Louisville Cardinals head coach Bobby Petrino has suffered his seventh loss of the season after being routed by the Clemson Tigers. This is rock bottom.
In what should have been a marquee game between division rivals in the early afternoon slate, the No. 2 Clemson Tigers pulverized the Louisville Cardinals in a 77-16 rout in Death Valley. Yes, Clemson is the runaway favorite to come out of the ACC this year. However, didn’t we all expect a better effort out of Bobby Petrino’s bunch in this divisional rivalry game?
This is now Louisville’s seventh loss of the season. The Cardinals are no longer eligible to play in a bowl game and are still without a win over a fellow Power 5 foe. In their first year without Heisman-winning quarterback, Lamar Jackson, Louisville looks like one of the worst teams in the Power 5.
This is a huge shock given that Louisville’s addition to the conference to replace the Maryland Terrapins was seen to improve the ACC’s football reputation.
Louisville gave up 492 yards rushing to Clemson in this one, as the Tigers ran the ball down the Cardinals’ throats five times to pay dirt. Though the ACC Atlantic has been owned by Clemson for the last four years, Louisville was right there with the Florida State Seminoles as the Tigers’ most formidable challenger in the division. Now, we’ve seen rock bottom for Petrino at Louisville.
Petrino first coached at Louisville from 2003-2006, taking the Cardinals to new football heights before leaving to coach the Atlanta Falcons in 2007. He spent 13 games in Atlanta before leaving for the Arkansas Razorbacks job, a spot he held for four years before being fired after a motorcycle accident revealed a secret relationship he had with a staffer.
After a year with Western Kentucky in 2013, Petrino made his way back to Louisville to replace Charlie Strong in 2014. Now in his fifth year with Louisville, the program has cratered.
This will be the first time since 2009 the Cardinals will not be playing in a bowl. Keep in mind the Cardinals still have a huge in-state rivalry game left on the slate with the Kentucky Wildcats in the regular season finale.
It would cost Louisville $14 million to buy out the rest of Petrino’s contract.
That may not be in the cards, as Petrino has won at least eight games in his first four years back leading Louisville. This is certainly a down year for the program. However, this may be something to consider, as Louisville hasn’t looked this bad in nearly a decade.
While Petrino is normally seen as a great offensive mind in the college ranks, his two quarterbacks a Pass and Malik Cunningham combined to complete 50 percent of their passes for 231 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions in this blowout loss at the hands of Clemson.
A big reason the ACC has been down this year is thanks to Florida State rebuilding under new head coach Willie Taggart, as well as the Cardinals’ inability to play their typical great brand of football under Petrino.
Maybe his time leading the Cardinals is coming to an end? This performance against Clemson was embarrassing and Petrino deserves a ton of the blame for his team’s dismal effort.