Mike Hartline Looks to go 3-0 against Louisville

Mike Hartline celebrating a bowl victory. Something the Cards know very little about for the past three seasons.

I know Monster Mash already told everybody this but I have to put my two cents in on the subject. Senior quarterback Mike Hartline was named starter yesterday conspicuously close to the same time that Charlie Strong named Adam "Abe" Froman the starting quarterback. I don't think this is any accident. The mind games are starting between Strong and Phillips and should only heat up between now and September 4th.

I'm not surprised nor am I that disappointed in the pick. As much as Cards fans (and Cats fans) like to bash Hartline and say how much he sucks, he is 2-0 as a starter against Duh-Ville and is actually 3-0 as a player. He has never lost to the Cardinals. Hartline was actually having a decent year in 2009 until he was sidelined most of the season with a knee injury.

But there is a lot going for the Morgan Newton argument. Newton came in as a starter and went 5-3, winning on the road against Auburn (stadium capacity 87,451), Georgia (stadium capacity 92,746) and Vanderbilt (stadium capacity less than PJCS. Not impressive). This was all as a freshman with one of his major weapons, Derek Locke, injured for part of the time.

Now there was one X-factor that helped tip the scales for Newton: Randall Cobb. The Wildcat package saw a boost in play calling and Cobb was under or behind the center a lot more to take some pressure off of the rookie. I'm not saying it was all Cobb but he had a heckuva lot to do with those wins.

Back to the game on the 4th. Expect Hartline to have a semi-short leash. Locke has already come out and showed his allegiance to Hartline and UK great Keenan Burton tweeted that Hartline should to be the QB. He has support from his team and his coaches, but if he struggles we will see Newton. I think we probably see Newton even if Hartline looks like Peyton Manning. We will also see a lot of Cobb as well. The Cards have yet to find an answer to Mr. Everything.

And not lost in this is red shirt freshman Ryan Mossakowski. Moss came in as a highly touted pro-style 4 star quarterback. He is still awaiting his chance to showcase his abilities. He was reported to have had a stellar camp.

Only a week and a half away and I must say that I haven't been this pumped for a UK/UL game since Woodson and Brohm went at it in 2007. The expectations for both teams are high and I am really looking forward to the Cats deflating the expectations of the Cards. Again.