Recapping Louisville

Well….that sucked. I was going to leave it as just that, as that sentence just about sums up the whole game. But in the interest of being a little more thorough, I’d like to break down the game into three parts.

Part 1: Louisville played well

Let’s give credit where credit is due. As Syracuse fans, we clearly see things through Orange tinted glasses. So when SU is dominated as they were, we tend to focus more on the things we did poorly rather than what the other team did well. Louisville did a lot of things well in this game. They dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, especially on defense. The inside running game was non-existent, as the Cardinals frequently broke into the backfield. For an Orange offense that had zero negative plays against West Virginia, they had several against Louisville. Quick penetration was the name of the game for the Cardinals. They blitzed well, disguised coverages, and made life miserable for the Syracuse offensive line. I was very impressed with freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater as well. He showed a lot of poise and showed a lot of potential. He’s going to be a really good one in a couple years.

Part 2: Syracuse played poorly

As good as Syracuse played against West Virginia, that’s how bad they played against Louisville. The running lanes that were there for Bailey last week, weren’t there against the Cardinals. Their defensive line proved to be too much for the Orange. Nassib had no time to throw most of the game. The performance by the offensive line was abysmal. It was shocking considering it appeared they had been getting stronger game after game, and looked like they had turned a corner against the Moutaineers. Then there’s the play of Ryan Nassib. He had one of his worst games of his career. There were two plays in particular that sum up his game. He had Van Chew open down the sideline for a sure big game and possible touchdown, but overthrew him by a few yards. Later in the game, he had Jarrod West wide open in the endzone and overthrew him by a few yards. If those two plays are converted, it could’ve been a tie game going into the 4th quarter, and then who knows what happens. Yes his offensive line played poorly, and yes he had no running game. But he’s got to find ways to make plays in those situations. That’s what big time quarterbacks do. Whenever there was a window and a play to be made, he missed the throw. He’s got to be better than that. I was also very disappointed in the play of the secondary. There’s no excuse for getting lost in coverage as often as they did, against an offense that has struggled to score all year.

Part 3: The officiating

Simply put, it was atrocious in this game. Syracuse had a lot of penalties, and some were valid. There were a bunch more that weren’t. For example, they called an unnecessary roughness penalty on Jeremiah Kobena during a fumble in the first quarter. He was trying to rip the ball out from the bottom of the pile, and they called that unnecessary roughness. If that’s unnecessary roughness, so is every fumble that’s ever occurred at any level of football. Not to mention, Louisville’s first touchdown pass was CLEAR offensive pass interference. Right in front of the official, no call. Inexcusable. I also counted at least 8 times when Louisville’s offensive line clearly held a Syracuse defensive lineman without a call.  Each led to good gains for the Cardinals. There was also the third and long that Louisville converted on a play where the receiver stepped out of bounds then came back in and was the first to touch the ball.  A clear penalty.  The flag was initially thrown, but picked up because the officials claimed he was forced out. Upon further review of the play, no contact was made by the Syracuse defender. These types of things were a common theme throughout the game.

All in all, it was as ugly a game as you could imagine from an Orange perspective. This makes the UConn game that much more important. It could make or break the rest of the season. We’ve now seen how this team reacts to a huge win. Let’s see what resilience they have in reacting to a terrible loss.