Louisville's disappointing season ends with disappointing bowl loss

If there was one ACC Bowl game, that I was prepared to call a lock it was Louisville vs Mississippi State. The Bulldogs lost their head coach, and their starting QB. When QB Nick Fitzpatrick went down against Ole Miss, their offense went south and the Bulldogs lost to their rival. Mississippi State entered the Tax Slayer with zero momentum.

Louisville played sneaky good football to end the year, and beat their arch rival Kentucky. Lamar Jackson was playing in what is probably going to be his last game as Cardinal was set to have a going away party. Bobby Petrino with a month to prepare? Yep Louisville was going to put an uneven season behind them with a nice bowl win, and a proper send off to QB Lamar Jackson.

To their credit, Mississippi State was having none of it. They were more physical, and their freshman QB Keytaon Thompson outplayed Lamar Jackson.

Louisville’s season can be summed in the next two tweets.

How would you define this @UofLFootball season?

— LouisvilleSportsLive (@LvilleSprtsLive) December 30, 2017

As for Louisville … really disappointing performance to end a disappointing season… Now we wait and see what Lamar decides.

— Andrea Adelson (@aadelsonESPN) December 30, 2017

Yep disappointing about sums it up. 8-5 seasons aren’t the same even from the same division. Wake Forest’s 8-5 season left Wake Forest fans with pride, and feeling a foundation has been set for the future. Louisville’s 8-5 season feels like a waste of Lamar Jackson immense athletic gifts, and a worry that Bobby Petrino’s 1-10 record against ranked opponents in his 2nd tenure at Louisville is a sign that he’s lost his coaching fast ball.

In Louisville’s last 16 games, the Cardinals are a pedestrian 8-8. That’s not good enough for anyone associated with Louisville football. If Jackson doesn’t return, 2018 could be a very dangerous year for Louisville. They open with Alabama. The Tide have been known to kill OOC opponent’s season in their opening game.

If Jackson doesn’t return, with so much upheaval in Louisville’s athletic department too, it sure does feel Louisville missed a window of opportunity the last 2 years to have a special season. It may be a couple of years before Louisville is again looked at as a team that is capable of finishing in the top 20.