I assure you:   This is NOT a rumor about Jon Gruden coming to U of L.

This is simply one man’s reasoned ruminations, one might say, as a business owner —and a former owner of a exec search firm.  If I was Tom Jurich, I would:

• Give my current Koach his 3rd year with certain expectations about the team at least  playing hard and showing progress.
• As TJ, I might even have seen a few good things in that defeat to UK. But …the second half of that Pitt game might have really pissed me off, since our team quit playing hard and in effect gave up.
• I would have decided to start the search process then, given the 1-2 record at that time, and the ugliness of the Pitt game.

• I’d concentrate on my #1 target, and make him an offer.  I think TJ’s #1 target is Gruden.  I think I’d offer him somewhere around, oh say,  $3.8 mil/yr.
• While negotiations are going on with #1 candidate,  I’d still be in on-going contact with my other top candidates too.
• If my top candidate  committed, I’d have him start lining up his staff right now, so they could hit the ground running immediately on recruiting, etc. as soon as a coaching change was announced.
• If the #1 target is indeed Jon Gruden,  I’d probably allow him to  make his brother, Jay Gruden, the OC, because of his proven track record and history with U of L.  I might also allow him to bring in  others he is familiar with, that have U of L connections and proven records of success– say someone like a Mark Sander.

• I would have Coach Nord handle most of the visits and contacts with recruits right now– he is the one most likely to be retained from the current coaching staff.  I’d have him emphasize the recruit is committing to U of L, not the coaching staff.

• Once negotiations are concluded with my #1 candidate, I’d be ready to announce it at any time–but I’d probably wait until the current Koach is statistically assured of a losing season.  This may occur as soon as after the Syracuse game, or almost surely after we play South Florida.
• So, if I was Jurich, I’d probably be ready to make my announcement as soon as the South Florida game…which happens to also be where my #1 target, Jon Gruden, lives.
• And if my #1 coaching candidate had committed to U of L by that South Florida game, well then  heck, I think I’d make my announcement then, just so I wouldn’t lose any time on recruitment.

Yep, now that I think about it some, that’s what I believe I would do if I was Tom Jurich…

Well, the Halloween Game was not quite the bizarro fest that many had imagined.  But it was scary nevertheless…

There was only a sprinkling of costumes, just a few  Bag Krag bags were to be seen,  there was no cold drizzling downpour–and walk-on QB Will Stein was not pummeled.  In fact, he performed capably,  guiding the Cards to a 21-13 win over Arkansas St.

However…. here comes the really scary part:  Only half of Papa John’s stadium was filled for this game.

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When we reached our max # in attendance–about 10 minutes after kickoff , as usual — there was an OFFICIAL attendance announced by Paul Rodgers of just over 21,000.  I took the photo above with my iphone at this time.  This was the smallest crowd in the history of the stadium.

At halftime, with the game still much in doubt–and the sun  now out full– the crowd was down to 1/3 full (12,000).    With still nice weather and 4 minutes remaining –and Ark St driving for a potential tying TD– there were at most 3,000 people in the whole stadium–I kid you not.

Third String, walk-on QB Will Stein points to supporters after the Cards' first TD. At 5'8" or thereabouts, Will is easily the shortest--and only--starting QB in FBS under 6' tall this season.

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To top it off, Eric Crawford comes into the post game presser and shows me a pic he took of the B & W Club just as the game ended–it was VACANT and they were already VACUUMING.

Never have seen  either of these things before…..

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Matt (KyKures) snapped photos for Hell in the Hall as usual:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kylures/sets/72157622581404037/

I’ll select and post certain shots tomorrow…

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Scott Long was (logically) Stein's fav target in 3rd down situations, and led the Cards with 6 receptions.

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I could describe the turning points in the game and sling stats at you.  But I’ll let others regurgitate that–frankly, we’re past most of that now in this season, aren’t we really?

Our three victories have all been struggles against middling teams in mid-major conferences –or below.   The last umpteen Big East teams over the last two seasons have annihilated us by a average of more than 20 pts per game.

This will be a losing season–again.  We all know this stone-cold fact now.

Trent Guy was his usual multi-purpose threat, padding his kickoff return duties with 4 pass receptions.

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Just as Koach swings slowly in the wind, so do we as fans.  The games?  Sadly, almost meaningless as we slog toward a  3-9 or 4-8 quagmire.

As best we can, we celebrate  certain players and the rare glimpses of greatness –or of at least great effort.

But now it takes real effort for  ardent fans to watch this train wreck in slow motion… and that is the greatest sadness and shame, when we have witnessed far better over more than a decade.

And things are about to get much tougher again, with a little visit to WVU and a certain Mr. Devine looming.

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Blue chip freshman Darius Ashley leaped into the end zone at the end of a 26 yd run , for the Cards' first score. He added another TD later to lead U of L.

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Some interesting comments from the Arkansas AD and members of his party who saw Papa John’s for the first time.

Ark St. has played practice dummy for many of the best teams in the nation as it turns out– they’ve played at Tennessee,  Alabama, and Michigan.

And yet, after mentioning those storied, large stadiums, they all marveled at Papa John’s stadium and the facilities thye had seen on their visit.

“All of those seats have chair backs to them, ” one of them exclaimed. “You go to Tennessee,  there’s a lot of people, but you have to sit on a wood bench.”

Well, fellow Card fans…we’ve got chair backs going for us, big time….

There were a few that wore costumes....

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A few words about the player who probably came away feeling the worst from last night’s game.

Barefoot kicker Ryan Payne missed two field goals, both within 40 yds.  He has to hit those , no excuses.

A little background though:  Ryan battled swine flu all week.  Wasn’t even sure he could/would play.  Had 103 fever at game time.

Koach had him try his first field goal in the second half  from 36 yds–which is near his max of about 43 yds.

When he missed that one, it obviously shook him…and then the next one soon thereafter  was to clinch the game.

It would have made more sense letting Ryan hit the chip shot at the end of the first half, to give a sick player some  confidence first, and when frankly common sense said to go for 3 anyway.  He had made all his extra point tries, so why not?  As it turned out , the Card didn’t make it on the low % 4th down try and it was a big momentum killer right before half time.  And the Cards did not score in the second half.

Or…in place of a sick player, why not use Chris Philpott, who was obviously healthy and kicking off, and who had been #1 field goal kicker right up to his first game suspension.

Questionable   Koaching IMO did not help Ryan Payne tonight…

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The post -game presser:

Let me say that even the press is going through the motions at this point. The questioning is half-hearted.  The interest luke-warm.

Everyone knows the Koach is a dead man walking–  we watch him play his forced role and  listen to him respectfully as we play our own roles, politely as we wait.  I do not think the questioning will be tough until K has  lost enough games to insure another losing season.  Then the press fangs may come out some.

For having just won a game, K looked strangely upset and irritated at this presser.

As Will Stein was being interviewed, he poked his head in and with a pissed look on his face, made a motion to Rocco to move things along faster –which I hadn’t seen him do before.

Then, when he came in, he still looked pissed, while answering questions. I even asked him if anything irritated him about the game, and he said no, that we had won, and then he showed one of his few forced smiles of the press conference.

He took few questions, and then cut off any further questions quite abruptly.

The man looks under strain — a lot of strain.

…….And we all swing with him slowly as this sad season grinds on…..