Louisville

Louisville beats Cincinnati 24-7 in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl

0 0
Read Time:5 Minute, 40 Second

For the 54th time in the school’s history, the Cincinnati Bearcats(9-4) and the Louisville Cardinal (8-5) met. This was the first time they have done so in the postseason in the 2022 Wasabi Fenway Bowl. The Bearcats held a 30-22-1 all-time record in this series. The Cardinal have won the last two meetings, the last took place back in the 2013 season when Louisville was able to pick up a 31-24 overtime win. Both teams came into this bowl game having lost their final regular season game. Cincinnati was defeated at home by Tulane, and Louisville was beaten by Kentucky on the road.

 

The other similarity between the two is, each team was run by interim head coaches. For the Bearcats Kerry Coombs was in charge, and the Cardinals were run by Deion Branch who is familiar with the New England area having played seven of his twelve seasons in the NFL with the New England Patriots and played in two Super Bowls. He was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIV. Branch turned this team over to new head coach Jeff Brohm after the game, and returns to his job as Director of Player Development and Alumni Relations.

 

Louisville entered this game without QB Malik Cunnigham who missed the last three games of the regular season with an injury. Junior Brock Domann took over at quarterback and went 2-1 as the starter in the last three games played. He has made nine appearances overall this year.

 

The Cardinal began the game by receiving the opening kickoff. Not much took place in their possession. The Bearcats got great field position for their first drive thanks to a partially blocked punt by Myles Montgomery that set the Bearcats near mid-field. Despite the good field position the Bearcats did little with it, and would turn the ball over to Louisville on downs. The first break of the game came late in the quarter. Cincinnati’s defense forced a turnover when Domann was sacked by Bearcats LB Ivan Fields JR and the ball was recovered by Lorenz Metz. however, the Bearcats gave the ball back on their first turnover of the game, a fumble recovered by Louisville. The turnover became points when Cardinal RB Jawhar Jordan took a handoff, hit the line, and went right down the sideline 49 yards for the first score of the game. The first quarter ended with Louisville leading 7-0.

 

Rain started to fall and it made the conditions tricky. It did not stop the Bearcats from going on a nine-play, 73-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard catch and run by WR Wyatt Fischer from quarterback Evan Prater who did a great job escaping the Cardinal rush and finding Fischer on the left side. Fischer cut back across the field from left to right to find the endzone and tie the game at 7-7 with 10:47 left in the half. Louisville took the lead back on an 8-yard strike from Dorann to Marshon Ford, his third touchdown catch of the season. It was Domann’s fourth touchdown throw of the year with 5:52 left in the half. Louisville was up 14-7. Louisville added to their lead with 42 seconds left as Jordan ran down the left sidelines for a 41-yard touchdown run.. He now has three on the season. The Cardinal ran for 140 yards in the first half and took a 21-7 lead to the locker room.

 

At the half, the Louisville defense was making the statement holding Cincinnati’s offense to 98 total yards and sacking Prater five times. Meanwhile, on offense, Jawhar Jordan already was at 101 yards for the game. His fourth 100- yard game on the season, and his third in a row. The Bearcats started the third quarter with the ball and a new quarterback Brady Lichtenberg took over and on his third play and fumbled the ball on a quarterback draw. Louisville recovered and was in business early. The turnover did not prove costly for the Bearcats as their defense stiffened. Cincinnati’s second offensive drive found Prater back at QB, as the Bearcats’ coaching staff tried to find the right combination to get things moving. The Cardinal added to their lead with a 47-yard FG by James Turner to make it 24-7 Cardinal with 3:45 left in the third. Louisville was in control as we headed to the fourth quarter.

 

The Louisville offense got a little too cute as the final quarter started. A trick play backfired as Cincinnati FS Amorion Smith picked off a pass from WR Braden Smith. It was the second turnover on the day for Louisville. But the defense of the Cardinal once again stepped up and made a stand forcing the Bearcats to punt the ball away. Cincinnati’s defense came up big again as CB Justin Harris intercepted a Domann pass along the right sideline. The pick stopped what looked like another Cardinal score. Louisville turned it over again, this time at the Bearcats’ five-yard line. Turner fumbled the ball away and Cincinnati recovered with 4:30 left in the game.  It was the third turnover by Louisville in the fourth quarter.  Despite the mistakes, Louisville’s ground game was too much for Cincinnati to handle as both Jordan (117 yards on nine carries and two scores) and Turner (164 yards a career-high on 31 carries) had a big day. Louisville ran for 287 yards on the day and gained 419 total yards. The defense was just as good if not a little better, holding Cincinnati to 138 yards of total offense and sacking Prater seven times.  

 

After the game, Cincinnati Bearcats coach Larry Coombs talked about “how disappointing today was.” He also said, “this has been the best two weeks of his life” and plans to stay on with the Bearcats program. Coach Branch of Louisville thought his offense and defense “did a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage.” Jordan, who was the offensive MVP of the game loved the way “the team handled the transaction from one coach to another “and believes when the team gets in the weight room in January the sky’s the limit.” Yasir Abdullah, who finished with six tackles, one and a half sacks, and a tackle for a loss, when asked about the defense said, “it’s a vicious defense. I believe the Bearcats did not play anyone like us in the regular season.” The stats of the game bear out what he meant.

 

Both teams will get time off for the holidays and then begin the process of getting ready for spring ball and next season with new head coaches come January.

Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %

Average Rating

5 Star
0%
4 Star
0%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *