By Pk Bartley
Mobile Al- Louisville came into the GMAC bowl hoping to redeem their final regular season loss to Houston. What they got instead was thunderous trampling by the Herd of Marshall 38-15.
“I want to congratulate Marshall,” said Louisville head coach John L. Smith, “they are a tremendous football team and they dissevered to win. They got after us.”
U of L had tough first quarter especially on offense as senior quarterback Dave Ragone in his final appearance in a Cardinal uniform only completed one pass for 16 yards. The running game did not fair much better for Louisville as they could only get five yards off six carries.
Marshall on the other hand was able to move the ball. Senior quarterback, Bryon Leftwich was 7 of 16 for 102 yards and one touchdown which put the Cards down 7-0 at the end of the first period.
At the start of the second quarter, a Marshall drive stalled on the U of L seven yard line and the Herd was forced to kick a 23 yard field goal to make the score 10-0.
On U of L’s next possession the Cards had the ball on their own 25 yard line facing a third down and one when sophomore running back Lionel Gates fumbled. Marshall recovered and scored five plays later on a 8 yard pass from Leftwich to Demitrus Doss.
Louisville offense started to turn things around on their next possession. The Cards were helped by three Marshall penalties for 35-yards. On a second and ten from the Thundering Herd’s 19, Ragone hit sophomore wide receiver Joshua Tinch for 15 yards moving U of L to the four yard line. Two plays later T.J. Patterson scored on a two-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 17-7. It would be the last score for the Cards until the game was well out of hand.
Coming out in the second half, U of L got the ball and was forced to punt immediately. Marshall took over on their own 46 yard line and Leftwich marched the Herd down the field to get their third TD of the game on a 12 yard TD pass to Doss.
Trailing 24-7, the Cards had a fourth and two on their own 43 yard line when junior kicker Nate Smith attempted a fake punt and had pass batted down. The Herd took over possession of the ball but Marshall did not have any better luck as Leftwich was picked off by Louisville’s J.T. Haskins who returned it 43 yards. However, Louisville was unable to take advantage of the turnover while failing to convert a fourth and four from the 34 yard line.
U of L was able to keep the Herd from scoring again in the third quarter but in the fourth Marshall started trampling. With 11:35 left in the game, Leftwich hit Dene Marriot for a 26 yard TD pass then three minutes later he hit Frank Wallace to push the Herd’s lead to 38-7.
Despite the fact that the game was well out of hand, Ragone refused to leave the field. “I wasn’t going to finish my last ever game the way the game was,” he said. “I understand what the coaches were thinking and even the Marshall players were yelling get out of the game. But, if you know me, maybe I’m too stupid for my own good, but that’s something where I knew the game was out of reach, but it wasn’t about that. It was never about that. It’s not about the next level. It’s not about worrying about the next level. It’s worrying about what people think. It’s about going out and playing the game that you played when you’re eight and ten years old. That’s the memories I had after the game. That’s the most emotion I’ve had after a game. The loss hurt, but the fact that five years it’s over… that whistle blows and you know what, you’re no longer going to put that jersey on, you’re no longer a part of that team.”
Backup quarterback Stephan LeFors came onto the field for one play with the Cardinals trailing late 38-7, but Ragone was quickly back in the action. “When Stephan was coming for me that’s the only thing that ran through my head, I don’t want to leave the stage like that, that isn’t what I came here for. I wasn’t going to go out like that. That isn’t the way I play the game.”
Ragone hit Tiger Jones on an 11 yard scored with 13 seconds left in the game. Ragone then hit Jones again for the two point conversion to create the final score.
For the game, Ragone was 20 of 45 for 193 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Ragone was sacked three times while also being Louisville’s leading rusher with 31 yards on nine attempts. Tight end Richard Owens led the Cardinal receivers with 39 yards on five catches.
Leftwich was 22 of 44 for 249 yards and one int. Leftwich was sacked twice. Marriot led the Herd with 10 catches for 137 yards and two scores.
