FanHouse Howard Schnellenberger

Florida Atlantic football fans took to burning a giant red letter N this week at a bonfire rally ahead of their matchup with powerful Nebraska. Its notable both for the audacity and the surprising sanction granted the exercise. In a politically correct society like ours this is a downright hostile act, made more provocative by the ceremonial lighting by both the school's president and Captain Kangaroo stand-in, coach Howard Schnellenberger.

I'll step aside and channel my inner Beavis for a moment. Fire! Heh ... heh ... Fire! Fire! Video after the jump.

Prop Bets for the College Football Junkie is a weekly post that cares not for your silly point spreads. If you have the money and the gumption, we'll lay down a weekly gauntlet of propositions that'll take you from the penthouse to the outhouse faster than you can guess the number of times Lee Corso will say "not so fast my friend." As always, this is for entertainment purposes only.

- We kid because we care, and if Notre Dame is able to win this weekend against San Diego State you can expect Lou Holtz to remind the world that he predicted the Irish to win 11 games this year. We put the over/under for this at five, provided Notre Dame wins. Also, we put the over/under at three for the number of times Mark May will remind Holtz that it was San Diego State. We would say five, but we're sure at least a couple of those times there will be a producer on the set with a look on his face that says "just let him enjoy this moment."

- The punt block that sealed East Carolina's victory over Virginia Tech was poetic justice for all the times the Hokies have won games like that. We're sure it will be replayed multiple times during the game with West Virginia this weekend. But that's now what we're looking at. No, the over/under for this one will be the number of Tech fans actually cheering for West Virginia, and we put that number at five. If you don't know, the catch is that Tech and West Virginia were hated rivals in the Big East days. Being a West Virginia fan, I find it comforting that any Hokie would stoop so low as to cheer for the Mountaineers. Even funnier is that I know of at least one already. Unfortunately, I had to delete his comments on this because he had some derogatory phrases about the Pirates in his comments. I guess it must be my picture.

There have never been times as good as these for Louisville football. They may never again be times as good as these for Louisville football. So long as one of college football's finest upstarts is doing good things on the field, it doesn't hurt to talk about those successes.

Louisville heads into 2007 as a likely top 10 team with a hotshot new coach in Steve Kragthorpe, arguably the nation's best quarterback contending for the Heisman Trophy and an outside shot at the national championship. They've been building towards this the past few years under Bobby Petrino, winning a BCS game last year before their coach bolted for the NFL. However, the pieces are still in place for another championship run.

"We were just three points away last year," said Brohm, who missed two whole games and parts of another with a thumb injury. "This year, we need to stay focused and keep doing what we've been doing. I think we have a shot at the national title."

The Cardinals have had some good years since joining Division I in 1973 (10-1-1 in 1990 under Howard Schnellenberger, 11-2 in 2001 under John L. Smith), but nothing sustained like the run from 2003 to present.

If you look at this link, there's a stat called "delta" which is simply points scored minus points allowed. Its a rough measure, but helps paint a picture of a team's combined dominance (or lack thereof) on both sides of the ball. Few seasons in the program's history can match the 9-3 effort in 2005 with a 236 point delta. Yet, it's just the third highest delta in the last three seasons. There has simply never been a run like this in Louisville history.

The payoff is that the Cardinals are not being laughed at as title contenders. More importantly, they're not laughing at themselves, either. From quarterback Brian Brohm's interview with Heisman Pundit at CSTV.com:

"Our expectations are high. Our ultimate goal is to be national champions."

And should Louisville get to that BCS title game, it is not a stretch to think that it will be because of some Heisman-worthy performances out of Brohm.

"It would mean a great deal to be considered for the Heisman," said Brohm. "It's the most coveted award in sports. But it all will come down to how good the team is."

Brohm has had some injury problems so far in his career, but if he stays healthy and has the kind of season of which he is capable, the Cardinals could be better than good.

They could be great.

They have some Big East competition with Rutgers, West Virginia and South Florida, but they're worth keeping an eye on if big-name favorites like USC and LSU falter. The talent is there on offense, and some new additions on defense should give them greater credibility on that side of the ball. All that's left is to play the games and find out.