Andy Lyons: Getty Images

“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good ol’ days before you’ve actually left them.” – Andy Bernard in “The Office”

Enjoy this ride, Louisville fans. Right now, we are flying higher than we have ever known when it comes to football. Sure, we have been ranked #3 before. But this is different. We were still fighting the stigma that came with being in a lesser conference. Not anymore. Now we are ranked #3 with a 43 point win over the #2 team in the country. Now our schedule doesn’t just have that one team that we have to beat to show we are for real. Now, it’s different.

The quote that I started with not only sums up how I feel about life in general, but also this time as a Louisville football fan. Could we be a consistent Top 10 team for several years and compete for ACC and National Titles? Sure. Are we guaranteed that? Absolutely not. Too many things can go wrong for us to just expect that this will be the norm every year form here on out. Yes, it could be. But nothing is guaranteed. So while we are in the midst of what could be THE season every college football fan dreams of, don’t let it pass you by without taking the time to soak it all in and enjoy every second of it.

After never appearing in a game where College Gameday was on campus, now the Cards find themselves in that position for two out of the last three games. Louisville blasted Charlotte and Syracuse, but the nation saw that as “just Charlotte and Syracuse”. The country bought in after Louisville destroyed Florida State 63-20 and Lamar Jackson jumped to the forefront of the Heisman talk. Even with a “sub-par” game at Marshall, Jackson still accounted for seven touchdowns. Seven. We have not seen a player like him at the University of Louisville. Enjoy it.

Things happen to programs that don’t allow that special season to occur. Injuries, off games where one play makes the difference, coaches leaving. Now I don’t think Petrino ever leaves, but coordinators leave and that could make a huge difference one year. Right now, the stars are aligned. Lamar is an insane runner that can throw the ball this year and knows the playbook. Bobby Petrino had an entire off-season to coach him up, and there is no one better when it comes to developing Quarterbacks. Most of the staff has stayed in tact for three years. The defense is full of veterans that could have been playing in the NFL this season, but chose to come back for one last crack at it. It has all set up perfectly.

Louisville realistically controls their own destiny to play for a National Championship in football. That is just crazy talk. Or at least it seems like it should be. It isn’t this year. It’s the reality that we are living in. Even the best programs go through their slumps. They would love to be where we are at right now. We aren’t entitled to this kind of success every year. No one is. We may get it, we may not. But we are in the middle of something right now. Call timeout. Look at where we are at and this ride we are on. Hard to believe.

Enjoy this moment, Louisville fans. The entire country will be watching this weekend as we take on Clemson. We used to have to wait until bowl games for the country to watch us. Now we get their full attention again. Who knows when this moment and hype around the program will ever happen again? Could it happen next year, and the year after? Yes, it can. Will it? We have no idea. But it is happening now. Don’t take it for granted. Soak it all in. Enjoy it.

Go Cards…Beat Clemson!