My thoughts on Louisville Football

[BGandBLUE]

I have wanted to post my theory about the recent success achieved by our "little step child" down I-64 for some time but felt I needed to hold these feelings until UK actually beat them....now I feel free to speak.

While normally I don't care whats happening at UL the whole new attitude that has become Louisville football fans has driven me to this point....

1) Louisville is not Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida State (well maybe not a good analogy), ect. of the football powers. You are a school that 10 years ago went 1-10 and played in a conference 1 small step above the OVC.

2) You have beaten up on a Kentucky program that in the past 4 years has been on serious NCAA probation and not that we have ever been a great power as we just beat you for our 1st win over a top 10 program in 30 years.

3) You had the greatest fortune in the past few years that Louisville parents decided to produce 2 of the most highly recruited football athletes (Brohm & Bush) in the history of Kentucky.

4) You landed, what became, the hottest coaching prospect in recent memory in Petrino, who flirted with every open job in America for several years before finally leaving. BTW John L Smith left you on your annual appearence in the Liberty Bowl for Big 10 doormat Michigan State and lasted less than 3 years.

5) You joined the weakest conference in the BCS (although the ACC has temporarily taken over that spot) but that soon will change.

6) You won a BCS bowl game against Wake Forest (need anyone say more) in the lowest rated BCS game in HISTORY...what if you had played LSU or USC? How would that have worked out?

7) Although you will probably going to continue to enjoy moderate success in the Big East you really do not need a 65,000 seat stadium because it will cause 2 things...a) You may have 1 sellout a year (Kentucky or maybe West Virginia) instead of 3 in your nice little "stadium" and b) someone may finally take you up in a home and home game series and you will be embarassed by a real football school.

My advice is be happy where you are and quit barking at bigger dogs cause someone may finally bite your @%^, and maybe next time it's Middle Tennessee.

[collision course]

I have wanted to post my theory about the recent success achieved by our "little step child" down I-64 for some time but felt I needed to hold these feelings until UK actually beat them....now I feel free to speak.

While normally I don't care whats happening at UL the whole new attitude that has become Louisville football fans has driven me to this point....

1) Louisville is not Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida State (well maybe not a good analogy), ect. of the football powers. You are a school that 10 years ago went 1-10 and played in a conference 1 small step above the OVC.

2) You have beaten up on a Kentucky program that in the past 4 years has been on serious NCAA probation and not that we have ever been a great power as we just beat you for our 1st win over a top 10 program in 30 years.

3) You had the greatest fortune in the past few years that Louisville parents decided to produce 2 of the most highly recruited football athletes (Brohm & Bush) in the history of Kentucky.

4) You landed, what became, the hottest coaching prospect in recent memory in Petrino, who flirted with every open job in America for several years before finally leaving. BTW John L Smith left you on your annual appearence in the Liberty Bowl for Big 10 doormat Michigan State and lasted less than 3 years.

5) You joined the weakest conference in the BCS (although the ACC has temporarily taken over that spot) but that soon will change.

6) You won a BCS bowl game against Wake Forest (need anyone say more) in the lowest rated BCS game in HISTORY...what if you had played LSU or USC? How would that have worked out?

7) Although you will probably going to continue to enjoy moderate success in the Big East you really do not need a 65,000 seat stadium because it will cause 2 things...a) You may have 1 sellout a year (Kentucky or maybe West Virginia) instead of 3 in your nice little "stadium" and b) someone may finally take you up in a home and home game series and you will be embarassed by a real football school.

My advice is be happy where you are and quit barking at bigger dogs cause someone may finally bite your @%^, and maybe next time it's Middle Tennessee.

1 is true
2 is also true
3 is true
4 is very true, its known now more than ever
5 true
6 true
7 PJCS is not being expanded because UL needs more seats for fans. its being expanded to make for luxury boxes to bring in more corporate money. the extra seats are nothing more than a roof for high prices loge suits.

[ShelbyvilleCathead]

Very well put BGandBlue.

[CATHYnKY]

Can I get an AMEN from my fellow WCN brothers and sisters.

[Coldstream]

On #5, at the time when they joined it was the weakest. But at this point of the season, it is not the weakest IMO. SI agrees, putting Big East as the 3rd best conference this year so far (SEC, Pac-10, Big East, ....).

[TrueblueCATfan]

Can I get an AMEN from my fellow WCN brothers and sisters.

AMEN Cathy

[Dr. H Lecter]

If Little Brother were a song they'd be "The Fortunate Son,"

They have been the most fortunate program in memory. They benefited from local connections to get some very good players who without the local affiliation would never have attended UofL. Brohms/Bush are a perfect example.

But their biggest success has been in careful scheduling of a very weak and winable schedule. PAir that with the willingness to play anywhere and any time that ESPN2 - 8 wanted. At the end of the year 8-3 is 8-3. The fact that the victories came against cream-puffs really didn't matter. And that long string of Meineke Car Car Bowl losses doesn't matter when you only say that "we've been bowling for 6 straight years."

They are a creature of marketing rather than on the field results. The win in the Fiesta Bowl is another example of pure good fortune. When every other program declined to play in it due the MLK Holiday in Arizona flap (why did Rev. Colmean give Lil Bro a pass?) UofL was able to beat a weak Alabama team...the only other team to accept a bid.

In time, everyone forgot that as in time everyone forgets that FSU was down and was beaten in a near hurricane. Miami was pathetic last season. You can say Orange Bowl Champ and in time people forget it was just against Wake Forest.

So when their marketing is all that matters your T-Shirts and bill-boards shout, "we beat Alabama, FSU, Miami and we are the '07 Orange Bowl Champs. Thats impressive...but the devil is in the details.

They squeak into much weakened BCS conference when the good teams left only a couple good teams behind. They receive the benefit of a BCS conference without having to play a true BCS level schedule.

They have not beaten ANYONE, EVER, with one exception, the West Virginia game last year where Slayton was injured. That was their best win ever IMO because WVA was the best team in the Big Least.

They are a very nice team but the program is totally a creation of marketing and hype. Tom Jurich, if anything is a master of marketing. He knows how to manipulate the press. He manipulates attendance figures.

Jurich knows that the national sports press is lazy and often just regurgitates what the local guys are saying. Jurich has kept the local sports guys in his pocket where we have often had an adversarial relationship with the local media. That negativity gets picked up by the national media and a lie told often enough becomes the truth.

Hopefully Barnhart has learned from Jurich the value of propaganda because UofL is no better overall than a Marshall or Boise St. They only lack the UofL marketing machine.