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11:51 Fourth quarter
I really felt State should have gone for it on its previous possession - fourth and 1 on its 46. Louisville sorta backed me up on that by marching down the field for a score, 22-10.

Harrison Beck's back out on the field but the uniform is off and he's got a sling on his left arm.

5:01 Third quarter
16-10 Louisville
Weird, weird sequence. Harrison Beck gets drilled on the 1-10 from the State 42. Intentional grounding, loss of 9 and Beck looks hurt. So naturally, on the next play he uncorks a 53-yard jump ball that Donald Bowens reels in. Apparently the pain then overcame the adrenalin and he had to leave the field, to head to the locker room for X-Rays, with an apparent collarbone injury (that sounds ominous). Four plays later, Daniel Evans passes to Ced Hickman for a 2-yard score and suddenly, against all logic, State is only down one score, 16-10.

Anybody seen Brian Brohm by the way? Is he here today? Really?

8:12 Third quarter

This is why Tom O'Brien's remaining blond hairs are going gray. State's D makes a big play, gets an interception and then the Wolfpack marches the ball down to the Louisville 7. There, it promptly committed an illegal motion penalty, wiping out a pass completion that would have given State first and goal at the 1. On the next play, Harrison Beck held the ball way too long, got sacked and fumbled.

Still 16-3 Louisville.

Halftime Part II
Time of possession - Louisville 22:25, State 7:35. Somewhere in the State locker room, defensive coordinator Mike Archer is having to be physically restrained from offensive coordinator Dana Bible.

Halftime Louisville 16-3
Boy if, you're the Wolfies, you've got to be depressed with the way that half ended. You finally, finally, get on the scoreboard with a field goal against one of the worst defenses in Division I, but it could have been more. On third and 2 from the Louisville 25, Beck's pass was dropped by Donald Bowens. What ticked off Tom O'Brien though, was that Beck had room to run for the first down.

Then, State allows Louisville to quickly get the ball into Wolfpack territory. One miraculous 26-yard catch by Trent Guy later and the Cardinals matched State's first-half output with a field goal. 16-3 (Seriously, that catch by Guy was Calvin Johnsonesque. Leaping one-handed grab over the middle. Unreal).

The State defense has pretty much done its job. It's given up yards, but has only allowed one touchdown. And it's had to spend a good deal of time on the field, thanks to three turnovers by the State offense.

So yeah, the blame right now pretty much rests on the offensive side of the ball. You get the feeling this game could be much closer if it had executed better. It's still winnable for State, but the Wolfpack O has to raise its game big-time in the second half.

46.9 to go, second quarter
State almost did the impossible - going scoreless for a half against Louisville's swiss cheese defense - but averted it in the last minute with a 42-yard field goal. 13-3 Louisville.

5:37 to go, second quarter
Harrison Beck intercepted ... again. Rod Council returns it to the State 29. Maybe I should just start giving State fans Mike Glennon updates instead.

6:48 to go in second quarter
10-0 Louisville. And if Brian Brohm was really a Heismann candidate, it would be worse. He just made his second red zone overthrow, this time airmailing an open receiver at the goal line (that receiver being 6-6 Mario Urrutia, so that's saying something). State's been playing bend and sorta break defense so far. It's worked out okay, but the Wolfies gotta get some points on the board soon.

:13.3 seconds to go in first quarter
Just when it looked like State was starting to roll, bad Harrison Beck just made an appearance. He overthrew Owen Spencer near the goal line and was intercepted by Johnny Patrick in the end zone. Another year was just chopped off Tom O'Brien's life span.

2:08 to go in first quarter
7-0 Louisville
A stop ! A stop! A stop! Sure, it required Brian Brohm overthrowing an open receiver on 3rd and five, but still. DeAndre Morgan then managed to stay onside and still block Art Carmody's kick.; First and 10 Pack at its 36.

10:44 First Quarter
7-0 Louisville
Well, at least State forced the Cardinals into three third-down situations. Of course, Louisville converted all three of those third downs. The biggest dagger was the first one, when the Cardinals made the perfect call - a screen pass to Anthony Allen on third and 13 from the Louisville 29. 26 yards later, it was ON, in the words of Ed Hardin.l

3:45 to game time ...

First big news of the game - Louisville backup defensive end Peanut Whitehead won't be playing, for personal reasons. Is this really big news? I don't know, but I wasn't about to blow my one chance to type the name Peanut into this blog.

The crowd today at the C-F is ... late-arriving. We'll leave it at that. Let's just say I had a remarkably smooth commute coming into the game.