Turning Point? Cards 24 – Bulls 20
Posted by frankpos on October 26, 2008
“That’s the Ron English coming out in them.”
Eric Wood describing the blitzing intensity in the Card defense in the last two crucial defensive stands.
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Ladies and gentlemen… we have a legitimate football team.
No, I’m not proclaiming greatness, not even suggesting top 20 status quite yet.
But I’m telling you this: We have an entertaining, top 30, constantly -improving team with heart, determination–and now optimism.
And this time, I feel it’s a reality-based optimism because of three key things:
- The solid bedrock of a bend-but-not-break D, fabricated somehow out of nothing by the Man of the Football Year, Mr. Ron English,
- Success finally in a “prove it” game by both the team and its much-beleaguered head Koach, and
- The Big East is weak– pitifully so– top to bottom.
- The Card D sacked talented, scrambling QB Matt Grothe 5 times and intercepted him twice.
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This year the Cards have faced three “prove it” games– UK, UConn, and South Florida. They had flunked the first two tests. Against the Bulls, they finally passed with flying colors.
(Don’t tell me about beating ranked Cincy last year– that was no true “prove it” game when you have an NFL QB, and you go downhill after that.)
The Cards beat a favored, top 20 ranked team, with a talented, scrambling QB, and a nationally 7th ranked defense. And we did it by mounting a gutsy, game winning drive after falling behind late in the 4th quarter, and then smothering Grothe and the Bull’s O on their final two series, into a -11 yards and a game ending interception.
Our D held the league’s best offense to 14 points under their average … and a S. Fla. school record low of 8 yards rushing. 8 yds!!!
It totally reduced the Bulls’ multi-faceted O to just one dimension–passing. Then the Cards pressured the talented Grothe, sacking him 5 times, intercepting him twice, and bending but not breaking under his desparate 300+ yd aerial assault.
Meanwhile we gutted out a balanced 100+ yds rushing and 200+ passing against the nation’s 7th ranked D.
Vic Anderson scrapped for 70+ yds running, as the Card running attack went for over 100 against the nation's 6th ranked defense against the run. Yeah, we're for real.
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Was it a brilliant effort by the Cards? No, there were many creative offensive calls…but still a few head-scratching ones. The underbelly of our zone defense was exploited by Grothe, as it has been this season by others. And, we still for some reason like to have 12 men on the field–at least once a game.
No, it wasn’t brilliant, but it was certainly inspiring…and some of our old style fun was back…. with a fake punt, tons of misdirection, and long, lightning strikes downfield to streaking receivers
Coach K: “From an execution standpoint, we found a way to win. From a statistical point of view, we didn’t roll up 700 yards or a ton of points. But we did an excellent job of making timely plays and getting it done.”
Now… a steady diet of Big East teams lies ahead, with 3 of the 5 remaining games on the road. Given the devastation that took place this weekend with the league’s leading teams, a clear road to the title …astoundingly…has once again been opened for the Cards. It is not unreasonable at this point to believe U of L can win 2-3 of those games —or more.
Yes, we can still win the Big East and go to a BCS bowl.
However….we’ll have to stretch our current three-game winning streak by two more, before I’m willing to drink that kool-aid full strength. But I now confidently feel we’ll finish with 7 or 8 wins…and a bowl game. Very Importantly, this means we have strong confidence right now that we’ll have a successful season this year, based on the pre-season definition of what would constitute “success” by most Card fans.
Even more importantly– there are sound reasons to dream even higher.
After this kind of win, I wasn’t going to miss the post-game press conference….and it was worth it. The words of the players and of Koach himself were heart-felt and confident. The players love this Koach, they are proud and determined. It is obvious they painfully yearn for vindication for their Koach and for themselves with the fans and entire city.
“This is a big win for the program, a big win for the city, and a big win for Coach K,” said QB Hunter Cantwell. “He’s had a lot of opposition, but we’ve always believed in him.”
Late in the 4th quarter, his team just scored on and trailing, Hunter Cantwell directed the drive of the game, connecting on a lightning bolt to Scott Long downfield for the winning score.
Before this game, like many fans, I had strong doubts about this Koach and the direction I felt the program was going. Was this the turning point for this Koach… this program…the season? I still am not totally convinced.
But this morning, in the light of this new day, I find my eyes and my mind fully open again … to Koach, to this team and its heart,
and to the joyous, magical wonders
of what could be again.
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Besides the key reasons I mentioned above, there are other important ones that promote confidence:
Our special teams do not stink nearly as much any more. Instead of ranking, like, 116, I think we could now be considered “average.” Our kicking game has steadied. Cory Goetsche’s punting was mid 40′s solid yesterday (except for one mild shank), and Chris Philpott’s kickoffs have been longer and truer (i.e., in-bounds) lately.
Importantly, we finally “keeck a touchdown.” Yep, we made a field goal! It was bizarrely hilarious that barefoot kicker Ryan Payne was forced to make three field goals over two games to finally get one that actually counted. Then when he missed his next one, it was canceled out. So for those that are counting, that’s 4 shots at it in 2 games–and an official 1 for 1 during that span.
Another oddity: that was Ryan’s first football field goal ever–high school or college! He was a soccer star in high school and his first two yrs in college.
Oh, he’s also perfect on PAT’s.
He only had to make three field goals before they counted one for him. Walk-on and barefoot kicker Ryan Payne got his first field goal under his belt, and has helped steady the kicking game.
Everyone is healthy– particularly Scott Long. Scott came back in style, excelling with 5 receptions and 2 TD’s. The addition of another truly experienced and talented WR should help us stretch the field for more bombs. And Ryan Payne had to recover from a nagging groin injury, but now has helped shore up the kicking game.
Ryan Payne mother, Debbie McLane, and her aunt, Helen Pyles (peeking from bottom of photo), were in from So. California to catch both the S. Fla. and Mid Tenn games.
Scott Long about his dropped pass that led to Cantwell’s INT: “Hunter came to me and said, ‘You’re still my guy. I’m gonna come back to you.’ That was big for me and gave me a lot of confidence to come back and make a play to make up for it.”
Continued improvement by Hunter Cantwell, particulary interception rate. Yesterday, against a top 10 D, Hunter had only one INT–and that semi-bullet bounced out of Scott Long’s chest to allow the pick, so you can’t pin it entirely on Hunter. He played a steady, heady game.
Our “strengths” holding true, when playing a top 20 team. Statistically this season so far, our strengths are: rushing defense (ranked 10th in the country) , and rushing offense (ranked 18th.) Against the Bulls, these tested true–we were able to run effectively against the 6th ranked run D, and we shut down their vaunted running to an incredible 8 yards.
Apparently, we can truly rely on these two important cornerstones to carry us, and to build on.
The Cards brought blitzes all afternoon at key times--particularly in two end - game defensive stands.
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Some other quotes from the game:
Koach (on the special intensity of the last two defensive stands): “We wanted to pick and choose our spots to pressure (Grothe) and put blitzes in that could get to the quarterback ….we were able to get some footing inside and make him pull the ball down a couple of times and got some sacks with our inside guys. With the inside pressure, he couldn’t spin out and make some plays outside.”
Hunter Cantwell on Long’s second TD: “It was the same play (as the first TD). The corner played outside leverage and Scott didn’t try to force it outside. He just cut in and made a great catch.”
Earl Heyman:“Containing Grothe is hard, he’s a heck of a player,” “He’s a competitor and he’s got a lot of heart. He’s a tough kid, I hit him one time and he just got back up and smiled at me. When you’re out there playing against a player of that type of caliber and that type of skill you just have to keep going after him.”
Koach: (in conclusion at the post-game presser) “This Big East race is wide - smoking open.”
Yes, Koach, by golly, it sure is.
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Again , I want to thank Ky Lures for taking the pics during the game. His complete set of high resolution pics are available here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylures/sets/72157608374971261/
BTW, I sat next to Tom Heiser, the Card fan for the C-J, and was fascinated with the interactive live blogging that he was doing during the game , with his new software app, that allows readers to send email questions in real time. Ck it out: http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/cjcardsfan/blog.html
Some of the other highlight pics:
kylures said
I’d like a do over of UConn, but I’m afraid they would take away the win against Memphis if we beat UConn. Best non-bowl ranked win since WVA in 2006. I dont think Cincy was ranked very high when we beat them, maybe somewhere in the top 25. Great article. Go Cards!
Charlie Springer said
Wow, Frank. When you get going, you really get going. Tons of good stuff here. We’re going to make you a football fanatic yet. If one big win can turn you on like that, there’s no stopping you!
Sonja said
It can now safely be said that Krags and his team are in a position to have a major impact on the Big East race. Before Saturday’s game…talking with a knowledgable group of Cardinal fans…we discussed what the Cards had to do to win against the Bulls.
-Get out early and grab the lead. I’ll give them a “B” in that regard. USF struck first, but we came back just fine from that and took the lead into the locker room at halftime. The Cantwell to Long hookup was electric.
-Stop Grothe and the passing attack.
We get a “C” here, because he did throw for almost 350 on us, but we did have 2 picks and shut him down in the final 2 USF offensive series.
-Establish a running game.
Another “C” 116 yards isn’t a Sportscenter highlight, but Victor broke a couple of nice ones, and the stats look much better than USF’s 8 total yards on the ground.
-Hold on late with a lead
A “B” here, because although USF regained the lead early in the 4th quarter, we marched back to wrestle it away from them, and then shut them down offensively in the final 7 minutes.
-Contain George Selvie
Another “B” here. He got to us early with a couple of sacks and tackles for losses, but we contained him pretty well the final 3 quarters.
How does all this play out for the rest of the season? Let’s look at it one game at a time. Syracuse should be another win for us. It may not be the romp a lot of fans were predicting Saturday night, because it is there, they’re playing for pride and a spoiler tag and let’s not forget last year’s embarrasment against them. Still, we get out of there with a “W”.
Pitt is much tougher to judge. Will we see the Panthers that folded against Rutgers Saturday or the 5-2 Panthers that looked like a contender earlier in the year? The Panthers are dangerous with their running game, but their pass defense looks pretty weak. IF we can win it up there, it’ll be a close one, and I expect a slew of points to be displayed at Heinz.
Cincy is another of those mystery teams. They couldn’t stop UConn and Donald Brown Saturday, and have no apparant running game of their own, but they’re 5-2 and can’t be overlooked. If we can squeak by them, we’re an unbelievable 8-2. How many of you would have predicted that in the preseason?
West Virginia has started to emerge from their shell, and has to be considered the toughest game left on the schedule. The Auburn beatdown was plain nasty, and if they can keep Pat White healthy for this one, it’ll be a slugfest in Papa John’s. Let’s see how they do at UConn Saturday..it’ll give us an idea on how they cope with an excellent tailback and a better than average defense.
Ending the year at Rutgers isn’t excactly the best way for us to complete this season, they’re another team that’s beginning to change from caterpillar to butterfly. Mike Teel had a career game against Pitt, and all he has to do is watch how Grothe had success against us to duplicate that effort. Their fans will want this one bad, and the Cards will need a big defensive effort and both the running and passing game performing at full strength to steal one on the road.
8-4. It’s possible. 9-3 is attainable. 7-5 would be a bit disappoining, but most likely would get us to a bowl. A world of challenges await in the final five of the year, and if we can continue to build on the momentum of the Middle Tennessee and USF wins, this Cardinal Express could steamroll its way into a top 1 or 2 finish in the Big East. Anybody want a “do-over” against UConn granted?