NCAA Football louisville Cardinals

Even though by Lord Voldemort Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has already shot down the idea, Penn State coach Joe Paterno still thinks the league should add a twelfth teams and a championship game. JoePa added a twist on Wednesday, saying who he doesn't want to see added to the conference: Notre Dame.

Stating the Irish have "had their chance," Paterno wants the league to look east, as in Big East. He recommends adding Syracuse, Pitt, or Rutgers to the conference. Paterno wants to see the Big Ten pick up the New York market, which would argue against Pitt. Rutgers has to like its chances in the Big East more than in in the Big Ten. As for Syracuse, well, at this point, you couldn't blame them if they decided to join Temple in the MAC. So there's no school out there that makes sense as a twelfth Big Ten Team, right?

College Football Spring Storylines 2009 looks at the key developments and big news from spring ball.

Spring. The time for rebirth and renewal. At least that is the theory. While there was only one change at head coach, there will be plenty of new in the Big East, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Half the teams have a different offensive coordinator. To say nothing of the departures of top offensive talent including quarterbacks Pat White and Mike Teel, running backs LeSean McCoy and Donald Brown, along with wide receivers Kenny Britt, Dominick Goodman and Tiquan Underwood. Defense will definitely lead the way in the conference this year.

Last we saw John L. Smith, he was stringing together a series of Jim Mora-like moments, hyperventilating and face-slapping his way out of the Michigan State head coaching job. After the inevitable time away, he's back in college football as a low-level assistant for Bobby Petrino at Arkansas. Smith will coach the Hogs' special teams.

The guy is wound a little tight, but he was no slouch as a head coach at both Louisville and Michigan State and, this being America, he's likely saved enough face at this point to move back among the ranks. What could go wrong? Crazy things, that's what. We'll relive the insanity after the jump.

Matt Simms looked to be the frontrunner for the starting quarterback job at Louisville next season. The redshirt sophomore, though, was not actually named the frontrunner by coach Steve Kragthorpe. The Cardinals also gained the commitment of a junior college quarterback. That apparently was the final straw, and Simms has decided to leave Louisville.

Aside from being the son of former New York Giants' quarterback Phil Simms, Matt Simms had gained notoriety for his performance in the New Jersey State Championship -- specifically flipping the bird to fans of the opposing team after the game.

Matt Simms has thrown all of 10 passes in his time at Louisville. Simms had also been suspended for four games this past season for the nebulous "team rules" violation, better explained by a photo that made the rounds on the Internet. That was about the most noticeable thing he accomplished at Louisville. Somehow, other than hurting depth at the spot, it does not seem that the departure of Matt Simms will have much of an impact on Louisville.

scha·den·freu·de

–noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

[Origin: 1890–95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy]

On This Week In Schadenfreude we explore the sputtering rage, gibbering condemnation, and resigned ennui of the college football fan who has recently undergone humiliating defeat. Because even in your darkest hour, someone else is suffering too, and probably worse than you. Unless you are a Michigan fan who has just finished watching the Appalachian State game.

I don't think a winning team has ever pulled down the Tears of Unfathomable Sadness award, but we have history this week. LSU fell behind against the Troy Trojans of Troy (We're From Troy!) 31-3, causing a mass exodus from Death Valley and a truly epic message board war. This is the nuclear bomb:

At this point LSU fans just need to STFU. We are largely irrelevant, living off past glory, full of self-congratulatory bluster. Even now, some tard (sorry PJ) is on my radio talking about Nick Saban. Saban ? We don't believe in our team, we don't believe in our coaches, it's not important to us anymore to even stay at the stadium. We have made second-guessing an art form and have a juvenile view of reality. We bitched our way through a National Freaking Championship and now we are sniveling through a 9/10 win season. THAT IS WHO WE ARE. Snivelers. Whiners. Crybabies. With a ridiculous sense of entitlement.

I'm not blaming us or even asking for change, I'm just acknowleding the Truth.

Uh. Wow. And then you've got the first response:

It was either leave or kill the wife to stop the whining and there were too many witnesses to do the right thing.

Yes, what they say about LSU fans is true: they smell like corndogs and are complete lunatics. (Just kidding LSU fans! Please don't dip me in batter and fry me!) The rest of the week in spleen after the jump.

The ACC grabbed the major headlines over the weekend for bad football. What with two of the teams expected to be among the best of the conference losing in high profile games. NC State was completely shut out on a primetime Thursday night ESPN game as well. Add in North Carolina and Maryland having to struggle just to get past 1-AA opponents by eight points or less. The ACC went 2-4 in games with 1-A opponents. A disturbing number.

The Big East, though, was worse. An 0-4 performance against 1-A foes. Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville and Rutgers not only lost, they mustered a grand total of 36 points. Admittedly it wasn't a couple of the teams expected to be the best in the conference, but it was still a complete humiliation.

Both conferences remain inextricably linked by the common geography and of course the raid of Big East by the ACC five years ago. The two conferences have been annually competing for the worst BCS conference. This year, it looks like more of the same.

An ugly weekend of football for two conferences which only further cements their reputation as basketball conferences. The problem for them is, basketball practice does not start for another 6 weeks.

One of the many staples of Louisville Cardinal football for the past few years has been high octane, statistically fueled 50-plus point games. Tonight, in a super-special, happy-fun-time Sunday afternoon football game, they scored ... two.

Yes, two. Hint to Coach K-Thorpe: if I have to type your team's score out in letters, you are doing a poor job with your offensive scheming and gameplanning. Work on that. Quickly.

Kentucky wasn't exactly the Andre Woodson-inspired offensive juggernaut for most of the game either, racking up 17 of their 27 in about the time for me to say "____ this boring ___ ____" and go take a shower. (In actuality, it was a field goal, a touchdown and a defensive touchdown in the span of seven minutes).

Hunter Cantwell, no Brian Brohm he, went 20/43 for 135 yards and three interceptions. Hard to imagine a scenario where Louisville fans would ever want/take Bobby Petrino back, but, yeah, this is it. (Aside: or do they even really hate him? I probably would, but then I have a soul.)

When you think about compromising pictures of celebrities and athletes being posted on the internet, your first thought is probably the Buzz Bissinger meltdown on Costas Now. When he let loose on Will Leitch partly because of the Matt Leinarht hot tub photos. While those type of pictures can fuel the snarky side of the blogospher, they are intrusive on a persons private life. And before you know it, everyone is pointing and laughing and questioning the athletes morals, etc. Even though we the public would either a) like to be in that situation, or b) do the exact same thing every chance we get. It's not fair that we hold athletes to higher standard off the field, but it happens.

But every once in a while someone just begs for it. And that next someone is Matt Simms, quarterback for the Louisville Cardinals. Via Card Chronicle, Simms has bee suspended for four games for a violation of team rules. That's kind of vague until you click on that link above and look at the picture for a second. If you need a closer look, check out the post at KSK. Yes, this is the son of former Giant's quarterback Phil Simms and the brother of NFL quarterback Chris Simms. It's not exactly the proud moment they were looking for. Any hope of matching the commercial success of the Manning family probably just went down the tubes.

It's not unprecedented for athletes to use recreational drugs, but knowing when to use a little discretion is the sign of a leader. Rolling a joint while smiling and having your picture taken is the sign of someone that tunes out the coaches when they say you are one injury away from being the starting quarterback. Now Matt, you can make that two injuries and a large dose of running the stairs at Papa John's Stadium.

As FanHouse previews each BCS conference, the college football songbook will cast an unflattering light on each conference in the only way we know how. It's getting hot for Big East coaches.



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So we come to the bottom of the barrel, so to speak. The less-than-mediocre, the outhouse, bottom-feeders, however you want to word it is fine. They are what we thought they were.

In the Big East, the climb out from the bottom shouldn't be as difficult in other conferences, simply because there are only 8 teams. A much smaller climb, so there is much more hope. With that, the dregs of the Big East.

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS

Only 9 returning starters would be enough for most teams to have them falling a few notches. The Cardinals were a bitter disappointment last year under new head coach Steve Kragthorpe. The defense collapsed and wasted the final season for Brian Brohm, Harry Douglas, Mario Urrutia and Gary Barnidge. All four are now in the NFL. An offense that averaged over 35 points was let down by a defense that surrendered more than 31 points per game.

Kragthorpe was despised by the fans for the perceived squandering of a season that began with dreams of going to a BCS bowl for a second straight season. So when rumors surfaced that he was a good possibility for the open Southern Methodist job Cardinals fans were encouraged by the prospect. Instead he has stayed.

In the process, he has seen an incredible roster turnover. Some bad luck, but a lot of disciplinary and academic reasons. Also, however, a lot of dissatisfaction with their treatment by the new coach and their fit in his system.

Kragthorpe obviously knows he is under some pressure to turn things around in a hurry. He fired the defensive coordinator. Then he brought in 10 JUCO players. The most in a recruiting class outside of Kansas State. Those are obvious signs of someone who knows he needs to win and win now.

This has all the makings of a team about to go ka-boom.