Louisville

If you have never had a chance to go to Louisville for an away game, good on you. It is in a furious battle with BC for being the least collegiate atmosphere of anyone in the conference without the cool town as a backdrop. The band does not play, rap blares in between every snap and an all white 50 person dance team stomps to songs featuring the N bomb twice a game. The fans that come are generally rude and the students don't show up because the ball ain't round enough. So needless to say, winning here is a must, and by goodness that is exactly what happened. It all started like we were crazily hoping. Quick stop, incredible JT was back again this week hitting every receiver on time and in rhythm and we are up by a touchdown quick as a hiccup. Trading blows early, we were just buying time until we took it to em and win late. Then, slam, bam and our three best players are on the med phones with their fam...halftime comes and hope leaves the stands.

Halftime is unique for everyone.  For the band parents, this is the height of game day excitement as their kid gets a chance to perform. At the Ville, this only affects about 80 people as this comically small unit is only slightly bigger than the Sopchoppy HS Marching Oyster Shells. So, there is no real guilt leaving your seat in Cardinal Stadium to do your thing. Even back in the 90's, they served bourbon in this "off campus" facility. This game was one time, it felt like a good move to stop by the Kentucky juice stand early as I made the Bataan death march to the hopper. This night was turning into a birthday party where the cake is poisoned and the presents exploded. We all felt so damn good heading to the stadium, and things were ok - until they weren't. Well, this fan base which in a short history reminder - has won exactly nothing of significance ever - are a crazily arrogant bunch. In the roughly 120 degree front-of-the-stage Pearl Jam crowded Men's room, the glee over our quarterback's injury was redonk. They knew the game was over, and we knew that not only the game was over, but a pigpen cloud of season doom was back over our heads. The good news is that the other Men's room housing our players in the corner of the stadium was much more positive. 

That group believes in each other and their coach to an incredible degree. This was simply put - a culture win. As the rest of us started counting the future losses, the Coach looked at his remaining white clad Noles and told them how to win today. They somehow convinced Tate that the hot garbage that we had seen thus far and even to finish out the first half was unimportant. They knew and then Tate knew. The defense that treated tackling in the first half like it was two hand touch, suddenly hit and battled with incredible emotion. Folks, do yourself a favor and watch the first 10 seconds of Coach Norvell's post game press conference. He opened the session quietly just staring at the papers in front of him, then just with raw, unfiltered emotion banged his first on the desk and finally looked up with wet eyes full of raw victory. That more than any words showed how he knew - maybe really for the first time - that the culture he had built had paid off in a win we had no real business getting.

 If you are a voracious reader of all things offseason with Seminole football, you have undoubtedly been exposed to the myriad of publications that give their countdown of the most valuable players on the roster. Well, this was like an Al Queada hit list for the Cardinals, as they started picking em off one at a time. They knew that the best corner and defensive lineman were already out. Check. So, let's go to the top of the list and attack. At number one, quarterback. Down goes Jordan. Second, the best remaining defensive lineman. Check as Verse's leg buckled and he went sideline camping in the injury tent. Then, for good measure, let's knock out the steady left tackle. The rest of our ACC schedule may pay out Coach Satterfield's buyout out of gratitude for the scorched earth. 

Our coach was not perfect. The failure to challenge the fumble cost his boys 7 points as we recovered and the Cardinals quick scored on the next play. But, coming out of the locker room in the second half and scheming up two easy crossers for Tate to gain some heaven sent confidence. Oh yeah, he thought, I can throw the ball...Then, the line manned up with Gibbons and Smith dominating their gaps to allow Treshaun Ward room in the guts of the defense, and his internal moves and change of direction are elite. That first second half drive tied the game, and then in a blink we were behind again and facing trouble deep in our own territory. Watching how Louisville was stubbornly insisting on single covering Johnny Wilson with no chance of help as both safeties were in the box 90% of the game; I literally screamed out loud in frustration "God D###nIT, throw it to F'n 14!!" Well, I do not yell very often at games. I talk a lot, but mostly it is a series of mumbles that only Debbie can translate. Well, that was not a mumble, but two consecutive and amazing Rodemaker throws to 14 made it a tie game - and the season had juice again.  People I did not know around me were patting me on the back like I dialed it up. Thanks for making me look good Coach.

All of us have watched our defensive staff struggle to scheme up a way to slow down the opposition when we have a late lead. I know the elevated heartrate we had in the stands in bourbon central. But, how relaxed were you at home with your 60 inch screen, hot pizza and a four point lead when they got the ball - twice! - in the last few minutes? Well, it was nice to not see more of the same, and I am not just speaking of the result. This was an aggressive approach as the prevent stayed on the bench. They rushed 4 or 5 on every down and kept the safeties within the TLH runway of the line of scrimmage. This creates an attitude which you saw in how we tackled on these last two stands and ultimately delivered a win. Shyheim Brown again put his incredibly valuable hand into play late. Apparently, he is the guy we call with a minute left to simply knock down footballs. Kicks, passes no matter. Shy, we need your hand - stat. Then, finally doing what we should have all game, and force that jackrabbit qb to pass, we corralled the winner with a toetap on the sideline and our little cadre of garnet and gold end zone idiots went crazy. Cats and dogs hugging, lighting striking 3 times and wrinkles fading with age...Tate and a MASH unit on defense had delivered an impossible win in Louisville. 

I know that Duke Cooper was mainly unavailable, and we were playing freshman all over the defensive line late, but we have to get better in the back end. Jones fell down twice in coverage. Just flat hit a banana peel and left his guy alone. Renardo Green is a terrific tackler, but has yet to turn around in coverage. Our safeties cover up all kinds of problems, but we have too much corner talent on the bench to be this consistently average back there. DeLoach and Bethune are playing super hard, but neither has any business covering wideouts. We have them covering slot guys way too often for my taste. Cooper lost about 120 pounds this week, as he had to go almost the whole way. He moved like a turtle on sedatives in the second half after Ray got hurt and he had no sub. There is no lack of effort on a Norvell team, but let's not fool ourselves that our average starting lineup is backed up by layers of studs. This season will be a slog up front - especially with Lovett and Verse on the shelf.

Mike might just give up and go ahead and send our kicker to professional positivity work from Oprah this week. Unless there is a student walk-on we don't know about, we have Ryan all season. To say he is struggling might be a compliment. We continue to return kicks from our endzone, and even our Aussie had a shank this week. Coach P better be recruiting d- ends like his life depends on it, cuz his Seminole life just might. 

Huge game this week as a win gets us to 4 with GT and Louisiana still on the slate. This win means we are bowling and the floor is now 6 games. Doctors and this amazing culture are going to determine the ceiling.  Winning is some kinda fun!