The announced crowd at Saturday's spectacle at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium was 21,497. Even that seemed a stretch. At the end of a game that wasn't safely tucked away until just 22 seconds remained, you couldn't have found a tenth of the number.
The best joke in Section 230, was this one -- The most popular Halloween costume, favored by more than 20,000, was to dress up as an empty chair.
Ominously, from our seats, the impending construction of more seats seemed a waste of time.
Sure, it was Halloween, and the weather was about as good as you can expect in late October. The message U of L fans were sending couldn't have been missed by the man charged with filling a new upper deck next year -- Tom Jurich. This isn't Lexington, where mediocre football teams sell out Commonwealth regardless of won-loss records.
The product must improve. Playing it close with a Sun Belt Conference team with a losing record just won't stand.
Never has a win felt more like a loss than it did Saturday. Bobby Petrino's teams put outfits like Arkansas State away in the first quarter.
At the end of the half, the Cards moved the ball inside the Red Devil 5, with time running out, leading 14-3. It seemed an opportunity to put the game away, but Kragthorpe called three plays that didn't work and inexplicably went for it on 4th down. Didn't make it. And had a timeout left.
Kragthorpe's game management skills showed themselves again at the end, as the Cards tried valiantly to give the game away. They had the ball and an 8-point lead with 3:08 to play, only to give it up after 26 seconds and allowing Arkansas State to drive the length of the field for a potential game-tying TD. A 4th-down pass sailed through a receiver's hands in the end zone to assure the win with seconds left.
It must have been exciting for the few left in the stadium.
I don't care who the coach was, what our record had been or what bowl we may have one 3 seasons ago. We suck by any measure at all. No matter how many seats they're building, even if we were still asked to go to games at the fairgrounds we need a new coach. I can imagine how it could be any worse than going to the wire against Southern Miss and Arkansas State.
Im atcually in the marching band at UofL and its really depressing to see all the fans leave before the game even ends. Im a freshmen and the first game there were alot of people there. and during the black out game there were even more but this last game was very very upsetting :( I def agree we need a new coach until then nothing is going to get better.
The announced crowd at Saturday's spectacle at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium was 21,497. Even that seemed a stretch. At the end of a game that wasn't safely tucked away until just 22 seconds remained, you couldn't have found a tenth of the number.
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