Louisville Back on the Path to Glory
It is too early to say Coach Charlie Strong will get Louisville back to their winning ways achieved under Coach Bobby Petrino, but the first steps have certainly been taken. Coach Strong has instilled a new attitude in a team that has struggled mightily since their Orange Bowl victory over Wake Forest to cap off a memorable 2006 campaign. In the following three seasons, the Cardinals failed to even make a bowl game. Coach Strong changed that during his first year at the helm.
More important than wins and losses at this point is the talent Coach Strong is bringing back to Louisville. The most noted recruit this year is quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. He will not start right away, but ranked as a top ten quarterback by most recruiting pundits, Bridgewater is the future of this program. But recruiting goes well beyond one big name quarterback. The coaching staff is building depth and talent all over the field and that will pay off relatively soon. The Cardinals may not make it back to a BCS game in the next year or two, but they could certainly compete for a Big East title sooner or later. The depth chart is littered with underclassmen and by the time Coach Strong’s recruits are seniors, this will be a very dangerous team.
The problem is TCU will be in the mix starting next season and that will make reaching another BCS game much more difficult for Louisville. However, the building of a program, or in this case the rebuilding, is not about the other teams in the conference. Louisville has the talent to compete with TCU, they just need some experience first. By the time TCU rolls into town, the Cardinals should have both.
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