Louisville rocks “The Rock”: U of L vs. USM game notes

By Charlie Leffler

Louisville rocks “The Rock”: U of L vs. USM game notes

By Charlie Leffler

Sports Editor

Getting stoned

Several years ago, Southern Miss nicknamed M.M. Roberts Stadium “The Rock.” During Louisville’s game in Hattiesburg on Thursday night, it appeared that rocks were the only things that the fans did not throw at the Cardinals. The intense Golden Eagle defense sacked quarterback Dave Ragone eight times, hit him on nearly every play, and caused numerous hurries. “Southern Miss did so much defensively,” said Louisville head coach John L. Smith. “They brought the kitchen sink, then went to their neighbors and got their sink and brought it as well. And they hit us a lot.”

Fanning the flames

The Southern Miss players were not the only ones taking shots at the Cardinals. The theme of the evening was “Go to hell, U of L.” Many fans in the student section were sporting T-shirts and stickers that were emblazoned with the slogan. The student section even created a chant to taunt the Louisville team. The verbal abuse began the moment the Cards walked onto the field, and it was relentless. “They’re all over you from day one,” said Smith. “We walked out there to warm up, and they’re calling me ‘wife-beater.’ The last time I checked, I hadn’t beaten my wife.”

As the game went on, the rants grew louder, with students hanging over the retaining wall only six feet from the players’ benches. Later in the game, some fans got so rowdy that a group of policemen were stationed nearby; however, most of the Cardinal players viewed it as merely playful banter. “I love ’em,” said Ragone. “I tell you right now, that’s the one thing I’ll miss more than anything… because they’re original with some of their sayings.” Even though most of the catcalls were unprintable, Ragone said he decided to have some fun with the students. “It was in the second quarter, and they’re on us really bad,” he said. “We brought the defense together, and I said, ‘Offense, I want a count of three. I want you to turn around and wave, so then you won’t have to bother with them anymore… then they’ll think we’re friendly.’ We all turn around and wave, and you know what? It didn’t get as bad as it was.”

While the Southern Miss fans may have been trying to intimidate the Louisville players, their actions only provided inspiration. “It kept us in the game,” said safety Anthony Floyd. “It kept us lively. A lot of it was actually funny stuff. It’s just fun playing where you have fans like that.”

Thursday night resolution

With numerous Thursday night ESPN games, many people around Conference USA feel that they were sold out by former commissioner Mike Slive when he signed the television package deal. Slive’s intentions were to create a national venue to give C-USA teams more exposure; however, many schools are not giving the nation a good impression. The Thursday night games keep many football fans from attending for a variety of reasons. Some students have night classes, while others have early morning classes the next day. The 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. starting times make it very difficult for working people to leave their jobs, change clothes, and get to the stadium. People with children complain that they don’t have time to drop off their kids with babysitters. And tailgating time is cut extremely short.

As a result, recent Thursday night games at U of L have netted some of the lowest attendance figures in stadium history, but they are not alone. The same situation has occurred throughout C-USA.

Southern Miss was aware of the problems and sought to turn their Thursday night home game into something spectacular. Because of the game, classes after 1:00 p.m. were canceled. It was also requested that all Hattiesburg businesses, other than bars and liquor stores, close early. The result was not only a near-capacity crowd, but a boisterous one, because they had time to… uh… drink in the inspirational atmosphere (see section above).

Getting a lift

Kerry Rhodes’ late-fourth-quarter field goal block kept USM from notching what most likely would have been a game-clinching score. Though Rhodes has not seen a lot of playing time, he was sent onto the field with the game on the line, and he rose to the occasion. “Coach is always talking about somebody stepping up and making a big play,” said Rhodes. The 6′ 3″ sophomore defensive back was sent onto the field with the specific purpose of blocking the kick attempt. Rhodes leapt so high that his knees were nearly to the level of the shoulders of the player in front of him. Even with that height, Kerry only got enough of a hand on the ball to deflect it. “I came in and I had faith, and God helped me do that. God picked me up,” he said. “I jumped as high as I could. I think I hurt myself.”

A united win

Following the Cards’ home loss to Cincinnati, both players and coaches admitted that there were internal problems with the team; however, no signs of such issues showed during the game against Southern Miss. In fact, the team appeared to grow more united as the game went on, even though they were behind. “They showed more character and togetherness tonight than we ever have,” said Smith, “and that’s one thing I complimented them on after the game. We didn’t get into the fans. We didn’t get into one another. We didn’t get into cheap penalties.” Even after fumbles and turnovers, there were no fingers being pointed. “Nobody got down on each other. We said, ‘Okay, we dropped that one on the ground. Big deal.’ The defense was saying, ‘We’re going to come out; all we’ve got to do is hold them, and we’ll be okay.’ I didn’t hear one negative word.”

“We came out and stuck with it and stuck to our game plan and believed in each other,” said senior wide receiver Damien Dorsey. “That’s what we talked about the most at halftime; just believing in each other, and things take care of themselves.”

Of course, Smith still had to get in a playful word. “Now, I slapped J.R. (Russell) upside the face because he frowned one time,” the coach joked. “He came over and frowned like things aren’t going good, and so I smacked him.”

Nothing new in secondary

For the second straight week, the Louisville secondary played up to its preseason hype; however, defensive back Josh Minkins says they haven’t made any changes. “Nothing different; we’re doing the same thing,” he said. “People talk about how we ain’t got no heart and how the secondary is playing soft, playing off. We’ve got to step up and show everybody and shut them up.”

The major difference in the secondary’s performance had nothing to do with the players, but the officials. Whereas before, when good plays were met with flags, the officials now seem to be seeing them differently. “I don’t know what the penalties are for,” said Minkins. “They just call them. I just do the same thing every week, play hard and cover my man. That’s what I’m here for.”