New PapaJohn’s Cardinal Stadium still loud, annoying

All the hype in Louisville has been about filling the renovated PapaJohn’s Cardinal Stadium, and a crowd of just over 55,000 pulled that feat off on Friday night. Unfortunately for those wearing Louisville red, the Cardinals lost to the UC Bearcats 35-27.

Can I be honest? I hate Louisville's stadium layout. It’s a great city, it’s a nice place to be, but their football stadium stinks to use a nice word. I’ve hated it ever since my first visit in 2008. At least this year, though, the weather was nice.
That horn above is one reason I absolutely cannot stand PapaJohn’s Cardinal Stadium. After each Cardinal touchdown, extra point or field goal the horn blows. Now, I come prepared for the horn’s noise with heavy duty headphones, but they do very little to deaden the sound of a horn that literally shakes every bone in one’s body.

Another reason I can’t stand the place is because I have to film out of a little box, which could be all some people need. I, however, love to feel the atmosphere of the stadium, and love to see what’s going on during TV timeouts. This is why I loved Oklahoma, NC State, and love each opportunity we have to play at Nippert Stadium.

You can feel the energy from the fans, you can watch the band play, and sometimes catch some fun and interesting things going on below you. You can’t do much of that at PapaJohn’s Cardinal Stadium—at least from my angle, and that’s all that matters today.

It's difficult to see much out of that tiny window

So I might seem harsh on the new digs, but to be honest, I’m harshly opposed to the stadium in general. I love the new additions of the third deck on the visiting side of the stadium and the terrace that connects the two sides of the stadium. Unfortunately, everyone else you talk to probably loves the place, and that’s what it’s all about.

The new deck, above the shadows, is a huge addition to the stadium

I’m not selfish, I just love to watch the entire game, and get the feel for the place I’m at. And that horn, well, we’re not on speaking terms to say the least.
-
Join me tomorrow for some class work, which will be posted here for your reading enjoyment. The Big East weekly preview will be out this week along with a look back at the first 40 games in the endzone for yours truly, and a look back at the 24-10 UC/USF Thursday night game that took place in 2008 in Cincinnati. Until then, have a great day.

Big East football schedules: Week 7

Week seven sees two ESPN primetime games for the Big East. The UC Bearcats love ESPN in primetime, and will battle for yet another rivalry trophy for the second straight week. This week also marks the beginning of Big East play for UC, Louisville, Pitt, and West Virginia. UConn has the week off.

Here’s week seven.

Week 7 Big East Schedule
Thurs., Oct 14-West Virginia vs USF
Fri., Oct 15-Cincinnati at Louisville
Sat., Oct 16-Pittsburgh at Syracuse
Oct 16-Rutgers vs Army

AN: The one and only trip I’ve made to Louisville for football was on a rainy night in mid-November on the day before I turned 20 years old. The end result was a lot of wet clothing and a trip back to Cincinnati with the Keg of Nails in our possession for the first time since 2002.

I mentioned in the week one preview that Charlie Strong, the former Florida defensive coordinator, and new head coach for the Cards, has built a strong program up in the short time he’s been running the show in Kentucky’s most populous city. And the early season results are certainly showing that "The Ville" is getting better.

So, this game scares me a little bit. I’m just not sure that Louisville has the fire power they need to overcome all the playmakers that UC has, but in a game that will be played at the renovated PapaJohns Cardinal Stadium, anything could happen, as we nearly found out in 2008.

Strong has already shown the UC players he can coach a darn good team, but will he be able to translate success against the Brian Kelly system into success against the Butch Jones system? To say I’m 100 percent certain UC will win this game would be a lie, but I am confident that this game should, should go in favor of the Bearcats. But don’t be surprised if the game is closer than you think.

JM: Pitt’s coming off a close loss at Notre Dame last weekend and looks to even its record at 3-3. In my opinion, this is a must-win game. Syracuse has its first legitimate shot at a bowl game since 2004 and is coming off its biggest win of the season last week against USF.

Pitt showed some progress against the Irish, with Tino Sunseri showing some improvement and the offensive line appears to be getting its act together. This will be a nice test for the Panthers as they go against a decent opponent, but one with less talent, that they should be able to beat. Beating Syracuse would be a good confidence booster and would kick off the Big East slate the right way. I like Pitt in a close one.

AN: Obviously the best game on the schedule has to be the battle between USF and West Virginia on Thursday night in Morgantown. USF has beaten the Mountaineers in ’06, ’07 and last season, and in 2008 they lost by a touchdown in their last visit to Milan Puskar Stadium. These two teams have had some epic battles in the past few seasons, and I expect this season to be the same.

"Almost heaven..."

With Skip Holtz running the show in Tampa, the USF Bulls might be in better shape than many think. In 2008, West Virginia was primed to win a Big East title behind the likes of Pat White and Noel Devine, but in game two of Bill Stewart’s first season, the Mountaineers were walloped by East Carolina 24-3 in Greenville.

The head coach of ECU that year? Skip Holtz. Now, Holtz and the ECU Pirates traveled to Morgantown last season and lost 35-20, but at least Holtz knows he has beaten West Virginia, and will know just how intimidating Milan Puskar can be for opposing teams.

JM: Well, I guess that leaves the Rutgers-Army game as the only other game on the docket. Rutgers has looked good at times and is coming off a win against UConn, but is still inconsistent. Army, like Syracuse, has a decent shot to get to a bowl game this season. The Black Knights run my favorite offense (as well as Adam’s favorite) the triple option, which can be a tough matchup for any team. I think Rutgers should win this game, but don’t be surprised if Army pulls off the upset.

AN: I do love the option.

Thanks for joining us, and stay tuned for another week of Big East football here on the blog. Next week you’ll get a little taste of the renovated PapaJohns Cardinal Stadium with some photos and a short recap of the Louisville/UC tilt. Til then, enjoy a weekend of football.

Cincinnati reclaims Keg of Nails in 2008

Louisville needed one more win to go to a bowl game in 2008, Steve Kragthorpe’s penultimate year in the Bluegrass State. Standing in their way was the hottest team in Big East play, coming off of one of the biggest wins in program history, the No. 22 ranked Cincinnati Bearcats, led by Brian Kelly.

One week earlier, the UC Bearcats defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers in overtime at Milan Puskar Stadium (stay tuned for more on that later in the season) and had a short turn around before a game at Louisville. UC hadn’t beat Louisville since 2002, and in order to keep momentum and set up a “Big East Championship game” with Pittsburgh the next week.

On a rainy, cold, mid-November Friday night (in fact, the night before my own 20th birthday) near the banks of the Ohio River, UC and Louisville fought for the right to hold on to the Keg of Nails.

But before that even happened, there was controversy on the field. After Louisville entered the stadium, the Bearcats walked out to midfield, circling the Louisville Cardinal logo and said a prayer. After the game, Kelly and Kragthorpe had a discussion about the incident.

“I think we can all say the rivalry is back,” Kelly said. “There was a lot of emotion out on the field in this game.”

John Goebel scored with 6:29 left in the fourth to put Cincinnati up for good, 28-20. Dustin Grutza came in for the first time since breaking his leg against Oklahoma in early September, and led the Bearcats to that score. Tony Pike, the starter, completed 19 of his 33 attempts for 250 yards and two scores.

For Louisville, it was the first time since 1997 that the Cards had dropped three straight games, and Kragthorpe was taking heat from fans. “"We're not winning football games, and that's on me,” Kragthorpe said.

It was the beginning of the end for Kragthorpe, and another positive for Kelly. One year later, Kelly was moving to Notre Dame and Kragthorpe was cleaning his office out for Charlie Strong to move in.

For more on the 2010 matchup, stay tuned right here for the weekly preview where WPTS Sports Director Jake Meyer joins me to talk Big East football. It will be up before Thursday.

Week 3 Big East Preview

The only Elder Panther to graduate with Jake and I in 2007 and gain a scholarship to play college football at the BCS level is Jeff Rieskamp (pronounced Rees-camp), who signed in February of 2007 to play his college ball at North Carolina State.

Jeff Rieskamp (Elder archive photo, Dave Sharp)

I asked him about his decision just after signing his National Letter of Intent in ’07 for an article in The Purple Quill—Elder’s student newspaper. I asked him if he considered choosing UC, and what it would mean playing them in 2010. Back then Jeff told me, “It wouldn’t make that much of a difference to me, because UC recruited me, but they weren’t high up on my list.” More on that a little further down.

Here’s the third week on the Big East schedule, and only five Big East teams are in action during the third week of September.

Week 3 Big East Schedule
Thurs., Sept 16- Cincinnati at North Carolina State
Sat., Sept 18-Louisville at Oregon State
Sept 18-Syracuse vs Maine
Sept 18-Connecticut at Temple
Sept 18-West Virginia vs Maryland

AN: Brian Kelly was a perfect 3-0 on Thursday nights on ESPN, and Butch Jones gets his first test with a road trip to Raleigh, N.C. This game worries me because of what happened to Pitt last season on their visit to NC State. Remember that one?

JM: Yeah, don’t bring that one up.

AN: N.C. State has quarterback Russell Wilson back, and the redshirt junior is a bit of a problem for defenses. He’s a dual threat, and I don’t mean in the typical football fashion. Wilson’s prowess on the baseball diamond may remind Bearcats fans of their own dual threat quarterback, Zach Collaros.

Collaros was a baseball star a few years ago, moonlighting on the UC baseball squad (Cincinnati Enquirer photo)

It will also be fun to see Jeff Rieskamp live in action for the first time since 2006. I have followed his career with a close eye, partially because we went to school together, and partially because we share a relative. However, we aren’t related. I love pointing that out, and there’s no doubt that I’ll be watching number 99 in red on that Thursday night.

I’ve also heard from my video counterparts at Pittsburgh that the atmosphere at N.C. State is interesting to say the least. I look forward to visiting, and while I believe it’s too early to predict, I don’t see how N.C. State won’t be favored going into this game. But the “homer” in me says that U.C. should be competitive in Raleigh. We’ll see.

Jake, a few interesting games on the docket this week, and with Pitt off, you’ll be sitting in front of a TV watching a lot of college football.

JM: I’m looking forward to West Virginia hosting Maryland. The Mountaineers play a pretty tough non-conference schedule and that continues in week three as the Terrapins come to Morgantown. Don’t let Maryland’s 2-10 record last year fool you, they’ve got some speed and talent on both sides of the ball. The Terps have gotten the ball rolling in 2010 with a nice week one win over Navy, despite being outplayed by the Midshipmen for most of the game.

Also, this is a make-or-break type year for Ralph Friedgen at Maryland as he’s feeling some definite heat after last season’s debacle. I still like WVU at home, but this should be a challenge for the Mountaneers.

AN: The most interesting game of this week, beyond the UC/NC State matchup and the West Virginia/Maryland game is Louisville and Oregon State. The Beavers have been beaten twice in three seasons by Cincinnati, including a 28-18 defeat last season in Corvallis.

UC defeated Oregon State 28-18 last season in Corvallis

While Charlie Strong and the Cardinals should be competitive in this game, I just don’t think they can come out on top, especially since this is their first road test of the season. The Rodgers brothers should be too much for the Cardinals to stop, and the Louisville offense can’t keep up with the Beavers, if you ask me.

That being said, I’d love to see Louisville beat Oregon State and the Beavers take out their frustration on Boise State next week. That would knock Boise out of the national title talk (thank God!) and make the Big East look a whole lot better—and we could use some positive PR about now.

In 24 or so hours the UC Bearcats board the buses to head to the airport and fly out to North Carolina. Thanks Jake for joining in, and to everyone else, enjoy week three of college football.

Pigskin a Plenty

That title sounds like some deal a restaurant should be running. I'm like the Kanye West of marketing. A genuis...

The Cincinnati Bearcats beat rival Louisville 41-10 on Saturday, handily keeping control of the Keg of Nails rivalry trophy for the second straight year. However, the joy of winning the game was quickly dampened by news that Texas Christian jumped the Bearcats 24 hours later in the USA Today Coaches Poll, which makes up part of the BCS standings.

Well, it isn’t even Halloween yet. So, I’m not too worried. Sooner or later this whole BCS conference thing will help us out. More on this week’s upcoming matchup against Syracuse later on this week.

-Pittsburgh is 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the Big East. They throttled USF on Saturday 41-14. Everyone remembers how fellow football fan, Pitt student and guest blogger Jake Meyer said the Panthers would go 4-1 in their non-conference games, right?

Well, I guess they’ll have to take care of business the day before my birthday against Notre Dame to take care of that. Oh, and I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I did say they’d lose to NC State at NC State. It’s rare that I’m right, so I’ll make sure to point it out. (http://adamniemeyer.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-east-football-schedules-pittsburgh.html)

-It was well noted by Rivals.com’s Mike Huguenin that the Naval Academy didn’t throw the ball once in their 13-10 win over Wake Forest on Saturday. They ran the ball 64 times for 338 yards. “The last time a FBS team didn't attempt any passes in a game?” he asks. “It was almost a year to the day: Navy did it last season, on Oct. 25.”

Everyone knows how much I love Navy’s system, but little did I know that Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano—whose Scarlet Knights faced a similar attack from Army on Friday night and defeated the Black Knights by 17—would like to run it one day as well. (Read more: http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2009/10/rutgers_coach_greg_schiano_adm.html)

“I enjoy watching it,” he said last week. “It is definitely a science. There is no doubt about it. I enjoy watching it. I really do. Maybe when I am all done and ready to go coach some high school, I will employ that offense, I don’t know. I think it is very good. It really is a joy to watch.”

If you ever hear me talk about Navy and Georgia Tech, you’ll hear the same thing. I love the offense, I enjoy watching it run to perfection, but I’d hate playing against it.

Also, Georgia Tech (coached by former Navy head man Paul Johnson) is quietly sneaking up in the rankings. They beat Virginia on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets had three players rush for over 80 yards including two who gained over the century mark on the ground.

-In news that made former Ball State walk on wideout and UC video coordinator John Sells happy, the Cardinals won their first game this season. In other MAC news, the Miami Redhawks lost, again. You know how much that is hurting UC’s Strength of Schedule? A lot if I’m not mistaken.

-Oh, and one quick note about the BCS before I get going. USC beat Oregon State 42-36 at home on Saturday. UC beat Oregon State 28-19 in Corvallis earlier this year—in fact, on the same day that USC lost to Washington. UC has yet to lose. Who is ranked higher? USC. Makes sense right?

All I’m doing is prepping for the December 6th argument. Just getting my homework done ahead of time.

-And one quick note about NASCAR. Is it really over? That quickly? Jimmie Johnson won another Chase. Well, I’ll be starting my countdown to Daytona within a week or two. Wait, there’s still one more race? Well, we’ll see…

2007 Louisville game beginning of two game skid for Bearcats

UC was undefeated, coming home after a huge Big East win at an opponent’s place. It was homecoming. Students camped out for tickets a week in advance. The game had sold out in advance. The game was going to be telecasted on ESPNU. The city was in Bearcat state of mind.

It was the week of October 13th, 2007. But doesn’t it have striking similarities to this week’s game? Let’s hope the endings are very different.

My first home game at my new job—the endzone camera guy—was our homecoming game against Louisville. The Bearcats were 6-0, coming off an impressive 28-23 win over Rutgers in Piscataway. Louisville, the defending Big East and Orange Bowl Champs was floundering under first year head coach Steve Kragthorpe at 3-3.

I only say floundering at .500 because this was supposed to be a breakout year for Louisville. They returned Heisman hopeful quarterback Brian Brohm and wideouts Harry Douglas and Mario Urrutia. Meanwhile, on the flip side, Ben Mauk had turned himself into a superstar in his half a season in Clifton. This game would be a battle to the end between the gunslingers.

Mauk threw for 324, three touchdowns and one pick while Brohm threw for 350, with three touchdowns as well. The turnovers were the difference in the end. The Bearcats fumbled the ball four times, losing two to the Cardinals and were picked off twice (although one was on a hail mary at the end of the first half by third string quarterback Tony Pike. Yeah, that Tony Pike).

It was enough to give the Cards a win 28-24. UC floundered inside the five yard line and had to settle for a field goal midway through the fourth quarter, or we could have been looking at a tie game at 28 and a whole new ballgame with about seven minutes to go. But what mattered on that mid-October night was the Cardinals scored more points than the Bearcats and went home with the Keg of Nails trophy given to the winner of the rivalry game.

And although the Bearcats won the matchup in 2008 down in Papa John’s Stadium, they return to Nippert on Saturday afternoon, a place they haven’t lost at in the past five games played between the schools in Cincinnati.

So, is it just me, or do Bearcat fans have more to worry about than who is playing quarterback this weekend for Brian Kelly’s team. Do Bearcat fans only need to look back to Kelly’s first Big East conference home game to realize how much it hurts to fall from the top of the mountain it’s taken so long to climb? I see some similarities between the two games. But only some.

Did you really think I was going to say UC has no chance against Louisville tomorrow? Let’s get real. Kragthorpe’s job is on the line, and Louisville doesn’t have a player the caliber of Brian Brohm playing for them.

Plus, fun stat, UC has turned the ball over just four times in all of 2009. That ranks tied for the fewest turnovers in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision along with Air Force and Oregon State. I have a safe feeling that this year’s game will be a whole lot more positive for Bearcat fans than this same game in 2007 was. And you can quote me on that.