Cardinals' Second String Outperforms Others' First Stringers!

I, like most every other University of Louisville Cardinal fan, noticed excessive profusions of distempter from head coach Bobby Petrino during Friday night's Louisville-MTSU game. Granted, Petrino had his reasons. The Cardinals were slow to find their pace.

Any time a national champion-caliber team struggles against an unranked opponent it's cause for concern. But the Cards didn't struggle for long. After going down 10-3 (partially due to a fluke failed special teams defensive play) early, the University of Louisville offensive machine more than sparked to life. It exploded.

Apparently not everyone agrees (as witnessed by the Cards' moving up only a single spot in the national polls). Critics should rethink their arguments in light of these facts.

The Cardinals threw for 340 yards. They had 526 total yards of offense (without either their starting quarterback or their starting running back!).

Folks, those are video game-type numbers, and the Cards are doing it with their second string! Better yet, Louisville averaged 8.3 yards per play and converted seven of 13 third down attempts. That's good to help the Cards hold on to their ranking as the number one offense in college football.

The defense deserves accolades, too, though. In that MTSU game the defense only gave up 83 yards rushing.

Combine the two (overpowering offensive capacity and a stingy defense) and you'll see why I believe the Cards are a legitimate party to national championship conversations.