So anybody that kept up with the pre-game stuff throughout the week probably stumbled across Petrino's comments about how loud The Carrier Dome is versus what he expected at Clemson. Tigers fans blew it out of proportion and wanted to make a statement, fine. I'm reading lots of stuff online this morning about artificial noise... Several have said that yes, it's loud there. But I've seen people talk about speakers throughout the stadium (some even field level), house music playing while Louisville was on the LOS, and even a helicopter that circled the stadium while Louisville had the ball...

 

Getslow, can you give any insight on how true or untrue any of that stuff may be?

That's a stretch....the scored zero points on this muffed punt.

 

Simplistic view. Reality was that UofL was settling into field position dominance at the time of the needlessly & unforced fumble by Quick. Clemson backup QB was not moving the chains at all and UofL was moving it just a bit. All of this resulted in field position improving for UofL.

 

Fumble completely changed that. Instead of possession, an opportunity to move the ball and, at worst, kick it back to Clemson and keep them in their own end, Clemson gets the ball in UofL territory. As they did all day, defense forces a punt rather than allowing points.

 

UofL is pinned deep in their own territory as a DIRECT result of the fumble.

 

What happens next? A Frosh QB makes a bad play by not being aware of the CB blitz and not securing the ball. Result? 7 points for a Clemson team whose offense would only score 9 points the entire day.

 

You may not be able to attribute all 7 points to the muffed punt, but a good chunk of those 7 points are on Quick.

Really like the Russ Smith/James Quick comparison, brilliant.

 

Cards’ D is so fun to watch. Do not give up a touchdown all day and fight til the bitter end. The offense on the other hand was generally worse than watching the guy that watches the paint dry.

 

Sucked to lose that game.

3rd down spike was a panicked & rookie mistake. Petrino has to be better than that.

 

Special teams cannot be that bad.

 

At one point after the punt return and the fumble for a TD, I was yelling at the TV to simply fair catch every punt, run 3 dive plays and then punt again. Just don't make it tougher than it has to be.

 

Petrino needs to adopt a "Trent Dilfer / Baltimore Ravens" approach the year they won the Super Bowl -- "Offense & special teams -- JUST DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID and the defense will win the game."

3rd down spike was a panicked & rookie mistake. Petrino has to be better than that.

 

Special teams cannot be that bad.

 

At one point after the punt return and the fumble for a TD, I was yelling at the TV to simply fair catch every punt, run 3 dive plays and then punt again. Just don't make it tougher than it has to be.

 

Petrino needs to adopt a "Trent Dilfer / Baltimore Ravens" approach the year they won the Super Bowl -- "Offense & special teams -- JUST DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID and the defense will win the game."

 

To the bolded, I was doing the same thing... Don't even worry about a return. As soon as it's kicked, signal fair catch, and just catch the ball. We would have been better off that way.

3rd down spike was a panicked & rookie mistake. Petrino has to be better than that.

 

Special teams cannot be that bad.

 

At one point after the punt return and the fumble for a TD, I was yelling at the TV to simply fair catch every punt, run 3 dive plays and then punt again. Just don't make it tougher than it has to be.

 

Petrino needs to adopt a "Trent Dilfer / Baltimore Ravens" approach the year they won the Super Bowl -- "Offense & special teams -- JUST DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID and the defense will win the game."

According to Petrino's comments in the courier he called the spike. He has a special fourth down play they thought guaranteed them a TD. Problem is Clemson was prepared. Their defensive coordinator said he ran the same play at WKU last year and it worked. They called a Defensive play designed to stop this play. They were prepared. The last series was a debacle.

To the bolded, I was doing the same thing... Don't even worry about a return. As soon as it's kicked, signal fair catch, and just catch the ball. We would have been better off that way.

 

James Quick is very fast... I'm not certain how aware he is of the things happening around him on the football field. That's a problem and now that he's on the field all the time, it's probably some amount of explanation to those who spent last season wondering why Charlie Strong and Shaun Watson never used him.

I'm still surprised Quick got caught. Even with the angle the Clemson kid must have some serious wheels.

So anybody that kept up with the pre-game stuff throughout the week probably stumbled across Petrino's comments about how loud The Carrier Dome is versus what he expected at Clemson. Tigers fans blew it out of proportion and wanted to make a statement, fine. I'm reading lots of stuff online this morning about artificial noise... Several have said that yes, it's loud there. But I've seen people talk about speakers throughout the stadium (some even field level), house music playing while Louisville was on the LOS, and even a helicopter that circled the stadium while Louisville had the ball...

 

Getslow, can you give any insight on how true or untrue any of that stuff may be?

 

It's true. They have the band mic'd up and crank that stuff LOUD through the PA system. Then the crowd cheers over the top of the band. Lots of the noise is artificially produced to be sure. The helicopter was really strange. I saw that several times.

 

THAT SAID, Clemson fans were loud and cheering from the beginning of the game until the end of the game. They have a couple organized cheers that they do often and the crowd loves them. They have a serious football culture and it shows.

According to Petrino's comments in the courier he called the spike. He has a special fourth down play they thought guaranteed them a TD. Problem is Clemson was prepared. Their defensive coordinator said he ran the same play at WKU last year and it worked. They called a Defensive play designed to stop this play. They were prepared. The last series was a debacle.

 

The fact that Petrino admitted he didn't have a set group of three or four plays to run when finding his offense first and goal with a minute to play seems insane to me. Then again, he's spent the last several months just trying to figure out how to get these guys on the other side of the 50, so maybe it's not so insane.

We just look un-prepared in a lot of areas especially special teams. Quick fumbles at least on punt a game. Offensively we looked confused and have multiple procedures called. Bonnafon showed he cant read defenses. Im just surprised that a Petrino coached offense would be so out of sync in game 7. The defense has been incredible. If the offense doesnt get it going they are gonna wear down.

Cards had zero business losing this game. They are terrible at the most important offensive position. Terrible.

 

No doubt about that. I think that's why Petrino has been collecting quarterbacks like crazy. If no one transfers, I believe there are set to be NINE quarterbacks on the roster next fall. A few will undoubtedly transfer for that reason.

 

When Gardner came into the game in the third quarter, he sent his first pass buzzing across the grass into the feet of his receiver. After that, he proceeded to go 10-15 for 150 yards and a touchdown, so that was at least encouraging.

 

The pass protection was MILES better in the second half of that game than in any previous Louisville game this season. Petrino made a couple more moves in the O-line leading into this game and he may have finally found his arrangement with redshirt sophomore Tobiah Hughley on the ball at center and Jake Smith at right guard.