Louisville offense poised to hit higher marks in 2016

4:44 PM ET

Bobby Petrino arrived for his second stint at Louisville with an established background as an offensive guru. But his first two years back have not quite hit the mark when it comes to yards and points.

At times, it has been a slog to string together touchdowns and consistent drives, and that has been somewhat uncharacteristic of Petrino’s teams. For the first time in his career, Petrino’s team lost more games and scored fewer points in Year 2 compared to Year 1.

In the nine previous years he spent as a college head coach, his teams averaged 36.4 points and 462.7 yards. Only twice did those teams fall outside the top 15 in scoring – his first year at Arkansas in 2008, and Western Kentucky in 2013.

Only twice have his teams averaged fewer than 30 points per game – Arkansas in 2008 and last season, when the Cards averaged 28.7 points to rank No. 65 in the nation. Between 2014 and 2015, Louisville averaged 29.95 points and 405.4 yards – both below Petrino’s offensive averages.

Petrino readily admits, “It hasn’t gone as well as we are used to.”

And yet, that is another reason why excitement has grown around Louisville. Those who watched Petrino in his first head coaching stint with the Cards saw a fast-paced offense that often could score at will. It has not been as simple this time around. Granted, the competition is much better in the ACC than Conference USA/Big East – …

continue reading in source espn.go.com