Southern Miss Game Notes

This Is Winning Football at UofL Now

For those of you lucky enough to be in attendence at Saturday's scrimmage between two intramural teams football game, you witnessed something that is hard to come by at UofL, a Division-1 football victory. 8 straight losses to Division-1 opponents, a sad state of affairs, that was ended with Ryan Payne's game winning field goal. Gone are the days of 40 point beatdowns, impressive victories, statistically unbelievable games; in their place has come happiness over beating a below average C-USA team who was starting their backup QB.

• Maybe it was just my vantage point, but the stadium didn't look like it had 37,000 people in it, as the official recording stated. I saw a lot of empty seats, and some sections were nearly a quarter of the way empty in the top of the end zone.

• The excitement level during the pregame was at a 0...The volume of the fans was as low as I've heard during the players coming out and the video they play beforehand.
  
 
• What can you say about guys like Vic Anderson & Scott Long besides how much they have given to the football program. Both of those guys have earned a spot in the hearts of Card fans everywhere, when they are healthy they are hard to beat. I wish we could have hope to get them both some postseason play again before their time's at UofL are up, but that might be a lofty goal.
  
 
• Take nothing away from Bilal Powell, his scoring run was just what we needed at exactly the right time. Here at Inside The Cards you will probably see us be critical of Powell, but when he breaks plays like that (which he has potential to do every time he touches the ball), it helps you forget the fumbles or lossed yardage.
  
 
• For God's sake, Krag, quit calling deep pass plays for Froman! That's not his game, he is good on the intermediate passes, but his accuracy is JaMarcus Russell-esque on the deep ball.
  

• Does anybody else feel like the real turnaround point of the game, for the crowd at least, was when the guy won the Punt Pass & Kick contest at halftime? This was amazing. I'm sure this guy probably has some eligibility left to play football, no way he is any worse than any current players on our roster. The field goal he made was unbelievable, far hashmark, from a solid distance out. Things like this always impress me, if for the only fact that after the pass and punt I would probably still be at the 45 yard line (on the beginning side).

• Questionable Play Call of the Game - This play call had no real effect on the outcome of the game, but it made not sense whatsoever. Why did we go for 2 to make it a six point game instead of a four point game? I understand that it doesn't really matter at all, but what is his thought process? Either way we are still trying to hold them to a field goal. Is The Krag really putting enough though into the fact that we can hold them to two field goals, and technically based off of that make it a two score game? Why go for two when it doesn't matter here, when against Utah we opted against it when it was actually a necessary decision? Too many situations like this in 3 years.
  
 
• Our defense played lights out...Johnny Patrick stepped up again and left it all on the field. He came up with some clutch tackles in crucial situations. Campa, defensive MVP, week in and week out he is the best player on that side of the ball.
  
 
• Can we have a safety lay a hit on a receiver and not be injured afterwards?
  
 
• In the section where I sat, we were all in agreement before the kickoff that led to our game-winning drive, that Southern Miss would surely not kick to Trent Guy. As the ball was in the air, happiness came over us, and Trent delivered as we had hoped he would. Trent Guy deserved to be the one responsible for a victory, not blamed for a loss. This was perfect redemption for the UK fumble.
  
 
• That being said, why is Southern Miss kicking to Trent Guy! I'm happy they did, but if us fans can see it, surely their coaching staff can see not to kick to him. A guy looking for redemption, and who is a real threat everytime he touches the ball anyways. No way UofL pulls out a victory without that return, Trent Guy is the hero for the week.
  
 
• My heart and stomach were somewhere in my throat before Ryan Payne's kick. I would be lying if I said I had faith, in fact, I was hoping we could get the guy who won the car back out there to attempt this field goal, he had nerves of steel. Payne won me over though, that guy is clutch, at least for now.

• Postgame Krag Quote of the Week -

(On whether it's been difficult for him to block out off-the-field distractions) "It's actually not real difficult for me. I think it's more difficult for my family than it is for me because I come to work every day at 6:30 and I leave here at about 10 o'clock at night. By the time I get home, I go to bed before all the newscasts come on at 11:30 or 11:20 or whatever it is, so it's a lot easier for me. It's hard for my wife too. She calls me and says 'what the heck is going on?' I say 'I don't know.' She says 'have you talked to Tom.' I say 'no, I haven't talked to Tom.' She says 'well, everybody thinks you've talked to Tom.' I say 'well, I haven't talked to Tom.' It's not easy for me and it's not easy for anybody, but I'll be at work tomorrow."

Be sure to register for the UK v. UofL basketball game tickets that we are raffling off.

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