Louisville football spent little time mourning the loss of former head coach Bobby Petrino this offseason.

Less than two days after Petrino decided to trade his college head coaching job in for one at the next level with the Atlanta Falcons, the Cardinals found a replacement.

Enter Steve Kragthorpe.

Louisville quickly signed former head coach of the Tulsa, Kragthorpe, to a five-year contract. The man who was able to bring Tulsa into the BCS rankings for the first time and turn in a record of 29-22 during his four-year run with the Golden Hurricanes will now take on a bigger challenge with the Cardinals.

While Kragthorpe’s resume boasts a myriad of football coaching experience, including a two-year stint as the quarterback coach for the Buffalo Bills, he’s never experienced this much pressure to win a national championship.

Nonetheless, he goes about his business the same way, anywhere.

‘My mindset is no different than it was when I took over at Tulsa when we were 2-21,’ Kragthorpe said. ‘I take over here and we are 12-1. We want to win the football game every time we take the field. I’m trying to do everything I can as a head coach to help our guys do that.’

Although Kragthorpe’s mentality remains the same, he is undoubtedly aware of the pressures that come with his new Cardinal team. Since moving from Conference USA to the Big East in 2005, Louisville has experienced considerable success, winning just over 85 percent of its games. Last season, the team led the conference in total offense per game and points per game en route to the program’s first conference title.

Now Louisville has set its sights on an even bigger title-a national championship.

‘You’d have to be an ostrich with your head buried in the sand to not see that,’ Kragthorpe said of the high expectations for his team.

Fellow Big East head coach Greg Schiano of Rutgers understands the affect media hype can have on players. Last season, when the Scarlet Knights sat with a perfect 8-0 record, they were consequently thrust into the spotlight. The team quickly ascended to back-page status around the nation.

‘I thought at times last year we handled it very well,’ Schiano said. ‘Other times, I don’t think we handled as well as we could. Hopefully we learn from some of our mistakes.’

One mistake is all it takes to lose a shot at a title. Louisville learned the hard way last November after facing Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J. Despite entering halftime with a 25-14 lead, the Cardinals failed to record a point in the second half. Rutgers ended up with a thrilling three-point victory, Louisville’s sole loss of the season, likely costing the Cardinals a chance to play for a national championship.

Luckily for Kragthorpe and the Cardinals, senior quarterback Brian Brohm opted not to follow in the footsteps of Petrino to the NFL. Brohm’s decision to return to Louisville for a final season gives Kragthorpe a proven veteran quarterback. Composure and poise resulted in only a single loss last season and 311 yards passing in a victory in the Orange Bowl against Wake Forest. With senior leadership, the offense may again prove potent.

‘He’s in a great frame of mind right now,’ Kragthorpe said of Brohm. ‘I really think Brian is excited about having the opportunity to play one more year of college football in front of his home crowd and his family.

‘More than anything, I just try to be a resource for him. I say, ‘Hey, here are the things we’re going to do, here’s how I think you fit into the way we’re going to do things here with our new offensive scheme.’ I just talked to him about the opportunities he had to be a college football player for one more year.’

On Thursday night, Brohm will once again get that chance to play in his hometown Louisville fans, laying the team’s 18-game home winning streak on the line against Murray State. Although the opponent may not be a nationally-ranked team, the opener marks the beginning of a new regime.

The Kragthorpe era in the Derby City kicks off in front of a sold out Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, where nothing less than a stellar season will suffice.

(BOLD)Kinder gone for season(BOLD)

Pittsburgh senior wide receiver Derek Kinder’s season is over already. A practice in early August turned disastrous when Kinder tore his ACL. The injury required surgery and will prevent him from taking the field in 2007.

Despite the loss of their top receiver, Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt is not panicking. Junior wide receiver Marcel Pestano will start along with sophomore Oderck Turner. Turner looks to be the No. 1 wide receiver after a solid freshman season with 660 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Sophomores Cedric McGee and T.J. Porter will play backup, Wannstedt said.

Kinder led the team in receiving with 847 yards and made the All-Big East first team last season. Another irreplaceable element that Kinder brings to the team is experience: he is currently the only senior on the receiving corp.

‘The younger players and the backup players will step up,’ Wannstedt said. ‘The attitude has been great.’

(BOLD)Around the conference(BOLD)

The Big East has three teams ranked in the top 20 preseason poll this year with West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers. This is first time in the history of the Rutgers football program that it has received a ranking before opening kickoff. Rutgers is currently ranked No. 16. … Connecticut will have a new face at quarterback this season. Junior-college transfer Tyler Lorenzen, who threw for 2,960 yards last season, takes control of the Huskies’ offense in the opener at Duke Saturday afternoon. Lorenzen beat out sophomore Dennis Brown for the job and inherits a team that failed to finish in the top 100 in the nation in passing yardage last year. … UConn was not the only Big East team with a decision to make at quarterback. Pittsburgh selected junior Bill Stull as its starting quarterback over freshman Kevan Smith. Stull has 10 total pass attempts in his collegiate career. Wannstedt was pleased that he had an ‘easy decision to make’ and Stull was ‘clearly the winner of the job.’

Published on August 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm