Louisville enters season as Big East favorite following strong finish in 2011
NEWPORT, R.I. — The Louisville Cardinals’ seat atop the preseason Big East media poll is hardly a shock.
Louisville returns 17 starters from last season. Nine of 11 defensive starters are back for a team that gave up just more than 20 points per game last season. That experience translated to being tabbed as the conference favorite entering 2012.
“For some reason, I don’t know why, they picked us first this season,” head coach Charlie Strong said. “… This is a players’ game and you win with players.”
Though opposing players and coaches were hesitant to point to a clear favorite, they also have plenty of respect for a team that won five of its last six regular season games in 2011. The strong finish gave the Cardinals a share of the Big East crown along with Cincinnati and Louisville. With quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, the unanimous choice for 2011 Big East Rookie of the Year, back to lead the offense, Louisville is expected to pick up where it left off last season.
“It’s kind of hard not to point toward Louisville right now,” South Florida head coach Skip Holtz said. “I think they deserve that ranking with what they did last year and what they have coming back.”
With a young quarterback and roster that averaged 1.6 turnovers per game and was called for a league-worst 90 penalties in 2011, the Cardinals have issues to improve on heading into the season.
Redshirt senior left tackle Alex Kupper is not worried.
“As long as we provide the leadership that we need to, rah-rah speeches, whatever you want,” Kupper said. “If you put out a good product and show you them that we can work then that develops leadership itself.”
Yet a statistical evaluation of Louisville’s 2011 season does not indicate a dominant team by any means. The Cardinals ranked dead last in the conference in scoring offense and turnover margin, seventh in first downs and sixth in penalties.
Still, Louisville found a way to win games and the offseason provided an opportunity for the players to develop in those areas.
“The improvement a player makes year-to-year in college can be really significant if they’re in the right type of offseason program,” Rutgers head coach Kyle Flood said. “I’m sure Charlie’s running a good program there so I’m sure his players are developing.
“I think at times the experience can outweigh the numbers.”
Flood also cited Louisville’s resume in labeling Strong’s team conference favorites.
Strong said the pre-season accolade is a fine compliment to his program, yet the extra attention presents a dangerous double-edged sword. Veteran players in the Big East said they would largely ignore the rankings in evaluating their respective teams, but they also won’t hesitate to use them as motivation in their own locker rooms.
“Oh we’ll definitely use it as motivation because we believe that we have the team that can win the Big East and Rutgers has never been picked to win the Big East,” Scarlet Knights safety Duron Harmon said. “It’s just something we notice. We look at it.”
It’s not a factor Strong can ignore. The head coach said it’s always a challenge as other teams target the preseason conference favorite.
When the Big East season ends in December and the conference champion is crowned, the preseason media poll will be meaningless.
But for now, it’s a sign of respect for Strong and his Louisville program.
Said Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone: “Hell, yeah, they’re a good football team.”
