When Bobby Petrino signed on for his second go around at Louisville, Cardinals fans had visions of competing for ACC Titles and perennial top 25 seasons. His 2014 team went 9-4 with a win a Notre Dame. In 2015, Petrino went 8-5, but season finished with the coming out party of Lamar Jackson. The beginning of the 2016 season was the high water mark in Petrino’s current Louisville tenure.
Louisville destroyed the #2 ranked Florida State Seminoles 63-20, and the score wasn’t that close. The Deshaun Watson vs Lamar Jackson, Clemson vs Louisville top 5 matchup was 46-32 loss instant classic. The Cardinals raced out to a 9-1 start and Jackson was putting up video game like numbers. Then cracks started to show up.
The season ended with 3 straight losses, and the offensive line was exposed – which effectively had Jackson running for his life to finish the season. He still won the Heisman Trophy though – A feather in the cap of Petrino.
Thought to be a darkhorse playoff team in 2017, The Cardinal had an un-even 8-5 season, and at one point sat 5-4. The offensive still struggled, and it was largely considered a disappointing season. 2018 without the all-world talent of Jackson, the offense has had no continuity. They have struggled for any kind of consistency on that side of the ball.
Louisville sits 2-3 with two shaky wins over Indiana State and Western Kentucky. The finish in an ugly loss to Florida State at home was just a complete breakdown. Only having to run out the clock to basically finish off FSU, Petrino chose a first down pass with a highly inaccurate QB. It was picked off, and the Noles went on to win the game.
What has to be worrisome for Petrino is that not only has the gap with Clemson become wider than ever, but that NC State and Syracuse have passed Louisville by. Wake Forest and Boston College have the most recent wins over the Cardinals too. A bad Florida State team just beat them. Louisville is now one of the 4 worst teams in the ACC. That’s on top of the feeling of underachievement during the Lamar Jackson years. This is not what Cardinal fans expected when Petrino arrived.
For a coach that averaged 8.5 wins in his first 4 years, is it premature to think Louisville should start thinking about a new direction? The results of a recent twitter poll, think the possibility should be strongly considered.
Should Bobby Petrino be on the hotseat at Louisville?
— AllSportsDACC (@AllSportsDACC) September 30, 2018
5 years into his tenure, and the Cardinal’s program seems like it’s moving reverse. It’s a fact – Louisville football is not in a better position since Petrino’s arrival.
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