I refuse to panic

[Cardfan1937]

I am like most of you. I am not happy with our football record. I really like most of what I saw Saturday against Virginia by the defense and special teams. We had a young corner that did not react well to his assignment but I am sure that that can be repaired in time one way or another.

Everything gets down to the offense. Coach has accepted all of the responsibility for their lack of performance, both players and coaches. The assistant coaches and the players must accept their responsibility for their lack of performances as well.

The offensive line gave, for the most part, adequate time for our quarterbacks to successfully complete their assignments, whether passing or handing the ball off. Running the ball in our offense is predicated on the ability of our offense to be successful in passing the ball. Currently, defenses have stacked the box to stop the run, unafraid of our ability to have much success throwing.

Do any of you believe that our receivers lack skills necessary to be successful? Lots of speed, experience, and talent.

Do you believe that our head coach, nationally known for his offensive skills for his offense and play calling, has forgotten how to develop effective and potent passing teams? Not a chance.

It all gets down to our quarterback play. Both have shown their lack of experience in running the offense, under pressure. They have a tendency to hold the ball too long. They seem to not be able to lead their receivers and wait too long for them to come open. It is quiet different throwing in practice against our defense and throwing in a game under pressure. They just do not seem to see the entire field as they make their decisions.

There seems to be an "elephant" in the room that will have to be addressed. I thing that Coach Bobby knows this better than any of us. He will find a way to solve it soon. I have every confidence in him. Like I said at the beginning, I refuse to panic.

 

[wilkie01]

Proofs in the pudding!

 

[CardX]

11/17/16- Houston dismantles the Cards. The Cards are 10-10 since then. Fluke or a trend?

 

[Rollem Cards]

Nothing we can do about any of it anyway.

Just watch and wait.

 

[STLNBSE]

11/17/16- Houston dismantles the Cards. The Cards are 10-10 since then. Fluke or a trend?

So, in other words, we are 3-4 wins off what would generally be considered successful.

 

[beantowncard]

Proofs in the pudding!

The proof OF the pudding is in the tasting.

 

[BPGhost]

I am like most of you. I am not happy with our football record. I really like most of what I saw Saturday against Virginia by the defense and special teams. We had a young corner that did not react well to his assignment but I am sure that that can be repaired in time one way or another.

Everything gets down to the offense. Coach has accepted all of the responsibility for their lack of performance, both players and coaches. The assistant coaches and the players must accept their responsibility for their lack of performances as well.

The offensive line gave, for the most part, adequate time for our quarterbacks to successfully complete their assignments, whether passing or handing the ball off. Running the ball in our offense is predicated on the ability of our offense to be successful in passing the ball. Currently, defenses have stacked the box to stop the run, unafraid of our ability to have much success throwing.

Do any of you believe that our receivers lack skills necessary to be successful? Lots of speed, experience, and talent.

Do you believe that our head coach, nationally known for his offensive skills for his offense and play calling, has forgotten how to develop effective and potent passing teams? Not a chance.

It all gets down to our quarterback play. Both have shown their lack of experience in running the offense, under pressure. They have a tendency to hold the ball too long. They seem to not be able to lead their receivers and wait too long for them to come open. It is quiet different throwing in practice against our defense and throwing in a game under pressure. They just do not seem to see the entire field as they make their decisions.

Their seems to be an "elephant" in the room that will have to be addressed. I thing that Coach Bobby knows this better than any of us. He will find a way to solve it soon. I have every confidence in him. Like I said at the beginning, I refuse to panic.

My comments about the ineffectiveness to date of the WRs are these. First, they seem to lack the ability to gain separation from defenders on a routine basis. Second, for bigger guys (not necessarily possession receivers) they struggle with catching the ball in traffic and almost never use their physical size advantage over smaller DBs to their advantage. With that said, I think that most of this comes down to play calling and Petrino's inability to spread the defense out and make them defend the entire field as he did in his first stint here.

I can't remember when the last time a slant pattern was run or thrown. Teams with WRs the size and relative speed of UofL's utilize the WR screen - Clemson does it all of the time - why doesn't Petrino? Jet sweeps, naked bootlegs and throwing to a TE dragging the field - these were all successful staples of Petrino 1.0's offense - when is the last time we have seen any of those called / run successfully? If defenses have to cover both sides of the field quickly - it opens up the middle for the RBs as well as those trick plays that Petrino was famous for - fake hand off and QB hiding the ball on his hip and then throwing down the field to name just one.

I hate to sound like a broken record but in Petrino's first tenure at UofL every game there were several plays where guys just were running 10 - 15 yards free of defenders - that just doesn't happen and it's not because UofL doesn't have talented players.

 

[nccardfan]

I am like most of you. I am not happy with our football record. I really like most of what I saw Saturday against Virginia by the defense and special teams. We had a young corner that did not react well to his assignment but I am sure that that can be repaired in time one way or another.

Everything gets down to the offense. Coach has accepted all of the responsibility for their lack of performance, both players and coaches. The assistant coaches and the players must accept their responsibility for their lack of performances as well.

The offensive line gave, for the most part, adequate time for our quarterbacks to successfully complete their assignments, whether passing or handing the ball off. Running the ball in our offense is predicated on the ability of our offense to be successful in passing the ball. Currently, defenses have stacked the box to stop the run, unafraid of our ability to have much success throwing.

Do any of you believe that our receivers lack skills necessary to be successful? Lots of speed, experience, and talent.

Do you believe that our head coach, nationally known for his offensive skills for his offense and play calling, has forgotten how to develop effective and potent passing teams? Not a chance.

It all gets down to our quarterback play. Both have shown their lack of experience in running the offense, under pressure. They have a tendency to hold the ball too long. They seem to not be able to lead their receivers and wait too long for them to come open. It is quiet different throwing in practice against our defense and throwing in a game under pressure. They just do not seem to see the entire field as they make their decisions.

Their seems to be an "elephant" in the room that will have to be addressed. I thing that Coach Bobby knows this better than any of us. He will find a way to solve it soon. I have every confidence in him. Like I said at the beginning, I refuse to panic.

Unintentionally or maybe intentionally, you have focused on QB play and the inability to make reads and plays. Since both seem to have faults I think I know where the issue lies, the QB coach. Why not swallow some pride and get a guy like Kyle Bolin or a recent QB grad assistant that’s actually played college QB. Kids nowadays need you to prove yourself to them. They respect you more if you played the game, maybe not from a HC perspective but from a specialty coaching position, I think it matters.

 

[CardX]

So, in other words, we are 3-4 wins off what would generally be considered successful.

Yes, and 3-4 losses from being a complete disaster.

 

[wilkie01]

11/17/16- Houston dismantles the Cards. The Cards are 10-10 since then. Fluke or a trend?

Trend

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

Right or wrong. This is the kinda guy you want on your side when shit gets real!

 

[BPGhost]

Unintentionally or maybe intentionally, you have focused on QB play and the inability to make reads and plays. Since both seem to have faults I think I know where the issue lies, the QB coach. Why not swallow some pride and get a guy like Kyle Bolin or a recent QB grad assistant that’s actually played college QB. Kids nowadays need you to prove yourself to them. They respect you more if you played the game, maybe not from a HC perspective but from a specialty coaching position, I think it matters.

I think that you are spot on. A quick look at some of Nick Petrino's QB coaching "peers" in the ACC - list guys that in addition to playing QB at the collegiate level, all (but one exception that I found) have been at least QB coaches with most having been OCs in high D1 programs -known for their offense - for multiple years.

The one exception? John Richt - Mark's son - at Miami. Miami has had a trend lately of highly rated - yet wildly inconsistent - QBs. That is of course not a shot at, or reflection of, one of my all time favorite Cardinals - LJ. In fact, I think LJ excelled despite having NP as his QB coach.

 

[Knucklehank1]

I think that you are spot on. A quick look at some of Nick Petrino's QB coaching "peers" in the ACC - list guys that in addition to playing QB at the collegiate level, all (but one exception that I found) have been at least QB coaches with most having been OCs in high D1 programs -known for their offense - for multiple years.

The one exception? John Richt - Mark's son - at Miami. Miami has had a trend lately of highly rated - yet wildly inconsistent - QBs. That is of course not a shot at, or reflection of, one of my all time favorite Cardinals - LJ. In fact, I think LJ excelled despite having NP as his QB coach.

Take a look at the coaching staff as a whole and compare it to most top 25 programs. Not even close. To me, Miami was the other staff that seemed to be really lacking in credentials.

 

[EKYCard643]

Again...its easy to look at Petrino's record and talk about how much capital he's built up and how successful he's been if you don't put things in context and if you put a ton of stock in his career pre-2013.

Petrino was never a liked coach by the college football community. Just google "most hated coaches in college football" and he'll be near the top of every list. But post Arkansas-Falcons Petrino is a much different beast. Both mentally and perception wise.

75-26 pre-Arkansas embarrassment
44-24 post Arkansas embarrassment

He can't maintain a staff, he's hired numerous family members and had numerous people happily leave his staff due to issues dealing with working with Bobby.

So...if we simply look at Petrino 2.0 as a coach completely separate from Petrino 1.0.....he's been a decent coach, not great. I've posted on here time and time again various breakdowns of his record. To put it mildly has drastically more bad losses (UVA twice, BC, Wake, UK),than he does good wins and we get embarrassed every time we play a quality team on national tv.

Consider all of that and remember that he had the most electric player in college football for 3 years.

Petrino has kept UL on the cusp of relevancy without raising the bar or bottoming the program out. But this idea that UL would be fools to fire him is filled with pre-Arkansas debacle ideas of Petrino IMO.

Make no mistake....Louisville football is bottoming out. The players don't want to play for Petrino and recruiting is suffering terribly. So, lets say UL finishes 4-8, the ULAA can either wait and see if Petrino turns it around and completely changes the mentality of the locker room while also bringing in a sub-par recruiting class AND watch his buyout go up after this year and watch the stadium be less than 30,000 deep all year.....or they could cut the cord now, start the rebuild, save some money on the buyout and get a "Chris Mack" for our football program.

 

[CardsFirst]

I am like most of you. I am not happy with our football record. I really like most of what I saw Saturday against Virginia by the defense and special teams. We had a young corner that did not react well to his assignment but I am sure that that can be repaired in time one way or another.

Everything gets down to the offense. Coach has accepted all of the responsibility for their lack of performance, both players and coaches. The assistant coaches and the players must accept their responsibility for their lack of performances as well.

The offensive line gave, for the most part, adequate time for our quarterbacks to successfully complete their assignments, whether passing or handing the ball off. Running the ball in our offense is predicated on the ability of our offense to be successful in passing the ball. Currently, defenses have stacked the box to stop the run, unafraid of our ability to have much success throwing.

Do any of you believe that our receivers lack skills necessary to be successful? Lots of speed, experience, and talent.

Do you believe that our head coach, nationally known for his offensive skills for his offense and play calling, has forgotten how to develop effective and potent passing teams? Not a chance.

It all gets down to our quarterback play. Both have shown their lack of experience in running the offense, under pressure. They have a tendency to hold the ball too long. They seem to not be able to lead their receivers and wait too long for them to come open. It is quiet different throwing in practice against our defense and throwing in a game under pressure. They just do not seem to see the entire field as they make their decisions.

Their seems to be an "elephant" in the room that will have to be addressed. I thing that Coach Bobby knows this better than any of us. He will find a way to solve it soon. I have every confidence in him. Like I said at the beginning, I refuse to panic.

Has Bobby forgotten? No. But he can’t coach every player and position on the team. And I would argue that the O-line is doing their job. They constantly get pushed around. Good grief man we had the ball on the 3 yard line and couldn’t punch it in. That’s on the line. It just got magnified under that circumstance. But it’s also on the RB and receivers too. QBs clearly aren’t prepared that’s coaching. It’s all coaching. And Bobby cannot be a one man show. Oh yeah play calling has sucked refer to my above example.

 

[CardsFirst]

Again...its easy to look at Petrino's record and talk about how much capital he's built up and how successful he's been if you don't put things in context and if you put a ton of stock in his career pre-2013.

Petrino was never a liked coach by the college football community. Just google "most hated coaches in college football" and he'll be near the top of every list. But post Arkansas-Falcons Petrino is a much different beast. Both mentally and perception wise.

75-26 pre-Arkansas embarrassment
44-24 post Arkansas embarrassment

He can't maintain a staff, he's hired numerous family members and had numerous people happily leave his staff due to issues dealing with working with Bobby.

So...if we simply look at Petrino 2.0 as a coach completely separate from Petrino 1.0.....he's been a decent coach, not great. I've posted on here time and time again various breakdowns of his record. To put it mildly has drastically more bad losses (UVA twice, BC, Wake, UK),than he does good wins and we get embarrassed every time we play a quality team on national tv.

Consider all of that and remember that he had the most electric player in college football for 3 years.

Petrino has kept UL on the cusp of relevancy without raising the bar or bottoming the program out. But this idea that UL would be fools to fire him is filled with pre-Arkansas debacle ideas of Petrino IMO.

Make no mistake....Louisville football is bottoming out. The players don't want to play for Petrino and recruiting is suffering terribly. So, lets say UL finishes 4-8, the ULAA can either wait and see if Petrino turns it around and completely changes the mentality of the locker room while also bringing in a sub-par recruiting class AND watch his buyout go up after this year and watch the stadium be less than 30,000 deep all year.....or they could cut the cord now, start the rebuild, save some money on the buyout and get a "Chris Mack" for our football program.

Excellent post and couldn’t agree more.

 

[PushupMan]

Make no mistake....Louisville football is bottoming out. The players don't want to play for Petrino and recruiting is suffering terribly. So, lets say UL finishes 4-8, the ULAA can either wait and see if Petrino turns it around and completely changes the mentality of the locker room while also bringing in a sub-par recruiting class AND watch his buyout go up after this year and watch the stadium be less than 30,000 deep all year.....or they could cut the cord now, start the rebuild, save some money on the buyout and get a "Chris Mack" for our football program.

You lost all credibility when you said his buyout goes up after this year. Anyone who knows anything about how those negotiations regarding a buyout works will tell you that the negotiation starts at the full potential future value that you would be depriving Petrino from earning. Whether you fire him now or wait, that future value will include all potential raises, including any buyout increase.

Firing someone to avoid a future pay increase would be grounds for a lawsuit, one which the university would no doubt lose.

There is no urgency to fire the man, despite that “horrible” 44-24 récord since arkansas.

 

[nccardfan]

Has Bobby forgotten? No. But he can’t coach every player and position on the team. And I would argue that the O-line is doing their job. They constantly get pushed around. Good grief man we had the ball on the 3 yard line and couldn’t punch it in. That’s on the line. It just got magnified under that circumstance. But it’s also on the RB and receivers too. QBs clearly aren’t prepared that’s coaching. It’s all coaching. And Bobby cannot be a one man show. Oh yeah play calling has sucked refer to my above example.

Sorry, but what was your point? What’s your solution?

 

[kentuckyshame]

Again...its easy to look at Petrino's record and talk about how much capital he's built up and how successful he's been if you don't put things in context and if you put a ton of stock in his career pre-2013.

Petrino was never a liked coach by the college football community. Just google "most hated coaches in college football" and he'll be near the top of every list. But post Arkansas-Falcons Petrino is a much different beast. Both mentally and perception wise.

75-26 pre-Arkansas embarrassment
44-24 post Arkansas embarrassment

He can't maintain a staff, he's hired numerous family members and had numerous people happily leave his staff due to issues dealing with working with Bobby.

So...if we simply look at Petrino 2.0 as a coach completely separate from Petrino 1.0.....he's been a decent coach, not great. I've posted on here time and time again various breakdowns of his record. To put it mildly has drastically more bad losses (UVA twice, BC, Wake, UK),than he does good wins and we get embarrassed every time we play a quality team on national tv.

Consider all of that and remember that he had the most electric player in college football for 3 years.

Petrino has kept UL on the cusp of relevancy without raising the bar or bottoming the program out. But this idea that UL would be fools to fire him is filled with pre-Arkansas debacle ideas of Petrino IMO.

Make no mistake....Louisville football is bottoming out. The players don't want to play for Petrino and recruiting is suffering terribly. So, lets say UL finishes 4-8, the ULAA can either wait and see if Petrino turns it around and completely changes the mentality of the locker room while also bringing in a sub-par recruiting class AND watch his buyout go up after this year and watch the stadium be less than 30,000 deep all year.....or they could cut the cord now, start the rebuild, save some money on the buyout and get a "Chris Mack" for our football program.

im confused. you said "the players dont want to play for petrino" yet he recruited every guy on this team.

 

[EKYCard643]

im confused. you said "the players dont want to play for petrino" yet he recruited every guy on this team.

Yeah, thats a problem isn't it?

 

[kentuckyshame]

Yeah, thats a problem isn't it?

i gues you missed the point. why would good recruits keep coming here if they dont want to play for Petrino?

 

[EKYCard643]

i gues you missed the point. why would good recruits keep coming here if they dont want to play for Petrino?

Dunno. Petrino isn't really bringing in a high volume of elite stars....he's taking kids that's more risky in the hopes of being able to coach them up. I would assume a lot of kids that come to play for Louisville come because of their position coach or their coordinator not because of Bobby Petrino and, those coordinators and positions coaches get changed quiet a bit under Petrino.

I don't know the answer. Watch the tape of the last 3 games and look at the body language and effort of the team both in the game and on the sidelines. Lots of confusion, lots of smiles and lack caring and effort. Alex Kupper even brought it up on the radio show on Saturday. I don't know the answer and I don't know the fix all I know is that this team doesn't seem to care.

 

[CardsFirst]

Has Bobby forgotten? No. But he can’t coach every player and position on the team. And I would argue that the O-line is doing their job. They constantly get pushed around. Good grief man we had the ball on the 3 yard line and couldn’t punch it in. That’s on the line. It just got magnified under that circumstance. But it’s also on the RB and receivers too. QBs clearly aren’t prepared that’s coaching. It’s all coaching. And Bobby cannot be a one man show. Oh yeah play calling has sucked refer to my above example.

Sorry, but what was your point? What’s your solution?

It was in response to CardFan

 

[Louis III]

I'm not panicking, but I think we are lacking awareness at several levels......

I counted at least 10 times on Saturday where they were playing 7-8 yards off Seth Dawkins, throw that big o dude a screen pass and that is guaranteed at least 5 yards everytime. The play calling has been questionable, at best!

 

[zipp]

...numerous people happily leave his staff due to issues dealing with working with Bobby...

How do some of you lightweights know this stuff? Are you involved with the exit interviews, or do you just enjoy saying it? And don't lay any "common knowledge" garbage on me. Do you really think you can just shovel $hit unchallenged?

And WRT the OP, I don't know how to panic...

 

[BPGhost]

How do some of you lightweights know this stuff? Are you involved with the exit interviews, or do you just enjoy saying it? And don't lay any "common knowledge" garbage on me. Do you really think you can just shovel $hit unchallenged?

And WRT the OP, I don't know how to panic...

C’mon Zipp - really? You think that all of the staff turnover - some to seemingly very lateral positions combined with his replacement hires coming increasingly from his family ranks, inner circle or, guys who’s phones don’t appear to be ringing off the hook with offers?

There’s data points but there’s also common sense. If what I’ve (and others) have laid out isn’t common sense - then I’d love to hear your theory about wtf is going on with the staff. I don’t think that’s it’s enough on your part just say what others are saying is “shoveling shit” without coming forward with some credibile alternative.

 

[gocards1987]

C’mon Zipp - really? You think that all of the staff turnover - some to seemingly very lateral positions combined with his replacement hires coming increasingly from his family ranks, inner circle or, guys who’s phones don’t appear to be ringing off the hook with offers?

There’s data points but there’s also common sense. If what I’ve (and others) have laid out isn’t common sense - then I’d love to hear your theory about wtf is going on with the staff. I don’t think that’s it’s enough on your part just say what others are saying is “shoveling shit” without coming forward with some credibile alternative.

You have to remember. Zipp would rather see the program fail than Tyra succeed. Keeping Petrino will allow zipp something else to criticize when the football program completely burns down.

 

[zipp]

C’mon Zipp - really? You think that all of the staff turnover - some to seemingly very lateral positions combined with his replacement hires coming increasingly from his family ranks, inner circle or, guys who’s phones don’t appear to be ringing off the hook with offers?

There’s data points but there’s also common sense. If what I’ve (and others) have laid out isn’t common sense - then I’d love to hear your theory about wtf is going on with the staff. I don’t think that’s it’s enough on your part just say what others are saying is “shoveling shit” without coming forward with some credibile alternative.

So what's the real story then? Is a kinder, gentler Bobby the root of our on-the-field problems, while SOB Bobby is why we don't have good assistants? In addition to his alleged coaching problems, is he also now a coaching version of Jekyll and Hyde?

Which is it? All I'm looking for is a total picture that makes sense...

 

[zipp]

You have to remember. Zipp would rather see the program fail than Tyra succeed. Keeping Petrino will allow zipp something else to criticize when the football program completely burns down.

I've been accused of many things. But even my logic ain't that convoluted...

 

[BPGhost]

So what's the real story then? Is a kinder, gentler Bobby the root of our on-the-field problems, while SOB Bobby is why we don't have good assistants? In addition to his alleged coaching problems, is he also now a coaching version of Jekyll and Hyde?

Which is it? All I'm looking for is a total picture that makes sense...

Well first off - I think I asked you to provide your alternative theory about the situation with the assistants. You’ve simply rephrased the question and bounced it back to my side. You’ve said that the opinions expressed here regarding this situation are incorrect so you must have an opinion on what you think is the real reason. I’m happy to answer your question just as soon as you answer mine.

 

[CardVille]

Now you can panic. BP lost this game and the fans.

 

[Knucklehank1]

Well first off - I think I asked you to provide your alternative theory about the situation with the assistants. You’ve simply rephrased the question and bounced it back to my side. You’ve said that the opinions expressed here regarding this situation are incorrect so you must have an opinion on what you think is the real reason. I’m happy to answer your question just as soon as you answer mine.

While you wait for his response, I can definitely tell you that Cort Dennison felt like he had to get out because of the dysfunction on the defensive staff. I guess 3 DCs in 3 years might lead to that feeling.

 

[wilkie01]

Bobby engineer this loss to FSU today!

 

[CardVille]

That was the loudest round of boo's I heard at our stadium since Krag.

 

[BPGhost]

While you wait for his response, I can definitely tell you that Cort Dennison felt like he had to get out because of the dysfunction on the defensive staff. I guess 3 DCs in 3 years might lead to that feeling.

Not surprising at all. I was privy to some first hand info regarding the first domino that fell - TG. Petrino always chafed at TJ hiring him to make the move into the ACC. That Jurich let Petrino indirectly scapegoat Grantham IMO was the same sort of mistake as letting kragthorpe scapegoat Brohm.

 

[zipp]

Petrino could never hire a good DC. This dates back to 2003...his first DC lasted one year. This is no new revelation...

 

[Rollem Cards]

It’s our fault for anointing him as “great” to begin with.

He NEVER built a program.

He never maintained a program.

He has been a HC 11 years split three ways. 4 here, 2 WKU, now 5 here again.

This is his first team with all HIS players. And it ain’t playing out like he’d hoped I’m sure.

His Bobby 1 rep was built on JLS players, a couple KEY local recruits and transfers, and his early success here this time was on Charlie’s D......and Lamar.

We’ve never known what kind of HEAD coach he will/could be until the last couple (or three) years.

Looks like we’re going to find out because he’s here for a while.

 

[CardVille]

Dont forget Arky. He had them rolling before Motogate. Not the same since then. 2.0 is like going from Windows 7 to 8.

 

[zipp]

But let's not dole out stars for clairvoyance on ANYONE's behalf... No one envisioned issues in Petrino over pure coaching ability.

There were people who didn't want him back in 2014, but it had nothing to do with coaching. One faction didn't like the way he handled things the first time he was here. The other didn't like his behavior since that time.

Again, no one questioned his coaching nor what he was worth as a coach except for a third group that thought you could simply hire him on the cheap. That also had nothing to do with coaching.

We have too many hindsight prognosticators who now want credit for something. No one deserves that IMO...

 

[Rollem Cards]

Dont forget Arky. He had them rolling before Motogate. Not the same since then. 2.0 is like going from Windows 7 to 8.

But we’ll never know how he would have done in year five

We have too many hindsight prognosticators who now want credit for something. No one deserves that IMO...

There were several worried about what would happen beyond four.

Most weren’t. But some were. Especially since the Houston game