U of L-Pitt final thoughts

I didn’t write the column on the U of L-Pitt game. But I was there, so I’ll leave you with a few impressions I had.

First things first, I’ll give the Cards credit for a good half. The first half was a good half, plain and simple. The defense held Pitt in check. The offense moved the ball moderately well and showed some creativity. The Cards led 10-7 at halftime. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was good.

Froman was interesting, brought a lot of emotion to the field, made some plays running the ball and made a few plays with his arm. I think he earned another shot at starting next week against Southern Miss.

But the following overshadows all that —

— The Cards gave up two long touchdown passes in which the safety didn’t come over to help. One was completely blown, and a second came when the receiver just flew past two Cardinal defenders who were side by side with him when the ball left the quarterback’s hand.

— You’re not going to win many games when your longest completed pass is thrown by your slot possession receiver.

— The Cards were just 3 of 15 on third down.

— This stat will astound you. When U of L opponents have faced 3rd and 10 or longer this season, they have completed 9 of 11 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown.

— Ten penalties for 98 yards, including three personal fouls — two of them in the first quarter. U of L did outperform Pitt in one area. The Panthers were one of the nation’s most penalized teams coming into the game. The Cards definitely proved they could out-penalty Pitt.

— There was some confusion after the game as to whether the players would take a lap around the stadium to acknowledge the fans who stayed. Coaches were trying to shoo players into the locker room. Five of them — Doug Beaumont, Victor Anderson, Mario Benavidez, Chaz Thompson and Rodney Gnat.

— For some reason, the hip-hop music that usually plays during timeouts was replaced with country music. Not sure who made the call on that one, but I have a few suggested song titles that they might want to think about playing, if they’re going to go country. In fact, let’s just make it a Top 10 list . . .

TOP 10 COUNTRY SONG TITLES FOR U OF L FOOTBALL GAMES
10. Friends in Low Places (in the Big East standings)
9. Stand by Your Man (by special request from Steve in Louisville)
8. Long Time Gone (from the national rankings)
7. You Never Even Call Me By My Name
6. Wish I Didn’t Know Now (what I didn’t know then)
5. Already Gone
4. Livin’ On Tulsa Time
3. Unanswered Prayers
2. Grandpa (Tell me ’bout the good old days)
And the No. 1 suggested country song title for play at U of L football games . . .

1. Easy Come, Easy Go

All right, I know you people can do a lot better than those, but it’s late. And I limited myself to actual song titles.

— These are the kinds of losses — especially at home — that Kragthorpe needed to avoid if he is hoping for a fourth season at Louisville. The odds of that return got considerably longer tonight.