Louisville's Inside Slant
Which team is going to take the field for Louisville this weekend? The unit that looked overwhelmed and out of its league in falling behind 20-6 in the first half of the season opener against Kentucky, or the one that battled the Wildcats tooth and nail after intermission before going down to a 23-16 defeat?
For the Cardinals to win, even against a lower-division opponent, the answer has to be the latter. As several players and coaches pointed out after the loss to the Wildcats, this team isn't good enough that it can pick and choose when it wants to play and still come out on top.
And while head coach Charlie Strong gave himself and the coaching staff their share of the blame, saying that they didn't have their team ready to match the Wildcats intensity early, he's also looking for a lot of improvement from his players.
One key thing to watch against Eastern Kentucky this weekend is the Cardinals performance in the red zone. Strong lamented that his team had to settle for field goals against Kentucky, and he'll be looking to get a lot more touchdowns on Saturday. One key for that will be finding receivers who can avoid the multiple dropped passes that plagued the team in the opener, while also getting a more solid performance from quarterback Adam Froman.
Defensively, the Cardinals settled down after a rough start. Four true freshmen saw action, and getting everyone up to speed with the system and with each other is going to be a season-long storyline.
Eastern Kentucky would seem to be a good opponent to help the Cardinals get well, but the Colonials do have the status as the last lower-division team to beat Louisville. Of course, that was in 1985, but given the inexperience and lack of depth at key positions, Louisville doesn't have the talent to mail it in against anyone, something that became painfully clear in the first few minutes last weekend.
