In one of the biggest games of the season, Louisville football lost a heart-breaker to Clemson. Here are five overreactions from the team’s Week 3 game.
Week 3 of the college football season is one that many Louisville Cardinals fans would like to soon forget.
After hosting ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show and being unanimously picked to upset ACC rivals Clemson in front of their home crowd, Bobby Petrino’s Cardinals squad laid an egg in prime-time.
The Cardinals defense couldn’t stop Clemson’s running or passing game, and Petrino high-powered offense largely fell flat.
The team’s wide receivers couldn’t get open, and the Cardinals’ running game was largely non-existent, which forced Lamar Jackson into incredibly tough situations, and resulted in four sacks.
In a game that many viewed as a proverbial measuring stick of ACC heavyweights, Clemson looked like the clear-cut better team, and Louisville looked lost.
It’s incredibly disappointing to consider that the Cardinals will in all likelihood find themselves outside of the College Football Playoff for the fifth consecutive season, especially when you consider that this is in all likelihood Lamar Jackson’s last year on campus.
While the Cardinals could still make a push for the postseason if they remain undefeated for the remainder of the season and catch some lucky breaks across the college football landscape, their margin for error is now non-existent with every game is essentially serving as an elimination bout
With that in mind, sometimes it’s fun to overreact to the little things in a game, especially is such an important game, so here are five complete overreactions to Louisville’s Week 3 loss to Clemson.
5. Did Louisville fall victim to the College GameDay curse?
When ESPN announced that its College GameDay program was going to be come to Louisville, Ky., for a Week 3 showdown of ACC stalwarts, the Clemson Tigers and the Louisville Cardinals, excitement was at an all-time high.
Signs were awesome, people cheered and hope was in the air.
Every college town loves to be placed in the national spotlight and show off their passionate fan base, game day atmosphere and flare in front of the cameras, and hear the predictions of Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Rece Davis and Desmond Howard.
And emotions were almost palpable.
After hyping up the matchup, only the fourth time in history that a former Heisman Trophy winner had faced off against a national champion, the crew prepared for their predictions.
Of the GameDay pundits, Howard, guest picker Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino and Lee Corse, a former Louisville head coach from 1969 to 1972, unanimously predicted that the Cardnials would pull off the upset at home against the Tigers while Corso waved confidently at his jubilant observers while wearing Louie the Cardinal’s mascot head.
And then the Cardinals lost.
Well I’m not saying there is definitely a College GameDay curse, for years fans across the nation have watched their favorite team be selected by Corso and company only to be disappointed the end of regulation.
In the superstitious world of college football, any advantage, imagine or not is crucial to a game’s outcome, and if Louisville has any chance of making it to the college football playoffs in 2017 let’s hope GameDay doesn’t return to Louisville, Ky.
4. Clemson won at the line of scrimmage
There’s an old adage in football that the game is often won in the trenches, and on Saturday, the Clemson Tigers won that battle consistently on both sides of the ball.
Clemson’s defensive line performed at a near professional level, shutting down Louisville rushing game, which was held to only 116 yards on 27 carries, and consistently pressuring Lamar Jackson on seemingly every play.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Tigers’ line held Louisville’s pass rush largely at bay for much of the day, only surrendering four sacks on 81 offensive snaps.
Without having to worry about pressure, the Tigers’ junior quarterback Kelly Bryant was able to throw for 316 yards on 22 completions and a touchdown and the team’s running game, led by Travis Etienne and Tavien Feaster rushed for an insane 297 yards on 48 carries and four touchdowns.
As college football teams begin to recruit smaller and more athletic players to combat the spread schemes, Clemson has instead chosen to recruit big, 300-plus pound men to fill in their lines, which has allowed them to bully opponents at the line of scrimmage.
Even though Louisville had the better player in Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, Clemson has built a better team, with a hard-nosed philosophy on both sides of the ball, and that’s not something that can change overnight.
If Louisville is ever going to be able to compete pound-for-pound against Clemson, it will need to start recruiting bigger and tougher players in the trenches.
3. Where is the Cardinals’ running game?
The Louisville Cardinals rush the ball 27 times for 116 yards and no touchdowns in their Week 3 loss to Clemson.
While these are terrible numbers, when you remove Lamar Jackson’s rushing total, 17 rushes for 64 yards, we find an incredibly problematic stat.
Coach Petrino’s running back corps, led by Malik Williams, only carried the ball 10 times for an anemic 52 yards on the game.
While Clemson’s defensive line is one of the best in college football, it’s incredibly worrisome to think that the Cardinals rushed the ball 20 less times than their Week 3 opponent.
Related Story: Is Lamar Jackson a sure-fire franchise quarterback?
One way many spread offenses with athletic quarterbacks attack opposing defenses is with read option, or run pass option plays, but for team like Louisville, who doesn’t have a true No. 1 running back threat, these plays become completely predictable, ultimately ineffective.
Without the presence of a true lead runner, Jackson is often forced to make plays himself, and while he is incredibly talented, arguably the best player in college football, this can be taxing on such a young player and makes the Cards’ offense one-dimensional.
For much of Saturday’s game, Clemson sat in zone coverage, blanketing Louisville’s receivers and forcing Jackson to scramble around.
While a consistent running game could effectively defeat this defensive philosophy, either the team doesn’t have the personnel needed to accomplish this feat, or coach Bobby Petrino simply doesn’t have the confidence in his players to attempt them.
The best teams in college football can win games off of a strong running game, and unfortunately for Jackson, this doesn’t appear to be the case for the Cardinals.
2. Has Louisville wasted the best QB in the program’s history?
Lamar Jackson is without a doubt one of best quarterbacks, and maybe one of the best players period, to ever wear the Louisville black and red.
After amassing an amazing 6,471 yards in the air, 2,834 yards on the ground and 85 total touchdowns over only 28 games in Louisville, Jackson became the only Heisman Trophy winner in program history, a feat that he could again compete for this season.
But after Louisville lost to ACC rival Clemson, it would appear that the team’s chances of making an appearance in the 2017 College Football Playoff are officially dead for the second year in a row, all about eliminating them from national championship contention.
Which is a shame.
While Jackson does possess once-in-a-generation athleticism, the likes of which haven’t been seen in college football since Michael Vick suited up for the Virginia Tech Hokies from 1998 to 2000, Bobby Petrino has never fielded a strong enough team around him to truly compete for a title.
Unlike Clemson, which has an almost professional-quality supporting cast and allowed first-year starting quarterback Kelly Bryant to easily assimilate into their scheme, Jackson often is forced to two create the Cardinal’s entire offensive production himself, a tough task to ask a 20-year-old kid.
As Jackson is sure to leave Louisville for the greener pastures of the NFL after this season, it’s a shame that his tenure with the Cardinals was effectively wasted, with nothing to show for it but a couple of mid-level bowl appearances.
1. Jackson’s mom should never ever go to a game again — kidding
Lamar Jackson’s mom has done a lot to making him the man he is today.
After struggling early on in life in high school, Felicia Jones moved her family to Boynton Beach, Fla., so that her son could attend Boynton Beach Community High School to ensure that he would be in the best environment to grow not only as a football player, but as a man.
After effectively redshirting during his sophomore year of high school, Jackson started his final two years at quarterback for the Boyton Bengal Tigers.
This experience not only helped him to develop as a quarterback physically, but also mentally and is largely why he decided to go to Louisville.
While schools like Oregon offered Jackson a more traditional, up-tempo spread offense, Jackson wanted to learn under head coach Bobby Petrino, and develop as a pocket passer in order to improve his eventual NFL draft stock.
And it worked, because Jackson is currently one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the nation, a Heisman Trophy winner and in the conversation for first-round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft.
But one thing holding him his team back from the ultimate success they desire could be Jackson’s own mother.
Felicia Jones has only attended two of her son’s college football games person twice, in last season’s Week 3 loss to Florida State and in Louisville’s heartbreaking Week 3 loss to Clemson this season.
In a game filled with superstition, one has to wonder if Lamar Jackson’s loving mother is the reason they are losing.
This may sound crazy, but stranger things have happened, and for the sake of Louisville and the entire Cardinal’s program, Felicia Jones should be kept out of all future Louisville games at all cost.
If the Cardinals lose another game in 2017 they are effectively eliminated from playoff contention this year, and in what will probably be Jackson’s final season on campus that would be a shame.
**Disclaimer**
This page is pure sarcasm.
While it is a strange coincidence that Felicia Jones was present at arguably the two worst games of Jackson’s career, this is purely coincidental.
Next: NFL Mock Draft 2018: Complete first round after Week 2
Ms. Jones should be proud of her son’s accomplishments and is 100 percent welcome at any game she chooses to attend.