LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For the University of Louisville football team, the stars have gone missing one by one, like candles flickering out in a November wind. No, wait. Like leaves falling in an autumn breeze.
That's too gentle for football. Let me start over. Louisville football's stars are being stacked up on the sidelines like cordwood for winter.
Take your pick. People hate it when you write about injuries. "Next man up" is the operative phrase. Coaches use it. Players use it. And a lot of times, it is the winning formula. Someone who has a bit less talent or experience comes in, rises the occasion, and it's a great story.
It's happened so often at running back at Louisville that we've come to get used to it. The next man up comes in and runs for 100 yards and off they go.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford
Louisville will enter its rivalry game against Kentucky on Saturday without its top three running backs (all injured) and its top two wide receivers (both injured in Saturday's loss to SMU). It may or may not have starting quarterback Miller Moss. Either way, backup Deuce Adams will likely see action.
There's not a program in America that could lose its top two receivers, top three backs, and a starting quarterback — and not feel it.
You're making excuses for them! No, I'm not. I'm just reading the chart.
We have seen some strange things in this rivalry. I've seen Lamar Jackson, on his way to picking up the Heisman Trophy, lose this game. I've seen Kyle Bolin come out of nowhere to win it.
There's no telling what's going to happen on Saturday. The job ahead of Louisville coach Jeff Brohm is to get whoever is on the field to play like a well-prepared, resilient team. That did not happen Saturday at SMU, by Brohm's own admission.
Brohm said there was no attempt to "flush the loss" and move on. They did grade out the video.
"We didn't shy away from it," he said. "There were a lot of things on there that we could all have done better. So, now it's about getting our mojo back as we get going for this week, and preparing really hard. And even though there's some new pieces out there, that happens every year to a certain extent, so whoever we have available needs to be ready to go and have a great week of practice. And we need to find a way to win with whoever we have on the field."
The problem when teams are depleted is that the margin of error shrinks. Louisville had only six penalties on Saturday. Almost every one was a killer, particularly the only holding call of the game, on a big fourth-and-1 jet sweep by Chris Bell.
Some fans have been critical that depth hasn't been developed. But few programs have more running back depth than Louisville. And while the Cardinals have given practice reps to Deuce Adams and Bryce Allen all season, they also owed a great many reps to Moss as they look to develop him and improve his play.
A year ago, they had two quarterbacks they'd spent two years developing — Harrison Bailey and Pierce Clarkson. Bailey left for Florida after leading Louisville to a bowl game win, and Clarkson was lured by a portal offer from UCLA.
"There's guys on your roster that are going to get in the portal and leave that you've been developing, that all of a sudden, that development goes to another program," quarterbacks coach Brian Brohm said.
Still, he said he thought Adams had an "encouraging" first start.
"I think it was a promising first start," Brohm said. "He did some things that you can build on. You know, coming in as a as a redshirt freshman, your first real live action, not a ton of action up to that point, I thought he was composed. I thought he handled the offense well. Thought he got in and out of the huddle, made a couple big-time throws -- the corner route to (Dacari) Collins and down the sideline to Bell. Didn't make any major mistakes. There were a few plays, as you're going to have in every game, where would've like to see him pull the ball on a seam or on a skinny post, maybe one high throw. But I thought overall it was was a good first start for him, something to build on."
Brohm added that the staff will have to get more creative in play-calling this week, and that the quarterbacks will have to be more willing to throw the ball down the field.
Louisville's defense has held up largely, despite the Cardinals' offensive struggles. The game was still in the balance in the third quarter on Saturday. T.J. Quinn, who will be playing his final home game at Louisville, about making the most of one more chance to change the narrative for this team.
"We feel like this is another opportunity," Quinn said. "This is rivalry week. If you can't get up for this game, you really shouldn't be playing ball."
Brian Brohm said Louisville's offense, even if lacking some personnel, should not lack for motivation.
"We know how big it is," he said. "We've played in it, coached in it. It's a huge deal. So to get these guys fired up and ready to play in that game, we should be able to do that. I hope, at least offensively, we're a little bit angry, a little bit mad about how last week went, a little bit mad about how we've kind of been playing lately, and take out some of that frustration on Saturday and show everybody what we're capable of. I think there's a lot to play for in this game, and we'll look forward to getting back in front of the home fans and trying to bring a victory in the Governor's Cup."
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