Can't believe it took to post #22 for someone to mention the dreadful offensive line play. Brutal. Awful. Incompetent. Whatever adjectives you want to employ. Destroys any ability to create a rhythm or offensive cadence.

 

If you want to win tough games, these things cannot happen:

 

A - SR K misses 38 yd FG to tie the game with 2:00 left

B - Outlet pass to WR who gets tackled in bounds for a 2 yd. gain to burn 20 seconds on the 1st play of your final drive. Drop it. Wing it out of bounds. Simply have to know an incompletion and clock stop are more valuable than 2 yds.

C - TE goes out of his way to run laterally out of bounds after gaining 1st down. I realize he is a redshirt FR and appears to be a heck of a player. That said, when you know you have the 1st down, run North/South and get the ball down to the 28 rather than running out of bounds at the 37.

D - C snaps the ball early WITH THE CLOCK STOPPED. No need to rush there. The clock was stopped. Communicate. Bolin did a great job of avoiding a catastrophic 15 yd loss on the play by scooping it and winging it OB. Wasted a down and 5 seconds but could have been debilitating.

E - QB cannot take a sack on 2nd down with only 33 seconds left. As stated above, the clock and Clemson are your opponent. A sack allows the clock to keep ticking.

F - Once you have taken the sack, you have to clock the ball on 3rd down. If you don't, you're basically committing to this being the last play unless it is a pre-called quick out pass for 5 yds and a clock stop. If it is your last play, who cares if it is 4th down? If they clock it, they have 3 opportunities (all of which were miles better than the trash play they got off): 1 - 58 yd FG (very low %); 2 - 15 yd. out pass to get 1st down and another play; 3 - actual Hail Mary play (which has a slightly better chance of working because Clemson has to at least think about / respect the 15 yd. out pass.

G - If you run a Hail Mary play, it might be a good idea if your WRs ran into the endzone. Clearly there was a communication gap. Not sure what they were running, but people were not on the same page.

 

 

That said, I do like the Jackson / Bonnafon package. (However, if they are only going to use Bonnafon as a RB / WR, there is really no need to have him in there. I suspect there are wrinkles in that package that include shifting him to QB and splitting Jackson out wide, read options with a pass component, HB pass, etc.). It makes it much tougher for the defense to prepare for and scheme against. If it is really working, you use it more. If it is not, you use it only in short yardage & goal line. At a minimum, it keeps Bolin from getting chased like he stole something since his OL can't block.

 

Young WRs seem to have lots of talent. Samuels is a spark plug. 87 has athletic skills, but does not seem to catch the ball well. Even the long one he caught looked like it surprised him. Had several drops as well.

 

As mentioned above Crum appears to be a stud and Bolin appears to love him. Having a real threat in the middle of the field opens things up for WRs eventually because LBs cannot stray too far from the middle.

 

Defense was competent, but Clemson was not great. Not sure if Auburn QB and Clemson QB looked bad due to UofL defense OR if they are just bad. Better tackling on Watson and the big RB would have placed Clemson in some tougher down & distance pairings.

 

Discipline and penalties appeared better. Hopefully they are taking the coaching and getting better. Bowl eligibility (only 3 more losses in the final 9) and beating UK are the rallying cries for the remainder of the year.

Louisville is just a really bad team, which is very surprising as I love Petrino. With that said I really do enjoy watching Louisville lose so all is good with me.

I think with FSU struggling besides Dalvin Cook, and Clemson showing some struggles also, this conference may be Georgia Tech's this year. The worst part is, I love FSU and absolutely despise Clemson and Georgia Tech. This might be the year of the Yellow Jackets.

The better of the two won.

 

Not sure who is better, on a neutral site that could go 5-5 in 10 matchups.

Can't believe no one is pointing to the coach. 0-3 start couldn't happen to a nicer guy

Just a few thoughts from the game...

 

- It doesn't matter who the QB is as long as the offensive line is as bad as it is. There's zero running game, and that doesn't do UL any favors when trying to throw the ball either.

- The defense has been less than expected to this point. The front seven isn't producing, there are gaping holes in the middle of the field consistently. That has to be fixed.

- While many outside of Louisville want to portray that the sky is falling, that simply isn't the case. Three losses, two to Top 11 teams, by a total of 13 points. I personally didn't expect to beat Auburn or Clemson, so the Houston game is really the only difference in what I was expecting.

- While 0-3 is not ideal, they have played the toughest stretch in the schedule, by far. Still plenty of time to improve and get things ironed out. They can absolutely still go bowling, but they have dug themselves a hole that they will have to fight their way out of.

If they want a QB use Bolin, if they want someone to run around with it, use one of the other guys.

Didnt realize they are 0-3. Im so happy, couldnt happen to a better coach, team, fanbase.

 

Maybe you all can come watch UK in a bowl this year.

Didnt realize they are 0-3. Im so happy, couldnt happen to a better coach, team, fanbase.

 

Maybe you all can come watch UK in a bowl this year.

 

Have you ever seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

Have you ever seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

 

Many.

Where is Deshaun Watson on the "overhyped" scale?

Where is Deshaun Watson on the "overhyped" scale?

 

Near the bottom IMO.

Near the bottom IMO.

 

He is agile for sure, extremely average throwing the ball.

Didnt realize they are 0-3. Im so happy, couldnt happen to a better coach, team, fanbase.

 

Maybe you all can come watch UK in a bowl this year.

 

UK started 5-1 last year and didn't make a bowl. I wouldn't put the cart before the horse just yet there big guy.

He is agile for sure, extremely average throwing the ball.

 

Absolutely. My comment was more because I don't think he's hyped at all.