Bring On The Cats: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
New Blog: Once A Metro covering Red Bull New York!

Kicking the Tires: Louisville

No permanent Internet solutions yet, but it's working well enough at this point for me to write the UL preview.  You can check out SB Nation's Louisville blog, Card Chronicle, for more on Louisville, but I understand a lot of Louisville is without power because of the remnants of Hurricane Ike, so there isn't a whole lot new at the site.

Players to Watch

K-State

Passing -- Josh Freeman: 34/45, 520 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 260 yards per game

Rushing -- Keithen Valentine: 24 carries, 104 net yards, 4.2 ypc, 1 TD

Receiving -- Brandon Banks: 9 catches, 183 yards, 3 TDs, 92.5 ypg

Louisville

Passing -- Hunter Cantwell: 35/66, 355 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs, 177.5 ypg

Rushing -- Vic Anderson: 24 carries, 145 net yards, 6.0 ypc, 1 TD

Receiving -- Doug Beaumont: 14 catches, 160 yards, 0 TD, 80 ypg

Statistics that are fun to look at...

Scoring Offense

K-State: 3rd, 57.0 ppg

Louisville: 65th, 26.5 ppg

Total Offense

K-State: 18th

Louisville: 86th

Scoring Defense

K-State: 10th, 8.0 ppg

Louisville: 46th, 18.5 ppg

Total Defense

K-State: 6th, 198.0 ypg

Louisville: 4th, 193.0 ypg

The Cardinals are 1-1 on the season.  In week one, UL dropped a rivalry game to Kentucky, 27-2.  The same week K-State was demolishing Montana State, UL defeated Tennessee Tech, 51-10.  Not to get too far afield here, but Tennessee Tech has since defeated SEMO, 29-27; that's the same SEMO team Mizzou annihilated 52-3.  Also, Kentucky is 3-0 on the season, with wins over Norfolk State (38-3) and Middle Tennessee State (20-14).

Louisville's offensive deficiencies against Kentucky probably scared small children and sickened those who love football, but the Cards looked better against Tennessee Tech.  Still, Cantwell's numbers on the season are nothing special, and I will be very disappointed if we permit this game to turn into a shootout.  Our defense must tackle better, though, and must do a better job stopping the run.  Running back Vic Anderson will see to it that we pay if we are not prepared to stop the running game.

Defensively, Louisville does not give up yards or points easily.  This will be easily Josh Freeman's sternest test to date (duh), and it will be very telling for the rest of the season how he handles this game.

One other thing I noticed in watching UL's opening week matchup with Kentucky.  Cantwell has perhaps the slowest delivery of any quarterback I've seen since the 1980s.  He looks like he's winding up an old fire-engine as he rears back to throw.  Let's hope that gives Ian Campbell and his defensive line mates a little extra time to get into the backfield and put pressure on Cantwell.

On a final note, it doesn't look like we're going to have a lot of success running the ball on UL, but I hope to God we at least try.  We all saw what happened to that school down the river on Friday night when they completely abandoned the running game, and that could be us if we don't try (side note: the Jocques Crawford-for-2,000-yard watch now stands at 64 yards, or 1,934 short of his goal for the season).

0 recs  |  Comment 0 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about the Kansas State Wildcats.
Start posting about the Wildcats »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Small
NCAA 1st Rnd Channel Guide
Sptb
K-State Baseball Home Opener
Frye_small
K-State and Frank Martin Agree to Contract Extension
Small
Locations Showing Iowa State Game
Small
Iowa State Channel Guide
Kstex-logo_small
Who is K-State's greatest Trillionaire?
Catbreathe_small
Arthur Brown is ours now
Small
Hammer and Rails is trying to sort out the #1 seeds
Small
KSU Nebraska Game tonight
Small
Good TV news for everyone about Saturday's game

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

SBNation.com Recent Stories

Saint Mary's center Omar Samhan (50) grabs a rebound as Hawaii center Paul Campbell looks on in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Dec. 25, 2009, at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. Saint Mary's defeated Hawaii 84-75. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)

Samhan's 29 Points Leads St. Mary's In First Round Win Over Richmond, 80-71

Baylor coach Scott Drew celebrates a basket late in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Texas at the Big 12 tournament Thursday, March 11, 2010, in Kansas City, Mo. Baylor defeated Texas 86-67. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)

Baylor Pulls Away From Sam Houston State Late For 68-59 Win

Murray State guard Isaiah Canaan (3) dances in celebration as he's applauded by teammates (L-R) forward Danero Thomas (12), guard Jordan Burge,guard Picasso Simmons, guard Donte Poole (11), guard Jewuan Long, and guard B.J. Jenkins after their 62-51 victory over Morehead State in the NCAA college Ohio Valley Conference Basketball Championship game in Nashville, Tenn., Saturday, March  6, 2010.  (AP Photo/Frederick Breedon)

Welcome To March Madness: Murray State Nails Buzzer-Beater To Upset Vanderbilt

More from SBNation.com >


Manager

Dsc01361_small TB

Frye_small Panjandrum

Editors

Touchdown_frank_small EMAW

2008-8_small BracketCat

Official Partner of CBS Sports