Time Here Can't Be Measured In Any Stat, Or Any Accolade. But Rather In The Smiles, Laughs, And Tears Shared With People God Has Blessed Me To Run Into.

The Lessons Learned Here Have Made Me The Man, Friend, Partner, Son, Brother, And Child Of God I Am Today. I Can't Thank Everyone Who Made My Time What It Was Here Enough! Three Years Of Memories I'll Recall For A Lifetime.

This Is Bittersweet, But God Is Calling Me To Fulfill Another Purpose Elsewhere. So To The University Of Louisville, The City of Louisville, The Friends and Fans Of Louisville... Thank You! Thank You For Sharing What Is Yours With Me And My Family For The Past Three Years! We Are Humbled And Honored To Have Called Ourselves Cardinals!

Scott's best game as a Cardinal came in the second week of his freshman season when he rushed for 126 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries in a rout of Murray State. Lingering injuries then kept him from making much more of an impact on that season. After splitting time between running back and fullback as a sophomore, Scott registered carries in just two games as a junior for U of L in 2016.

Best of luck to L.J. wherever he chooses to finish his career.

Following their 36-10 loss to Houston, the Louisville football team was dropped six spots from No. 5 to No. 11 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings. The Cards also sit at No. 11 in both the coaches and AP polls.

Alabama once again topped the rankings, followed by No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan (convenient) and No. 4 Clemson. Washington and Wisconsin are the first two teams on the outside looking in,

Also of note for Louisville is the fact that Florida State now sits at No. 14. The Seminoles would need to jump over the Cardinals in order to potentially earn a bid to the Orange Bowl. Even if FSU topples No. 15 Florida and U of L struggles with Kentucky, it would be an awfully hard sell for the committee to put a three-loss team ahead of a two-loss team that beat it head-to-head by 43 points.

Here are your CFP rankings heading into the final week of the regular season:

1. Alabama (11-0)

2. Ohio State (10-1)

3. Michigan (10-1)

4. Clemson (10-1)

5. Washington (10-1)

6. Wisconsin (9-2)

7. Penn State (9-2)

8. Oklahoma (9-2)

9. Colorado (9-2)

10. Oklahoma State (9-2)

11. Louisville (9-2)

12. Southern California (8-3)

13. Auburn (8-3)

14. Florida State (8-3)

15. Florida (8-2)

16. Nebraska (9-2)

17. Tennessee (8-3)

18, West Virginia (8-2)

19. Boise State (10-1)

20. Houston (9-2)

21. Western Michigan (11-0)

22. Utah (8-3)

23. Washington State (8-3)

24. Stanford (8-3)

25. Navy (8-2)

When you're tailgating in your backyard and counting down the days until the Cardinals play football again.

Spread check (football): Louisville by 14.

A reminder that the College Football Playoff Rankings show won't be on at its usual time of 7 p.m. Instead, the rankings will be revealed on ESPN between the Kentucky/Michigan State and Duke/Kansas games. Should be around 9:10 p.m. or so.

I think the Cards check in at No. 5, but let's try not to get too high or too low regardless of what happens. Unless we're worse than five. If we're worse than five then we riot.

But seriously, there's a guaranteed loss ahead of us and several scenarios at play that weren't available a week ago. We're in the great game now, and the great game is terrifying.

Ray love the kids.

.@KKcards After last night's win, Ray went today to read to an awesome groups of kids from Norton Elementary! #CardsCARE .@GoCards pic.twitter.com/gueGJlF1Od

— Louisville LCARE (@LouisvilleLCARE) November 15, 2016

Campus Insiders' weekly rankings of the best coaches in college football has Bobby Petrino up a spot to No. 3.

I went on a Houston podcast to talk about Thursday night's game. You can listen to it here.

We already know we have better singers. Thursday it's time to prove that we have better football players.

Seriously though, Louisville has the third-best amateur choir in the whole f---ing world. That's pretty awesome.

Suck it, Houston.

NCAA Tournament soccer is coming to Lynn Stadium this weekend. Here are your details.

No more gear needed, this outfit nailed it.

@CardChronicle how do I get this cutie featured on your site? (If you need more Cards gear we got it) pic.twitter.com/JLFnFYrlyr

— drm (@drose_martin) November 12, 2016

The ACC Digital Network presents (video) Lamar Jackson's eight most impressive rushing touchdowns of the season so far.

Ballin'.

The Louisville Cardinals, a flight above the rest. #L1C4 pic.twitter.com/XGSdysyfRk

— Louisville Athletics (@GoCards) November 15, 2016

U of L hoops signee Malik Williams is one of the 50 players on the preseason watch list for the Naismith High School Player of the Year award.

People continue to believe that Louisville has the best chance of any team in college football to take down Alabama.

1. Louisville: Whenever you have a quarterback of Lamar Jackson's caliber, you have a puncher's chance. His 46 total touchdowns speak for themselves. His speed and quickness would give Alabama's front seven fits, and his ability to move the ball downfield through the air would put added stress on a secondary that's somewhat susceptible to the deep ball. Think of Jackson as Cam Newtonand Louisville as the 2010 Auburn Tigers. Newton got the credit, but Michael Dyer was a productive running back, and while that defense wasn't incredibly talented, it was opportunistic. With Louisville, there's no looking past Brandon Radcliff, who is averaging 7.2 yards per carry, and there's no discounting a defense that ranks in the top 25 in sacks and has forced 22 turnovers, which is four more than Alabama.

Let's stop speculating and put all the theories to the test. Pretty simple.

U of L football fanatic Rick Pitino used part of his postgame press conference last night to ether the announcing from the Wake Forest game Saturday night.

Pitino's advice for sports commentators,,,,https://t.co/ysCTqHD3UM pic.twitter.com/O2OFLS70f2

— cn|2 Sports (@cn2_Sports) November 15, 2016

Awesome.

Louisville fans in the New York area might think seriously about attending the Heisman Award Dinner and Gala on Dec. 12. I'm guessing the Cardinals will be discussed more than in years past. Here's how you can get tickets.

A former Northwestern basketball player is suing the school and alleging some pretty shady ish.

"Shady, dirty, and underhanded" Behavior

The suit states that NU staff berated the nationally recruited basketball player and put Johnnie in an "internship" under which he worked as a janitor instead of permitting him to train and play with his teammates. The school also pressured him to sign a blank "Roster Deletion" form by which he would be "voluntarily withdrawing" from the team, the suit states, even though Johnnie did not want to leave Northwestern.

The complaint also alleges that unknown individuals within Northwestern falsified timecards in an attempt to create misconduct as grounds for taking away Johnnie's athletic scholarship (going so far as to even misspell his name on one such timecard), and even asked about his willingness to accept a cash payment to "go away," among other things.

Amid Northwestern's tactics, Johnnie reached out to multiple Division I basketball programs and received uniform responses: they would bring Johnnie onto their program if he could play right away, according to the lawsuit. Because Johnnie could not play right away due to the anticompetitive rules, the schools would not accept him.

"This case is a prime example of the catch-22 that student-athletes are forced into," Berman said. "And while NCAA-member universities play fast and loose with the readily available athletic talent they recruit, there are real futures on the line, and real student-athletes are suffering because of these systemic, overbearing regulations that take away their options."

The suit states that Johnnie no longer has an athletic scholarship and no longer plays Division I basketball. Instead of pursuing his dream of playing professional basketball after graduation, he is forced to train on his own in an effort to keep up his skills honed through years of competitive basketball.

Graduation success rate for Louisville student-athletes has risen 17 percent in the last 12 years, which is good. In case you were wondering.

Barry Hinson is an American treasure.

Southern Illinois basketball coach Barry Hinson GOES OFF on Razorback fans: "Get your butts back in this gym" #WPS #ARNews pic.twitter.com/FCNIP2GKfm

— Austin Kellerman (@AustinKellerman) November 15, 2016

V.J. King knows he's going to make a lot of mistakes early on in his Cardinal career, which is why he's leaning on the team's veterans for help. It's working so far.

Another thing that needs to be factored into the CFP formula, in my opinion.

Yardage Differential (per game)

+298 Louisville
+238 Ohio St
+232 Alabama
+220 Michigan
+175 Clemson
+140 Washington
+87 Wisconsin
+41 PSU

— Pick Six Previews (@PickSixPreviews) November 15, 2016

Louisville is No. 5 in the college football power rankings from Uproxx.

Bill Connelly's The Numerical is always worth your time.

Old Dominion, the team Louisville will face in its first Battle 4 Atlantis game, won at Richmond last night for the first time in 19 years.

It's all happening.

@CardChronicle pic.twitter.com/iKgMsFoBPO

— Blake Kistner (@YoloBrolo13) November 15, 2016

Is being a conference champion unofficially a pre-requisite for making the College Football Playoff? This year will tell us yes or no.

Houston QB Greg Ward Jr. is pretty banged up, but should be good to go for Thursday night's game.

A viewing option for those of you watching the game in Louisville:

This Thursday Night come out to Somewhere Restaurant & Bar & support the PFF & watch both CARDS Game! 15% of Sales go to the PFF 3pm-12am RT pic.twitter.com/TvIXHC8yT6

— Petrino Family Fnd. (@PetrinoFamFnd) November 14, 2016

Jaylen Johnson is taking pride in his rebounding as a junior, and it's showing.

The only race still undecided when it comes to the Heisman Trophy is the race for second.

Tom Fornelli of CBS makes the case for Louisville being No. 2 in the new CFP rankings.

2. Louisville 9-1 (4): My formula loves Louisville. It may consider Alabama the best team in the country, but it wants to have Louisville's babies. All season long, my formula has had Louisville ranked higher than in any other polls, and even after the loss to Clemson, the Cardinals fell from No. 2 in these rankings to No. 5 ... a full 10 spots ahead of the Clemson team it had just lost to.

And now the Cardinals have climbed back up to No. 2, though it had nothing to do with Clemson's loss, it just took advantage of the Michigan and Washington losses. Truth be told, Clemson's loss actually hurt Louisville a bit just because it hurt a strength of schedule that was already weak.

Which brings me to the point I wanted to make about Louisville.

While my formula loves it, the College Football Playoff committee doesn't.

Now, it's entirely possible that when the new CFP rankings come out on Tuesday night, Louisville will be in the top four, but I don't think that'll be the case. I believe that loss to Clemson will keep the Tigers ahead of the Cardinals, and the truth is, I have a hard time arguing it should be the other way around.

I just have to believe that the only way Louisville reaches the playoff is if Clemson loses to Wake Forest this weekend, because it has no shot of getting in unless it wins the ACC. This is a Louisville team with a 43-point win over Florida State, and the most exciting player on the planet in Lamar Jackson, but it won't have the resume it needs to get past not being the ACC champion.

Beating Houston this week would help matters a bit, but Houston's stock has taken a hit in recent weeks as well, and right now Louisville's second best win is probably Duke. That's simply not enough to get the job done.

In other words, Wake Forest is going to have more fans than it's ever had before this weekend.

State of the U (Miami) has Louisville at No. 1 in its new ACC power rankings.

CBS' Jerry Palm predicts that U of L will be No. 5 in tonight's rankings.

And finally, R&R is live from the Troll Pub today from 3-6 talking about last night's win over Bill and Mary as well as the new CFP rankings. Listen here.

Bovada also believes it's basically a six-team race to win the national title:

Odds to Win the 2017 CFP National Championship

Team              10/18/16            Current Odds (10/25/16)

Alabama                       9/4                    8/5

Ohio State                    11/4                  9/2

Michigan                       7/1                    6/1

Clemson                       6/1                    7/1

Louisville                      9/1                    9/1

Washington                   15/2                  9/1

LSU                              33/1                  20/1

Oklahoma                     33/1                  33/1

Auburn                          75/1                  40/1

Nebraska                      40/1                  40/1

West Virginia                 50/1                  40/1

Wisconsin                     Off the Board    40/1

Baylor                           40/1                  50/1

Texas A&M                   20/1                  66/1

Boise State                   100/1                75/1

Florida                          75/1                  75/1

Utah                             100/1                100/1

Florida State                 100/1                100/1

Tennessee                    Off the Board    150/1

Houston                        66/1                  Off the Board

Odds to win the 2016 Heisman Trophy

Player                     10/18/16            Current Odds (10/25/16)

Lamar Jackson (QB Louisville)                           1/2                    1/3

Jabrill Peppers (S Michigan)                              9/1                    15/2

Deshaun Watson (QB Clemson)                         15/4                  15/2

Jake Browning (QB Washington)                        10/1                  10/1

JT Barrett (QB Ohio State)                                 15/2                  12/1

Jalen Hurts (QB Alabama)                                  16/1                  22/1

Dalvin Cook (RB Florida State)

Can NC State’s defense offer any resistance this weekend?

Louisville’s story should be well-known by now, thanks to the exploits of quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has earned countless press with his jaw-dropping plays. He’s nearly reached football legend status as a sophomore—he leaps over defenders; he flicks the ball effortlessly down the field; he avoids even the surest of sacks!

The Cardinals are a lot more than Jackson—for the second straight year they have a top-25 defense—but there’s no question that Louisville’s leap into elite status very much begins with its star quarterback.

When I saw Jackson in Raleigh last season, I came away with the impression that he’d be a good player down the road—the surprise is not just how quickly he’s improved, but how much he’s gotten better. While still an inconsistent passer at times, he is better pretty much across the board, getting more out of each attempt while committing mistakes less frequently.

With the ball in his hands on the ground, he’s proven to be as instinctive and decisive as he is fast, which is a horrifying combination to try to stop. Jackson averages 301 yards passing per game and 139 on the ground. He has accounted for more touchdowns than 100+ FBS teams.

He’s surrounded by upperclassmen—three up front, plus the running back, the tight end, and a couple of receivers. It’s not just that Jackson is good, it’s that he’s in a perfect spot to thrive, and that’s why this Louisville offense has been an unstoppable machine of death.

Senior running back Brandon Radcliff is averaging 8.1 yards per carry, while veteran wideout James Quick appears on his way to career highs in receptions and receiving yardage.

On standard downs, where opposing defenses have less an idea of Louisville’s intentions, the Cardinals are killing teams. They rank third nationally in standard down success rate and 15th in explosiveness on those downs.

(Standard Down = “First downs, second-and-7 or fewer, third-and-4 or fewer, and fourth-and-4 or fewer. These are the downs in which the offense could conceivably either run or pass and therefore has an overall advantage over the defense.”)

There’s simply too much for defenses to think about. (And Bobby Petrino happens to be a pretty good play-caller. )

Getting the Cards off the field is so difficult because they are so often staying on schedule thanks to that superior production on standard downs. And even when they do fall behind the sticks a bit, you never know what crazy thing Jackson may pull out of his hat.

Setting Jackson’s headlining presence aside, Louisville has a pretty good defense as well. With one notable exception this season (Clemson), the Cardinals have held each opponent to less than 4.5 yards per play. (Clemson averaged 8.2).

The Cards rate well above average in most advanced statistical categories, and in obvious passing situations, their defensive front becomes a bigger problem they rank 23rd in sack rate on passing downs as opposed to a more modest 52nd on standard downs.

So that’s something to watch: Can State keep itself out of a lot of passing downs (which is a bad idea regardless of opponent) and give it better odds of sustaining drives? That’ll be crucial early.

We've reached the unofficial midway point of the 2016 college football season, which means sports publications across the country are coming out with their list of midseason awards. As you might expect, Louisville's starting quarterback is featured prominently in each of them.

From ESPN:

Offensive player of the year

Schlabach says ... Lamar Jackson, Louisville

The sophomore has accounted for 30 touchdowns, which is more than 98 FBS teams have scored at this point. Enough said.

Jackson also picks up a nod as the "Heisman front-runner," and also appears in the "Best Play" category for both his leap against Syracuse and his final touchdown run against Florida State.

From CBS:

In addition to being an All-America selection at quarterback, Louisville Cardinals 'sLamar Jackson was also unanimously chosen for an even greater honor, as you can see below with our awards.

Midseason awards

Player of the Year: Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville*

Co-coach of the Year: Urban Meyer, Ohio State; Chris Petersen, Washington

And from NFL.com:

Offensive Player of the Year: Lamar Jackson, QB, Louisville
The true sophomore is simply the most electrifying player in the game. When you average 325 yards passing and 138 rushing per game, you're as close to unstoppable as one player can be. And he hasn't lit up the scoreboard against weak opponents only; FSU and Clemson were unable to contain him.

The site also tabs Jackson as its Heisman favorite.

Duke’s late Roughing the Kicker penalty saves the day

Because I love the Cardinals, as do the majority of my readers, these gamecaps rarely focus, except in rare exceptional instances, on what U of L's opponent may or may not have done during a game.

Yes, I am pleased the Cards are now 5-1, having survived 24-14 over a well-coached and as eminently prepared team as you're going to see.

Yes, I wonder what U of L's flat, uninspiring performance on national TV Friday night will do to its Final Four chances? (At 9:17 my pal texted from where he was watching, down south in the heart of college football country. "This game has killed any chance of the Final Four." I responded "Yes." By dawn's early light, I think he and I may have been somewhat premature. But the road certainly narrowed.)

Yes, I wonder where Lamar Jackson's Heisman hopes stand? It's a fickle crowd, those voters. It was about this time last year that frontrunning "lock" Leonard Fournette saw his fortunes fade. And Jabrill Peppers, wearing maize and blue, is the current Flav o' Flav of the Month. It's easier to prevail in NY as a Wolverine than a Cardinal. But LJ is far far from out of it, plenty of opportunities for moments for spectacularity remain.

So, I'll get to the Cardinals performance, lackluster as it was, in a moment.

* * * * *

But first I feel compelled to extol the virtues of Duke's fourth drive after halftime, the playbook beauty which started on the Blue Devils own 25 with :27 to play in the third.

At which juncture Louisville held an unsteady, unimpressive 17-7 lead.

After the completion of which, Duke had chopped the Cards' advantage to a precarious 3 points, 17-14.

Duke's 15 play, 75 yard TD scoring drive ate up 8:53 of the clock. It was well crafted, well executed, man up football at its finest. I tip my hat to David Cutcliffe for drafting it, and his Blue Devil players for playing it out. I lament that U of L's damn good D simply couldn't get off the field.

During the drive, the visitors consistently hit the Cards up the middle on the ground. Three yards here. Seven yards there. Five off tackle. The Blue Devils were never stopped without some gain on any rushing attempt.

Duke's freshman QB Daniel Jones completed four of five attempted passes, three clever sideline tosses, then the 20 yarder to Johnathan Lloyd for the score.

Most important, the Blue Devils converted on three of their four 3d down situations. On the other, they converted on 4th & 1 at their own 34 to stay on the field.

No reason to carry on. But it was simply masterful, especially considering time, place and circumstance.

* * * * *

So, what are the prospects now for 1) the Cards to make the playoff, and for 2) Lamar Jackson to capture the Heisman?

Were I a betting man, I wouldn't lay a penny on the prospects of either.

Though LJ remains in play if he returns to defender-leaping, oh my heavens did you see that form. Frankly, Jackson had a number of those runs last night. Unfortunately most of the boffo ones were scramble scampers, when the O line left their QB in peril on passing plays. The Cardinal star also had a couple of those snap of the wrist passing gems. But they were more than offset by even more inexplicable underthrows.

21 rushes for 144 yards is damn fine. 13/26 for 181 in the air with a TD and no picks is not bad.

But, in the context of his Sports Illustrated cover hype and resulting expectations, they are, to be honest, not enough for the statuette. All of which can be overcome, if he dons his Superman cape in future battles.

The Final Four, one guy's opinion, is not gonna happen.

* * * * *

I need to check myself here.

At moments like this, I always here the words of Denny Crum, when his Cardinal ballers fell to a lesser foe. "You've got to have a healthy respect for your opponent."

I could go on about the Cards' horrid second quarter performance, which I dubbed Kragthorpean in my game scribbles, as well as other unforeseen adversities.

Or, how if it weren’t for that roughing the kicker penalty, it could have easily been an L.

Yet . . . yet . . . yet . . . Louisville doubled up the Devils in total yards, after all, and did win the game. It just sure didn't feel like it walking out of the stadium. That the crowd was clad in black seemed appropriate.

Anyway, Louisville is 5-1. Louisville is Top Ten. Louisville kicks it off again on national TV next Saturday at noon against the Wolfpack.

-- Seedy K

Good losses matter, as evidenced by the relatively light drops for both Louisville and Wisconsin this week.

Here's your full AP top 25 heading into week six:

1 Alabama(53) 5-0 1514 —
2 Ohio State(6) 4-0 1451 —
3 Clemson(1) 5-0 1403 2
4 Michigan(1) 5-0 1334 —
5 Washington 5-0 1234 5
6 Houston 5-0 1233 —
7 Louisville 4-1 1160 4
8 Texas A&M 5-0 1113 1
9 Tennessee 5-0 1045 2
10 Miami 4-0 909 4
11 Wisconsin 4-1 882 3
12 Nebraska 5-0 821 3
13 Baylor 5-0 805 —
14 Ole Miss 3-2 712 2
15 Stanford 3-1 711 8
16 Arkansas 4-1 528 4
17 North Carolina 4-1 497 NR
18 Florida 4-1 391 5
19 Boise State 4-0 385 5
20 Oklahoma 2-2 324 NR
21 Colorado 4-1 276 NR
22 West Virginia 4-0 240 NR
23 Florida State 3-2 230 11
24 Utah 4-1 86 6
25 Virginia Tech 3-1 85 NR

Dropped from rankings: Michigan State 17, San Diego State 19, TCU 21, Texas 22, Georgia 25

Others receiving votes: Western Michigan 76, UCLA 56, LSU 49, North Dakota State 46, Auburn 46, Georgia 42, Oklahoma State 41, TCU 26, Maryland 23, Air Force 17, San Diego State 10, Michigan State 7, South Florida 6, Arizona State 4, California 3, Indiana 3, Texas 1

The Cards slipped an extra spot to No. 8 in the coaches' poll.

Light ‘em up

During today’s University of Louisville’s Football Kickoff Luncheon, head coach Bobby Petrino was asked, in jest by Sean Moth, if there would need to be some additional light’s added to the scoreboard for the upcoming football season.

Coach Petrino had this in response:

Yes, yes it is about time we start lighting up that scoreboard again. When Petrino was hired (again) to lead the Cardinals, many fans envisioned the days of old when the Cards would routinely score in the 40’s. That hasn’t quite been the case so far in his first two years back as the Cardinals averaged 29.9 points a game. While that’s still not a bad number, it’s not close to the 41 points a game that Petrino’s teams averaged over his first 4 years here.

While there’s no guarantee that this year’s team will have an offensive explosion like we’ve been waiting for, it certainly helps that the quarterback knows what the plays are now.

While I do miss Fiery Bobby and his “Let’s go kick their ass!” attitude, I don’t think we’ll see that same type of demeanor in Bobby 2.0. However, with small little jokes and responses like this, it’s becoming apparent that he is really confident with this team and we may see the offense burst on to the scene.

Or, if we could just hang 60 on Kentucky this year, I’d be ok with that too.

Class: Sophomore

Ht/Wt: 5-7/177

Position: Wide Receiver

Hometown: Frankfort, KY

Twitter: @JPup7

Thoughts: Soooo…Jalen Washington is still on the UofL roster but I think the man is moving on. A quick scan through his twitter timeline seems to indicate that he may be joining the Morehead State Eagles this coming season. If that’s the case, wish him nothing but the best, if not…

Jalen walked on with the Cards last year and unsurprisingly didn’t really break the rotation of a very deep and very talented wide receiving corps last year. I think most would consider him undersized for a D-I team but don’t forget that speed and athleticism can make up for a lack of height (See: Samuel, Traveon). Wouldn’t expect Jalen to see the field this year either (if he’s still on the team) but would anticipate him to keep putting in work on the practice squad.

Sweet Tweet:

I got love for everybody who got love for me.

— Jalen Washington (@JPup7) June 15, 2016

Athlon released an article back on Monday where the ACC coaches were able to talk about the other ACC teams under a cloak of anonymity. There was some love going on…and some shade being thrown as well. Worth the read for sure.

.

.

#26 Chris Taylor-Yamanoha

Class: Freshman

Ht/Wt: 6-2/185

Position: Wide Receiver/Defensive back

Hometown: Rohnert Park, CA

Twitter: @christayami

Thoughts: The recruitment of Chris is a pretty cool story. Louisville doesn’t exactly hop over to the West Coast on a weekly basis during the recruiting cycles, so how did this four star athlete end up wearing the red and black, or even show up on our radar? Blood is thicker than…geography...or something like that. See, Chris was actually born and raised in 'The Ville' until moving out west as a kid, and his mom is a proud Louisville Alum. Chris came in town for a camp last year, the coaches liked what they saw, and journey to bring Chris back to Louisville began. After originally committing to the Cards back in November Chris took a few looks elsewhere (Washington) before reaffirming his commitment to the Cards in January. While I’m sure Chris made the final call on his own we all learn fairly early that mom knows a thing or three about what might be best for us, so one might assume she may have had a small impact in his decision to come back home. (If so, thanks Mom)

Lots of folks followed the recruitment of Taylor-Yamanoha pretty closely once a little of his backstory leaked out last year and as cool as it would be to see Chris come back and play for the Cards for the story alone…the dude is pretty dang good at “footballing” as well. Playing both sides of the ball in high school Chris racked up over 3,100 yards and 65 touchdowns, not to mention his 19 career interceptions at corner. In his NSD breakdown Coach McGee highlighted his ability to grab the ball at a high point, create separation from the corner, and anticipate his next move after the catch based upon how the defense was aligned at the snap. McGee mentioned in that breakdown that they saw CTY as a wideout, and while that may have been true back in February, Petrino has shifted Chris to the defensive side of the ball for now and has been publically giddy (as giddy as Petrino can get) about how excited he is to see the 6-2 athlete with quick feet and great hands playing corner (Grantham and Heyward seem pretty pumped too).While the move in 2016 may be out of necessity (depth at WR plus some needed depth at corner) I’ll be interested to see how the career arc of CTY plays out while at Louisville. If he comes in and plays well at corner do you risk losing a great defender back to the offensive side of the ball? There is certainly more room at corner moving forward in 2017, 18, and beyond, but he wasn’t named North Bay Player of the Year or placed on the All-State team at wideout for no reason. Of course, I think we all know if Petrino wants him back at wideout…well, he usually gets his way. What it really boils down too for CTY the next three-four years is “how do we get this talented kid on the field”, and that is ALWAYS a great problem to have.

Sweet Tweet:

Michigan State

— Chris T.Y. (@christayami) March 18, 2016

I think everyone who cheers for Louisville, on this site especially, can always crack a smile when Michigan State experiences some pain.

We haven’t forgotten about your little comeback at home last year…..or the Elite 8 game in 2015…..or the Elite 8 game in 2009…

BUT…

I also remember this beauty from 2012…

[embedded content]

VillenHD!

Louisville is back in the preseason polls, checking in at #23 in the preseason Amway Coaches Poll.

At least that was the case until Stewart Mandel busted out his preseason rankings for Fox Sports on Wednesday.

10. Louisville

Expect the Cardinals, which won six of their last seven a year ago, to take a sizeable step forward in Bobby Petrino's third season. Dangerous dual-threat QB Lamar Jackson, who shredded Texas A&M in the Music City Bowl, leads the way. UL has both a deep backfield and receiving corps. Last year's Top 20 defense brings back eight starters, most notably pass rusher Devonte Fields and DT DeAngelo Brown.

Mandel has Alabama as his preseason No. 1, with ACC powers Florida State and Clemson checking in at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. U of L opponent Houston is ranked No. 20, while ACC Coastal Division favorites North Carolina and Pittsburgh show up at No. 21 and No. 25.

You can see the full top 25 here.