Mark Pope’s comments last week about the team being “out of character” before the Louisville game sounded like a coach trying to explain a flat performance in a rivalry game without stirring panic. He mentioned a “bad pregame experience” and a group that wasn’t locked in for its first true road test of the season. The vague and unusual admission raised eyebrows, only for Pope to downplay the comment after beating Eastern Illinois on Friday night. He even deflected with a Taylor Swift reference, which was weird.
The Big Blue Nation wanted to move on from the loss to Louisville and Pope’s bizarre explanation of whatever happened behind closed doors, but when those warning signs were followed by a second straight no-show on a big stage, the storyline changes.