Here we are on the eve of the Miami game and as a football junkie I am getting excited. Growing up I always wanted a powerhouse rival, but all I got was uk. I hate that Virginia is our crossover opponent. Instead, I wish it were Miami. Let’s dive in to what we’ve had in recent memory
We will go in reverse order here. Let’s start on a night that kicked off the ACC Era for the Louisville Cardinals. The date was September 1st, 2014. They called it Black Monday. It was my first ACC game.
My first game with Louisville as a member of the ACC was magnificent. It started out with the best Card March I had ever been to. It didn’t seem like I had tailgated since 3 pm either. I know some were out longer, but that’s the earliest I could get out. Walking through the sea of Card Nation after the Card March was amazing too. I walked by Luke Hancock, the entire UofL Basketball Team, and even seen Miss Rose Bridgewater. It was a great time.
Then we took the long walk to our seats in Section 9 Row GG . I thought I was gonna die. I sat down and did not move until the clock hit 0:00. (unlike 20% of the crowd) But I understood this time with a late night game, work, and school the next day; I will give you some slack. I will not however give the 15,000 people who decided to spend the 2nd half on the party deck any slack. lol. They really should make those standing room only seats. It would increase capacity too!
The game was what I expected from a “Rookie” QB. Will Gardner did have a rough night, but he didn’t do anything wrong that coaching and a nice game vs Murray State wouldn’t fix. The 3rd most yards in a opener under Petrino at QB isn’t too shabby either. Dom Brown and the entire receiving core impressed me. We said multiple people would have to step up to cover DP being out and boy did they ever. The entire defense was amazing too. Lozo, Rankins, Kelsey AKA Mr 55 (cheap pop), Floyd, Sample, Holliman, Brown, Burgess and whoever else I forgot just made me glow.
Fireworks were not only in the air either….our Offense was slow moving at first, but the second half was domination on both sides. The return of Bobby Petrino was here and it was quite apparent. Those scoreboards he talked about lighting up were put to use in the 31-13 drumming of Miami. It should have been 38-13 after Mr 55 scooped and scored then hit something called the Schmoney. (I don’t know). On the night, the Cards killed 3 drives the Hurricanes started within their 20 yard line by allowing only 6 points on those drives. It was an amazing night..
The next takes me to 2013 to Orlando, Florida and the Russell Athletic Bowl. John Wallace led the Cards to a 12-9 victory over Miami. Hold up…checks score…I meant…John Wallace outscored the entire Miami team 12-9 en route to a 36-9 win. The defense held tight only giving up an early 4th quarter score. Teddy had this offense rolling early, but could not cash in with TDs. This led to 3 early Wallace field goals to give us a 9-2 lead with 12:47 left in the 2nd quarter. On the Cards next possession though, Teddy threw a 26 yard strike to Devante Parker to make it 16-2. Then he threw for another TD to Michaelee with just 30 seconds left to make it 22-2 at the half.
The Cards pulled ahead further in the second half and never looked back. Teddy threw 35-45 for 447 yards, 3 Touchdowns, and a 77.8% completion rate. There’s no telling what the score could have been if Teddy would’ve cashed in on those first 3 FG drives. Wait, yes there is, it would have been 48-9. Nevertheless, Teddy had an amazing performance and led this team to victory. Devante caught 9 balls for 142 yards and 1 TD. Copeland caught 6 for 90 yards. Harris caught 4 balls for 54 yards and a TD. Perry caught 5 balls for 50 yards and a TD. Preston Brown led all tacklers with 7 tackles and Calvin Pryor added 6. John Wallace was 3/3 for both the FG & XP tries.
The final one I will review is the game vs Miami in 2006.
This game would featured the first time an opponent stomped on the bird, but not the last. Teams didn’t realize what this meant, but by the time they did, it was too late. Myself, my wife, my brother Joey, Steve, and his girl Amelia attended this game. I had just met “Steve from 93.9” and had no idea what our future had in store. I should’ve though because even then he made me call him that and it wasn’t even a thing yet. Anyways…This game seemed like it was 7-3 forever. Mostly because the second quarter was inundated with flags. That all changed with a 56 yd TD pass from Brohm to Urrutia that featured THE stiff-arm with 2:17 remaining in the first half. It put the Cards up 10-7. A 2nd missed field goal with 21 seconds left by the Canes ended the half.
The second half was much much different. Brohm went out early in the 3rd quarter, but that didn’t stop Louisville from going on a 14-0 run in the second quarter and 21-0 run to close this out in the second half. Other than the injury to Brohm, the second half felt like everything went our way as we closed out the game, holding Miami to only 7 points. Cantwell finished the game 3/4 passing for 113 yards & 1 TD. It started a 3 game winning streak vs Miami that is still active. The Cards play the Canes tomorrow for the first time since 2014.
