Spanning The Cardinal Football Globe

I can't really put into words how mad I am about the football team right now, hence me not posting about the two devastating losses to PITT and Cincinnati. I'm assuming the majority of you have seen the games and probably do not want to relive them, so I'll spare you and myself the heartache. Anyway, I'm going to borrow something from Colin Cowherd and span the Cardinal Globe to tell you what some of the people that are unbiased (allegedly) are saying about the goings-on with the Cards and of course add my two cents on some topics that occurred in the last week...

The Handshake Incident

If you haven't heard already, Coach Krag and Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly got into an "alleged" argument before the game. The words resulted from Kelly's Bearcat squad conducting a pregame prayer around midfield. Krag, a deeply religious man, took offense and words were exchanged. After the game, the postgame handshake was a bit chippy. The Sporting News put it in their The Alphabetical : Week 12. Go to the 7:45 mark and see for yourself.....

YouTube - End of Cincinnati/Louisville game

Brian Bennett talks about the alleged incident in his blog on ESPN.com, a day after mind you. He says it's much ado about nothing, but did post this picture showing what the Cincy players. Have we gotten to the point where teams don't stomp on the bird, they just pray that they don't screw up against such a soft team? They were praying. Get mad that they embarrassed you, not that they prayed on your field. If he did object, Coack Krag is your perfect example of the pot and the kettle. At least the team is showing fire.

Jurich & His Expectations

Another incident this week that occurred off the field is Tom Jurich telling the aforementioned Bennett about the current state of the football team:

"My expectations were not high this year because I knew the reality,"
Jurich said on Wednesday. "One thing I didn't want to do to the fans was lie to
them."When I said we'd spend the next two years rebuilding, there was a lot of
flack that came with it. Nobody wants to hear that. [But] it's a long haul and I
knew that and I buckled up for it.
"It's hard for some people to hear that
when one year you're going to the Orange Bowl and now you're not. Our fans are
so new at this, they thought we'd be going to the Orange Bowl every week, but
it's not like that."

You can't go to the Orange Bowl every week? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Should we expect to go .500 every year? What about when he said, "It was very important for me to continue to build on this momentum we have in this program and the continuity that is going on right now" when Krag was hired? Is that now a myth? I expect hard, smart, and sound football and I haven't been getting that. I expect to see improvement from the players, not departure. I expect to see an offense that is complex and tough to defend, not chaotic and vanilla. I expect my team not to give up (PITT game - we all saw it). I don't expect the Orange Bowl every year, but I do expect at least mediocrity from a team that I know has the talent to achieve more than they are currently.

There were 20,000 empty seats at the Cincy game the weekend after this article was posted - coincidence? The fans think that Jurich should be able to admit when he makes a mistake, but it's not like that. Jurich is setting the bar so low, he expects us to be ecstatic with a win and indifferent with a loss. My expectations will remain high, multiple coaches have shown that it's possible to succeed here even after poorly ran regimes. Jurich goes on to blame Bobby Petrino and injuries. In other news - the sky is blue, the sun will come up tomorrow, and Krag will use cliches. For the record - Jurich has blamed Petrino's wandering eyes, lack of talent, fans expectations, and assistant coaching just in the last year for the program's woes. When is he finally going to say it's poor coaching?

I understand the supposed "bad hand" Krag was dealt when he took the job with the Cards. I understand he had to do a little house cleaning to the tune of 20+ players leaving the program since his hire. I understand the parallels to the blue-bloods wanting to run Old Man Brooks out of town a couple years ago. I'm just having a tough time coming to grips with the fact that Krag is going to be our coach for the foreseeable future. It's not a brand of football that I enjoy watching. There is no risk-taking, no passion.

I don't know if it was the weather, Friday night high school games or a combination of both, but it is ridiculous that fans can't fill up a 42,000 seat stadium that has hopes of expanding in the near future. I am pissed, but I still go to the games. It is imperative that Jurich, Krag and the team have the fans support. However, losing with regularity is intolerable and the Card faithful need to let their voice be known in other ways than not attending games. When you don't come to the football games, it doesn't even effect the football team. It effects the non-revenue sports like soccer, track and volleyball - all teams who are putting a far better product on the field.

The ineptitude of our football team is frustrating. Guys like Eric Wood, Joe Tronzo, and Daniel Covington deserve better than to be categorized like this after all the hard work they have given. As bad as it is, we can win our last 2 games, go 7-5, maybe to a bowl and everything will look like it's fine and on the up-and-up. The question is: Is it really getting better or are we just falling into a few more years of the obscurity fans went through during Schnellenberger's first years?

Oh my God, Did I just compare Krag to Schnelly?