BearcatReport.com - The 2009 Schedule: Louisville

July 28, 2009

Chuck Saffell
Special to BearcatReport.com

ABOUT THE SCHOOL: Founded in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, the University of Louisville has been a public school in the Kentucky university system since 1970. The undergraduate enrollment is just over 15,000. The Cardinals compete in 9 men's sports and 12 women's sports. The most famous football alumnus of Louisville is Johnny Unitas who is the only player in the team's history to have his number retired.

HEAD COACH: Steve Kragthorpe was hired as the Cards' head coach in January of 2007 after his predecessor, Bobby Petrino, left to coach the Atlanta Falcons. He played college football at Eastern New Mexico University and West Texas State. After receiving his MBA from Oregon State in 1989 he spent the next several years as an assistant coach at Northern Arizona, North Texas, Boston College, and Texas A&M. He coached quarterbacks for the Buffalo Bills for two years and then moved on to his first head coaching job in 2003 with the University of Tulsa. After leading Tulsa to three bowl games in four years he left for the Louisville job. In his two years at his current position he has a record of just 11-13 and an overall head coaching record of 40-35.

2008 IN REVIEW: 2008 was yet another disappointing season for the Cardinals under Kragthorpe. With the exception of an opening season loss to Kentucky, they feasted on a very weak nonconference schedule to go 4-1 outside the Big East. Once they got into the conference games they were exposed and their only win came in an upset against South Florida at home. They finished the season on a five game losing streak which was capped off with an embarrassing 63-14 loss at Rutgers.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Louisville finished third of eight teams in total offense in the Big East (376.7 yards per game); sixth in scoring offense (2407 points per game); fourth in rushing offense (164.5 yards per game); and fourth in passing offense (212.2 yards per game). On defense they finished seventh in total defense (368.8 yards per game); seventh in scoring defense (29.8 points per game); fifth in rushing defense (129.5 yards per game); and last in pass defense (239.3yards per game). They forced 18 turnovers (10 fumble recoveries and 8 interceptions) and committed 30 (13 lost fumbles and 17 interceptions) which placed them last in the conference with a turnover margin of -12.

After coming into the season with high expectations, Hunter Cantwell was a disappointment finishing with 2493 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions. One of the few highlights for the Cards was the running game of Victor Anderson who rushed for 1092 yards and 8 touchdowns. Doug Beaumont was the leading receiver with 750 yards, but he never found the endzone.

2009 OUTLOOK: The 2008 season was horrible and 2009 doesn't look any more promising for Louisville. They open with a warm up game against Indiana State before playing six straight games against teams that went to bowls last year. In the conference they have to go on the road for four of their seven games. They also have a stretch of eleven games without a week off. Steve Kragthorpe will probably be sending out his resume at the end of the season unless he can figure out some way to get his team to a bowl game and the odds are against him at this point.

Three players who have never seen the field as a Louisville Cardinal will be fighting it out in camp for the starting spot. Adam Froman threw 40 touchdowns and almost 4000 yards at Santa Rosa Junior College a year ago. Justin Burke is coming in after spending his first two years in college at North Carolina State. In 2006 he was a Kentucky Player of the Year. Redshirt freshman Zack Stoudt is probably the least likely to win the job due to his inexperience, but he has a ton of potential.

At running back, Anderson was one of the few bright spots for the Cards last year. He was named Big East Rookie of the Year. He is small, but is still able to drag defenders in an effort to grab an extra yard or two. Darius Ashley looks to be Anderson's backup. The redshirt freshman is another small back who has no problem running over defenders.

Scott Long was starting to show signs of being the top receiver last year, but an ACL tear sidelined him for most of the season. If he can recover well enough he will probably be the top target this year. Beaumont stepped up his game when Long went down and is hoping to show he can be a solid option again this year. Josh Chichester showed last season that he can use his 6'8" frame to cause mismatches on the outside. The biggest problem with him is his tendency to drop balls he should catch. Pete Nochta started six games in 2008 at tightend, but was rarely used in the passing game.

The offensive line lost Eric Wood and George Bussey, but does bring back four players who have started in the past. Besides those four, there isn't much experience at all. Redshirt freshman Mario Benavides will probably crack the starting five at center. The reserves are full of junior college transfers and young players who have never seen the field.

The defensive line lost three starters from a group that had no sacks in the last five games of the year. They are hoping the new ends, Greg Scruggs and Rodney Gant, can provide the pressure on opposing quarterbacks that last year's unit couldn't. L.T. Walker and Tyler Jessen will start in the middle of the line and are talented enough to draw attention away from the inexperienced ends. The line last year was experienced and couldn't get the job done, and now they are inexperienced and may struggle again.

All three starters at linebacker return again in 2008. Jon Dempsey will again be the man in the middle and had a good year last season with 80 tackles, 8 of them for loss. On the strongside former safety Brandon Heath is trying to come back from an injury that caused him to miss the last few games of the year. The weakside will be manned by 244 pound Antwon Canady who used his size and strength to force two fumbles a year ago. This group was average last season, but should be improved now that they have more experience.

The secondary was horrible last year finishing 92nd in the nation against the pass. Replacing three starters means that as bad as they were, they could be even worse in 2009. Jonny Patrick and Karldell Dunning will start at the corners. Both are very raw and need to improve on their ball skills. At free safety, Richard Ragland is a big hitter who is hungry to show those skills after missing most of last season with a wrist injury. Senior Daniel Covington will play the strong safety spot after finishing second on the team with 66 tackles last season.

The placekicking duties are open and none of the options showed they have the talent to get it done when they were given the opportunity last year. Tim Dougherty, Chris Philpott, and Ryan Payne will all battle for the position in camp. Dougherty, who was suspended last year and only got to kick a couple of times, is probably the leader in the race. Cory Goettsche will punt again after averaging around 40 yards a kick last season. Trent Guy will return kicks again. In each of the last two seasons he returned one for a score.

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