I know the Leafs SUCK ASS this year
The Keg of Nails sounds like something a professional wrestler carries around with him to tap for a drink every so often, but it's not.
The Keg of Nails is what hangs in the balance of Thursday night's football game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Louisville Cardinals. The Keg of Nails is a traveling trophy annually awarded to the winner each year.
The keg is a replica of the wooden barrels used to ship nails to construction sites. Its origin is unclear, but is believed to have been initiated by fraternity chapters on each campus to signify the winning players were "tough as nails."
The current keg is actually a replacement for the original award, which was misplaced by Louisville. Ironically it was lost during construction. Louisville has been stingy with the keg the last four years go. They have outscored the 'Cats by a margin of 151-69, including a 28-13 win at Nippert Stadium last season.
The C-USA clash takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Louisville's Papa John's Stadium. Both teams have had an extra week to prepare for the contest, each last playing Oct. 26.
The game will be televised on ESPN, and dissected by ESPN analyst Mike Tirico, Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso(OH NO).
The Armed Forces Network will also televise the Thursday night game to the members of the United States military around the world. It will be the third time this season the 'Cats have played in front of a nationally televised audience on ESPN.
Cincinnati is 10-7-1 in games played at Louisville and 0-2 in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
The keg is not the only thing hanging in the balance for the 'Cats. The hopes of a bowl game linger in the hazy forecast, slipping further and further away in the distance with each C-USA loss.
The 'Cats come into the game with an overall record of 3-5, and sit in seventh place in C-USA with a 2-2 record. Louisville, the two-time defending league champion, has a 5-3 overall record and is in second place in C-USA with a 3-1 league mark.
Led by sophomore standout Gino Guidulgi, the 'Cats offense had a 438-yard effort against Memphis the last time out.
This performance allows the offense to continue to lead C-USA in both passing and total offense.
In eight games, UC has averaged 277.6 yards passing and 419.4 yards of total offense to rank 24th in the nation in passing and 22nd in total offense.
They have had at least 400 yards of total offense in seven games with the season low of 395 yards coming with the win at Temple.
Senior DeMarco McCleskey used a 101-yard, three-touchdown effort in the win to claim the C-USA and UC career records for touchdowns and rushing TDs and moved into fourth place on the C-USA career rushing chart with 2,873 yards.
While not discounting Guidulgi and the offense, the defense has played great in prior weeks. Following a loss to West Virginia, earlier in the season, in which the Mountaineers posted 334 yards rushing and 523 yards of total offense, the Bearcat defense was dropped out of the bottom 25 nationally in every defensive statistical category.
Since that day, the defense has shown great improvement, moving to 25th nationally in total defense. In the last three weeks the defense has allowed an average of 86.0 yards rushing and 228.7 yards of total offense a game.
One coming a few weeks ago in a losing effort against Southern Mississippi, holding them to a meager 23 points at their home field.
Louisville will present a tougher test for the 'Cats on the road. Led by Heisman quarterback hopeful Dave Ragone, Louisville has won both of their games played on ESPN Thursday night football this season. One, on the road against Memphis and the other coming at home against, fourth ranked Florida State.
Ragone leads C-USA with a passer rating of 136.15, while Guidulgi leads passing yards with a total of 2,164 yards. Both players are considered Candidates for the All-C-USA team Player of the Year and have both been the focal point of their respected offenses up until this point of the season.
Ragone, the two-time C-USA Player of the Year, was also recently named the C-USA player of the week, compiling 352 yards from 23 pass completions against East Carolina almost two weeks ago. He and a tough Louisville defense he brings along with him will do everything they can to give the 'Cats another "L" in the loss column.
The 'Cats have five remaining games in which four are conference games against Louisville, Houston, UAB and East Carolina.
To make the games even more important, they need to at least win four of those five remaining games on the schedule to be bowl eligible.
