Since ESPN Classic decided to air the 2007 game between Louisville and UConn today, people have taken to social media to bring up UConn’s infamous “fair catch” from that game that was returned for a touchdown. That turned a 7-0 game into 7-7 and gave the Huskies all of the momentum, and they would go on to win the game 21-17.
Most people are talking about how that still makes them upset and they can’t stand UConn because of that play. I, on the other hand, say this: That fake fair catch is the best thing that could have happened for Louisville football! Hear me out…
Remember that this is Steve Kragthorpe’s first season at Louisville. Let’s say Louisville stops UConn on that drive, which is likely. We keep the momentum and end up winning the game. If the rest of the season plays out the same way, the Cards end up 7-5. And that means? Yep, bowl game. Do the Cards win that bowl game? Obviously we don’t know. But that was the year when we still had Brohm and Harry Douglas and company, and in a lower-tier bowl game, we certainly could have won. But either way, we make a bowl game, that is the point.
So after 2 more seasons of Kragthorpe, does Tom Jurich give him just one more year because we made a bowl? Or does that bowl game turn into Louisville getting a couple more good recruits that keep us around the 6-6 or 7-5 mark for a couple of years, giving Jurich reason to give his buddy more time? In that time, maybe another school opens their eyes and gives Charlie Strong that chance he has been waiting on. And by now, who knows where our program would be?
Is all of this far fetched? Maybe. It certainly doesn’t matter now. But I do think that the “fair catch” from UConn won that game for them, which contributed to our 6-6 record that kept us out of a bowl that season. And had we made a bowl game and shown a little hope, who knows where Charlie Strong would be right now?
