2007 Louisville Cardinals football team

2007 Louisville Cardinals football
Conference	Big East Conference
2007 record	6–6 (3–4 Big East)
Head coach	Steve Kragthorpe
Offensive coordinator	Charlie Stubbs
Offensive scheme	Multiple
Defensive coordinator	Mike Cassity
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (Capacity: 42,000)

The 2007 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team, led by Steve Kragthorpe in his first year at the school, played their home games in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and were in their third year in the Big East Conference.

Pre-season

The Cardinals finished the 2006 season with a 12–1 record, including a win in the Orange Bowl. After the win they were ranked fifth in the nation. Returning fourteen starters from their 2006 team,^[1] including quarterback Brian Brohm^[2] the team was picked, by the Big East media, to finish second in the conference,^[3] and were ranked between five and 13 in various preseason polls.^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

Coaching changes

Almost a week after their victory in the Orange Bowl, head coach, Bobby Petrino, was offered and took the head coaching position with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.^[9] Two days later, Steve Kragthorpe, former head coach for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, was hired for the position.^[10] Though five assistant coaches were retained, five new assistants were hired in the off-season, three of which came with Kragthorpe from his staff at Tulsa.^[11]

Roster changes

Although returning 14 starters from 2006, the team lost four players to the 2007 NFL Draft. From the offense, running back Michael Bush was taken in the fourth round by Oakland and running back Kolby Smith was taken in the fifth round by Kansas City. From the defense, tackle Amobi Okoye was taken tenth by Houston while cornerback, William Gay was taken in the fifth round by Pittsburgh.^[12]

Recruiting

The Cardinals signed 15 recruits for the new class, including three junior-college transfers. Included in the top-50 class were one five-star recruit on defense, three four-star recruits on offense and another four-star recruit on defense. Also entering in with the class was 2006 recruit Josh Chichester, who wasn't able to enroll with his recruiting class.

2007 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	40‡	Commit date
Victor Anderson RB	Louisville, KY	St. Xavier HS	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	4.44	Jan 28, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 74
Doug Beaumont WR	Louisville, KY	Male HS	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	176 lb (80 kg)	4.45	Sep 17, 2006
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 78
Michael Fennerty TE	Olympia, WA	Olympia HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	4.86	Feb 24, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 40
Patrick Grant DE	Lauderdale Lakes, FL	Boyd H. Anderson HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	218 lb (99 kg)	4.6	Feb 7, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 74
Zach Kiernan OT	Newport, KY	Newport Central Catholic HS	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	242 lb (110 kg)	NA	Oct 10, 2006
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 40
Dale Martin RB	Bolingbrook, IL	Bolingbrook HS	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	4.5	Jan 6, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 77
Josh Miller WR	Palatka, FL	Palatka HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	182 lb (83 kg)	4.5	Jan 25, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 40
C.J. Peake S	Trotwood, OH	Trotwood-Madison HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	212 lb (96 kg)	4.55	Jan 26, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 76
Bilal Powell S	Lakeland, FL	Lake Gibson Senior HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	4.5	Jan 24, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 40
Matt Simms QB	Ramsey, NJ	Don Bosco Prep School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	4.8	Jan 29, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 70
Chaz Thompson CB	Weed, CA	College of the Siskiyous	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	4.35	Jan 21, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NA
Greg Tomczyk OT	Princeton, NJ	The Hun School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	290 lb (130 kg)	4.88	Jan 17, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 60
Woodny Turenne DB	Visalia, CA	College of the Sequoias	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	4.34	Jan 25, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NA
Mark Wetterer OG	Cincinnati, OH	Anderson HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	292 lb (132 kg)	5.3	Dec 2, 2006
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 74
Willie Williams LB	Culver City, CA	West Los Angeles	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	232 lb (105 kg)	NA	Jan 25, 2007
	Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NA
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: #47   Rivals: #41
‡ Refers to 40 yard dash Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height, weight and 40 time. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Louisville Commit List 2007". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2007-08-14.  "Scout.com Football Recruiting: Louisville". Scout.com. Retrieved 2007-08-14.  "2007 Player Commitments - Louisville". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2007-08-14.  "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved 2007-08-14.  "2007 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved 2007-08-14.

Pre-season honors

Three Cardinal players were honored as part of pre-season watchlists for national awards.

• Brian Brohm - Manning Award and Maxwell Award^[13]
• Adrian Grady - Bronko Nagurski Trophy^[14]
• Eric Wood - Outland Trophy^[14]

In addition to the honors, Brohm was also named to the Playboy pre-season All-America team.^[15]

Season

Roster

Coaching staff

The 2007 Cardinal team was coached by Steve Kragthorpe and his staff. Much of the coaching staff from 2006 remained, but Kragthorpe brought in other to fill out the staff, including, initially, three from his previous position.^[11][16] Keith Patterson was originally brought in from Tulsa as defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach, however returned to Tulsa before the season began for personal reasons.^[17] Patterson was quickly replaced by Mike Mallory.^[18]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent#	Rank#	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	7:30 pm	Murray State*	No. 11	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	ESPNU	W 73–10	42,185[19]
September 6	7:00 pm	Middle Tennessee*	No. 8	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	ESPN2	W 58–42	40,882[19]
September 15	7:30 pm	at Kentucky*	No. 9	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	ESPN Classic	L 34–40	70,857[19]
September 22	12:00 pm	Syracuse	No. 19	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	ESPN+	L 35–38	40,922[19]
September 29	3:30 pm	at NC State*		Carter-Finley Stadium • Raleigh, NC	ESPNU	W 29–10	56,487[19]
October 5	8:00 pm	Utah*		Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	ESPN	L 35–44	40,894[19]
October 13	7:00 pm	at No. 17 Cincinnati		Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati, OH	ESPNU	W 28–24	35,097[19]
October 19	8:00 pm	at Connecticut		Rentschler Field • East Hartford, CT	ESPN	L 17–21	40,000[19]
October 27	12:00 pm	Pittsburgh		Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	ESPN+	W 24–17	34,792[19]
November 8	7:30 pm	at No. 6 West Virginia		Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV	ESPN	L 31–38	60,992[19]
November 17	8:00 pm	at South Florida		Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL	ESPNU	L 17–55	57,288[19]
November 29	7:30 pm	Rutgers		Papa John's Cardinal Stadium • Louisville, KY	ESPN	W 41–38	39,612[19]
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. #Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to game. All times are in Eastern Time.

References