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[Tim_T]

UK has been to bowls the last 3 years counting this one, UofL has been to 1 in the last 3 years. So that could qualify as "about as many decent years" if you wanted it to. Go back past 4 or 5 years ago, not so much. UK beat the national champions last year - who thinks they are a national power? Nobody and if they do it's said jokingly. Louisville might have been in the top 10, but did anyone outside of Jefferson County Kentucky really think they could threaten for a national title the year they missed the "mythical national championship" by a field goal? Seriously. Wake Forest took the lead into the 4th quarter of that Orange Bowl game - you really think Louisville could have beaten Michigan, Ohio State or Florida that year? Hey, Utah is in the top 10 this year and they went undefeated in 2004 - do you really think they can play with Florida, Texas, USC, etc. if they made it to the championship game? Shoot since we're annointing Cardinals we might as well go ahead and declare Ball St. as a national power - they're threatening the top 10 as we speak. I heard Tim Tebow say on ESPN he sure hopes one of the directional Michigan schools can beat Ball St. so they have no shot at playing for the title. Louisville football is like a crack addict with "new" money - they blow it all on hookers and coke, have their one decent run, and then fade away..........

We can let this dead horse lay, or we can flog it as much as you'd like.

"you really think Louisville could have beaten Michigan, Ohio State or Florida that year?" They would have waxed Michigan that year, and beaten Ohio St. but no, they couldn't beat Florida.

You continue to miss the gist of my post. They were a national power for a couple of years...people talked about them all over the country...fans of other teams, the football people, the Gameday bunch (Herbs, Fowler and the *******) other national football pundits. I never anointed them (you want to crown them, then crown their a**).

Using your logic, Florida St., Miami and Notre Dame (among others) are football powers and yet, nobody takes them serious anymore. Nobody really takes Ohio St. and Penn St. serious any more either, but I guess they are a threat because they have a "name."

Btw, Purdue will be good again as soon as Joe Tiller steps down and Danny Hope (former Louisville assistant) takes the reigns.

[psprowler]

Here's why people talked about them nationally a few years ago. The Big East, riding the coat tails of flagship members Virginia Tech and Miami was considered enough of a power conference to merit an automatic BCS bid. Those teams fled to the ACC and thru re-alignment UofL landed in the Big East with the other newcomers. With Miami and Virginia Tech gone the BigEast was not as strong, and ironically, the ACC never became the megaconference people thought it would. So here you have a decent, not great team in Louisville that starts to ascend up the rankings by going undefeated in an overrated conference. They get the other "top" team in that conference that year, West Virginia, at home and beat them. Nevermind the fact that they played no one of significance on the rest of the schedule. Well there are no other hurdles left in the conference so people assume they're going to finish undefeated - crank up the hype machine - an undefeated team from a major BCS conference automatically goes to the championship game right? Well then you get the Rutgers game. UofL goes up big at the half and then squanders the lead and loses the game. Bye bye championship opportunity which in reality existed by default. Fast forward to 2007. West Virginia again goes thru the BigEast and has their shot at the national championship game even though the BigEast really isn't that strong. All they have to do is beat lowly Pittsburgh and what happens? Another loss and sigh of relief as nobody wanted to see them get demolished by LSU. But unfortunately, we had the 2007 version of the 2006 UofL team in OhioSt., who went undefeated in a weak BCS conference and went into the championship game. We all know what happened there. PennState would have been the same way had they not lost to Iowa. They would have got to the championship game and deservedly so based on the flawless BCS system (cough).

The hype was just that - hype. People don't take OhioSt and PennSt. seriously because they learned their lesson, and Louisville was a part of that lesson. But OhioSt and PennSt. have national championships under their belt so at least some of their hype was based on something.

[Tim_T]

Yes, the Big East is way overrated since Louisville joined. That is why in the three years that Louisville has been a member the Big East Champion, in their BCS bowls have beaten the ACC champs, the Big 12 Champs and wait....hold for it...here it comes...the $EC champs. They also won the trophy for the best bowl record one of those years when they went 5-0 in bowl games.

Wait a minute...is Virginia Tech a national power under your definition? I keep getting confused because you keep changing the criteria.

[psprowler]

Yes, the Big East is way overrated since Louisville joined. That is why in the three years that Louisville has been a member the Big East Champion, in their BCS bowls have beaten the ACC champs, the Big 12 Champs and wait....hold for it...here it comes...the $EC champs. They also won the trophy for the best bowl record one of those years when they went 5-0 in bowl games.

Wait a minute...is Virginia Tech a national power under your definition? I keep getting confused because you keep changing the criteria.

You are correct about the bowl games, but bowl games alone do not entail the entire body of work for a season. If those were the only games played then yeah they were a great conference. Virginia Tech fans have way more reason than UofL fans to talk big, they did make it to the championship game in 99' with the dog fighter at QB. They got waxxed by Florida State. Haven't been relevant lately.

If Cincinnati had one less loss this year and won the rest of their games, they'd be this year's version of the 2006 Cards. Anybody think the bearcats have arrived on the scene as a national power? In this year's national title picture, Texas gets screwed by UC because Oklahoma beat UC earlier in the year, and that will "look" better on their resume because UC is a champ of a BCS conference. But the BigEast is weak this year. Nevermind the fact that Texas has the head-to-head victory over Oklahoma. But that's for the fishin.com Texas and Oklahoma non-discussion boards.

If you have any more questions fire away. I'm just a college football fanatic that looks at things objectively. I'm not a homer - I don't have a favorite team.

The Cardinals had one good year. One. Not 3 or 4, not 687. But one.

[Tim_T]

UC is going down tonight and I will be there to watch it (I don't really know how good UC is but with Klownthorpe at the helm we could lose three in a row).

Virginia Tech really only had one good year as well. Heck the struggled to beat Louisville in the Gator Bowl when the Cards were playing with a back up quarterback who was a walk-on redshirt freshman. So are the Cards on the same scale as Va. Tech?

[zx150]

That is why we need a college football tournament. Tim T I will see you there. I will be working the game but if it does not rain too hard I will be on the field.

[Tim_T]

That is why we need a college football tournament. Tim T I will see you there. I will be working the game but if it does not rain too hard I will be on the field.

Hey zx, I will be in section 223, in the corner near the crunch zone. I am walking out the door here in a few minutes. No tailgating for me tonight.

[psprowler]

Hope you guys took some ponchos it's one of those annoying rains.

[MrSplitshot]

Been watching the Cards and the Bearcats tonight and I've got to say for the Louisville fans here that you guys got JOBBED on the reversal of the First Down call late in the 4th Quarter. Whether the ball made it to the line might be debatable, but it most definitely did not get moved back a full yard!

That was a horrible call. I actually yelled at the refs...which kinda made me sorta somewhat rooting for Louisville...weird.

Maybe my basketball cats laying another big turd on the hardwood to VMI in Deja Vu Gardner Webb style tonight has made me soft.