Randy Smith: Karma Will Come Back On You

  • Friday, November 18, 2016
  • Randy Smith
Randy Smith
Randy Smith

They say Karma can be a real #$#@&.  For those of us who believe in the "reap what you sow" philosophy, all we need to do to see Karma turning back in someone's face is look. The Louisville Cardinals may have been slapped in the face with a big dose of Karma on Thursday night as they were soundly defeated 36-10 by Houston. Turnover after turnover cost the Redbirds a shot at the College Football Playoffs as in this week's poll, Louisville was ranked fifth; one step away from the final four.

How does Karma play into this you ask? Well, in last week's ACC game in Louisville, Wake jumped out to a 12-0 lead over the Cardinals only to lose 44-12.

On Wednesday of this week Wake Forest head football coach Dave Clawson reported that some documents were found by members of his staff in Louisville with Demon Deacon plays on them; plays that Wake had never run, but plays that were part of their offensive system. Just how they got there is anybody's guess, but Clawson and athletic department officials at Wake Forest strongly feel there has been a breach in security. When asked to comment on those documents, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino gave a very general, very wide denial.

Is Louisville guilty of cheating? I don't know, perhaps. It will be very hard to prove unless someone steps forward and admits to the breach. But if the Cardinals are guilty of stealing plays from Wake Forest, Karma has already dished out punishment. That loss to Houston hurt like nobody's business. Louisville was the darling of college football after the first few weeks of the season; a start that included a trouncing of Florida State. Freshman quarterback Lamar Jackson has been the leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy since the start of the season as well and he could still win the honor of college football's best player for 2016, but you have to know all those turnovers and a mere 10 points against Houston will definitely hurt his chances.

So, what happens from here? There will be an investigation likely conducted by the ACC. It will probably be months before anything is released unless, as I have already mentioned, someone comes forth and admits to the skullduggery. My point of view is this.....why would fifth-ranked Louisville need to steal plays from Wake Forest anyway? I also believe that Louisville was going to win the game big anyway regardless of how many plays were stolen. Heck, they could have given Wake their own play book and still won the game. 

Maybe that's something to consider in the future. Let each team have the other's play book before the game starts, then teams won't have to cheat. Karma won't be a factor. But until something like that happens, which never will, teams do need to protect their plays like they were top government secrets. I promise you....Wake Forest will hire a security team to protect their interests before anything like that happens again. As far as further punishment goes for Louisville, I doubt anything else comes from it. Louisville could get a reputation like the one held by the New England Patriots who have been accused more than once of cheating....stealing plays and deflating footballs.

All in all, this weekend promises to be another big weekend of college football. But if one team tries to cheat on another, Heaven forbid, Karma will bite them in the butt. Just ask Louisville.  

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Randy Smith has been covering sports on radio, television and print for the past 45 years. After leaving WRCB-TV in 2009, he has written two books, and has continued to free-lance as a play-by-play announcer. 

His career has included a 17-year stretch as host of the Kickoff Call In Show on the University of Tennessee’s prestigious Vol Network. He has been a member of the Vol Network staff for thirty years.

He has done play-by-play on ESPN, ESPN II, CSS, and Fox SportSouth, totaling more than 500 games, and served as a well-known sports anchor on Chattanooga Television for more than a quarter-century.

In 2003, he became the first television broadcaster to be inducted into the Greater Chattanooga Area Sports Hall of Fame. Randy and his wife Shelia reside in Hixson. They have two married children, (Christi and Chris Perry; Davey and Alison Smith.) They have five grandchildren, Coleman, Boone, Mattingly, DellaMae, and CoraLee.

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