You thought you'd get through Louisville's first couple of games without shitting your pants a little bit? Think again, buster.

I think most logical fans looked at a Friday night game against JMU with a bit of uncertainty. You expect to take care of business at home and keep the momentum rolling into an early bye. But damnit, there's a chance this one could get real stressful real quick.

When it comes to the friskiest of group of 5 teams, James Madison is always at the top of the list. They've been known to raise hell against Power 4 teams in recent years. They're salivating at any chance to come in and embarrass you on your home turf.

And by gawd, they punched the Cards in the mouth early on in this game.

They made one thing abundantly clear from the jump: We're going full bore on stopping the run and blitzing your ass on damn near every play.

The Cards struggled to run between the tackles all night long, and miscommunications let JMU players run free through the gaps and reign hellfire down on Miller Moss. JMU's defense was flying around like they were shot out of a cannon. I wouldn't be surprised if they had dumped multiple jugs of pre-workout into the water coolers before the game started.

Louisville's offense was a no show in the first half. Before you know it, the boys were walking into the locker room at halftime down 7-6 at home to James Madison. Looking every bit like a team that was on the verge of getting punked.

I assume some grand soul searching commenced. Jeff Brohm might've cracked someone over the skull with a steel chair. It was eerily similar to Brohm's first game as Louisville head coach against Georgia Tech. A first half where the frustration was mounting.

This is where we've got to give the defense credit. It wasn't perfect by any means, but they held down the fort while the offense was trying to get in a groove. The strip sack fumble recovery in the endzone was the shot of adrenaline the squad needed to take the game over.

While the short game on offense really struggled, the difference was basically just 2 huge plays. Chris Bell was finally able to find some room on a slant and take one to the cribbo.

The run game was stifled all night long. But with Isaac and Duke int he backfield, you had a sneaky feeling something was gonna pop eventually. And pop it did. Isaac Brown found a crease and took it 78 yards to the house to essentially seal the game up.

Twasn't the prettiest showing, but a win is a win.

I know most aren't huge fans of these early byes, but be able to take a step back and really clean some things up should prove to be a fruitful endeavor.

Unfortunately, Stanquan Clark may be out for a while, which is brutal. Next man up.

Last night was annoying for many reasons, but I'm positive the fellas will be better for taking a punch to the gut like this.

-WhataMark