By Whitney Spencer

In front of one the largest crowds in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in some time, the University of Louisville football team fell just short of a victory for Charlie Strong in his first game as head coach.

“When you look at a game like this and it’s a rival game, we dug ourselves too deep in a whole in the beginning,” said U of L head coach Charlie Strong.

With Senior Adam Froman at the helm as quarterback, the Cards looked to come out with a renewed spirit and energy that had been missing in the three previous seasons under former head coach Steve Kragthorpe. That energy was deflated in the opening seconds of the game as the Wildcats of the University of Kentucky found the end zone in just 35 seconds.

“Coach Strong told us before the game that thing were going to happen and early on things happened,” said junior Greg Scruggs. “At that point, we had four quarters of ball to play.”

Junior wide receiver Randall Cobb and senior Derrick Locke did the most damage for the Cats, as Louisville’s defense was lackadaisical, at best, attempting to stop the run. Louisville’s defensive line struggled against UK’s offensive line all day. Junior defensive tackle Greg Scruggs had a few bright spots, as did senior corner Bobby Burns who had the task of covering Cobb. Otherwise, the defense proved all the points of concern that the coaches discussed leading up to the game.

“It was like one bad play led to another,” said Strong.

After the half, the Cards came out with a rejuvenated playing attitude sparked by the words of Coach Strong.

“I just told them the offense is going to get the ball and go down and score and we’ll be back in this. I just told the defense we’re giving up too many big lay. We have to go back out there and play. We’re giving up to many big plays. Score touchdowns and we’re back in this game.”

The offense took the field and senior Adam Froman had a solid game finishing with 14-29 with 127 yards.

“He played and hung in there with the pressure,” said Strong. ” His numbers may not be something special because he had a lot of drops. He did a good job offensively.”

The Cards were solid with the ball in their hands.

“We need limit mistakes,” said senior tight end Cameron Graham. “No dropped balls or missed tackles. We need to play a complete game.”

The run game proved to be pivotal as senior Bilal Powell and junior Victor Anderson showed that their combined running game could lead to Cards to victory this season. Powell finished the game with 153 yards and one touchdown.

With a crowd of 55,327, Coach Strong was pleased with the atmosphere from the start saying he believed the team had something to build on.

“I was just pleased with our overall effort. In the first half, we kind of got shell shocked – the young guys,” said Strong. I was just pleased with the way we came back and hung in there until the end. “