By Cynthia Robinson
I was lost after the football game. I needed one thing. A map. I needed to see just where these Aggies had come from. I just recently returned from New Mexico and didn’t recall hearing anything about any team that would soon make U of L’s defensive line as thin as the air.
If you were lucky enough to miss the majority of the U of L and New Mexico State game, here’s a quick recap. NMSU lost 45-24. Notice I did not say U of L won. I did not say that because they did not win. Their number of points was higher than the opposition, so technically, and only by default were they proclaimed the victor. However, there was no victory party after the game.
Trust me, we were there awhile. When all was said and done, all I saw were unhappy coaches, dejected players, a larger than expected cleaning crew, and devoted members of the media (or those not-quite-so-devoted-by-12:30 members who had no other way to reach their car than one of the devoted members).
I’ve changed my mind. The game was bad enough; we don’t want a recap. I did, however, here a lot of interesting comments throughout the evening that would be more fun than reading than the depressing statistics. If for some reason, you were actually looking for those numbers, you check out the game story at www.louisvillecardinal.com. “We came out piss-poor…like we were new at this,” said an obviously irritated safety, Curry Burns.
This was a shared sentiment. “We started off really good…then it kind of fell off,” said bandit back Michael Brown.
By halftime, everyone was confused. The Cards were down by one. “We came into the locker room at halftime and said we still have to go out there and perform. We still had a lot to prove,” said defensive lineman Bobby Leffew.
Coach John L. Smith commented on the locker room discussions, also. To a room of exhausted reporters, the coach repeated a statement made at the half by one of his players. Sounding something like Robins Williams in the movie “What Dreams May Come,” with an overemphasis on “NOT,” he yelled, “It’s NOT okay to make a mistake!”
Michael Josiah agreed. “We didn’t play that good.” He said the game was a “good wake-up call.”
But I’ll back up. Sometime in the third quarter, the lethargy was beginning to set in and the press box was frighteninly quiet. I needed a brief escape and ventured over to a much more vocal crowd in the student section. While there, my friend Steve said (screamed) to me (several times) that “The Cards are gonna kick ass this year!” I concluded he’s either an optimist or the alcohol had blurred his vision.
Either way, by the end of the game, his prediction sounded somewhat hollow.Quarterback Dave Ragone admitted that this was “probably the worst game I’ve ever played. We need to play better.”
Some might say that the Cards at least came out impressively, scoring 14 points before the Aggies realized the game had started. The crowd of 38,129 was loud and exuberant. “The stadium was packed. We were so ready-to hit someone else-not ourselves. We came in a little overconfident…We were humbled,” said Ragone.
As well they should have been. NMSU head coach Tony Samuel admitted, “It was us…We stopped ourselves. I think their head coach is over in the locker room saying, ‘We got away with that one’…We gave the game away.”
“We did not play near as well as we would like,” said Coach Smith.Hmm…I hope not. Otherwise, we are in for a long season.
But, said Burns, “This was a learning game for us.” And, as Mike Brown said, it’s okay, because now “We have a game under our belt.”
Lineman Devon Thomas expressed the same frustration, but reminds everyone, “A win is a win.”
