By Chris O’Grady
Statistics rarely tell the whole story, but for U of L one stat reveals all for their loss to West Virginia Saturday Nov 20 at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium: kicker/punter Chris Philpott was the Cards’ leading rusher, with a 21 yard rush on a fake punt.
The Louisville offense was never able to mount any type of drive on the Mountaineer defense, losing 17-10. The only touchdown for the Cards was scored by linebacker Daniel Brown on a fumble recovery in the end zone.
“This was a very disappointing loss for our football team,” said head coach Charlie Strong. “We were never able to get in a rhythm on offense, they had the fourth ranked defense in the nation and they showed why today.”
West Virginia running back Noel Devine scored from 2 yards out in the first quarter to put the Cards down 7-3, but after a three-and-out the Cards responded with a defensive play. Senior Rodney Gnat sacked Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith, forcing a fumble that Brown recovered for a touchdown, after defensive end Greg Scruggs initially looked to recover, but kicked the ball several times until Brown fell on it.
“We were all like Scruggs just pick up the ball!” said Brown, who finished with seven tackles. “All of us just kind of fell on it.”
West Virginia scored again just before half, on a 2 yard run by fullback Ryan Clarke, and kicker Tyle Bitancourt hit a 43 yarder, before the teams were stalemated at 17-10.
After tight end Josh Chichester blocked a Bitancourt field goal try with 2:55 remaining, the Cards had one more chance to drive and win the game, but quarterback Justin Burke’s first pass of the drive was intercepted by Keith Tandy after being tipped. Burke threw for 145 yards on 12 of 24 passing.
“It’s never fun when you lose like that,” said Burke. “We as an offense, none of us played very well. Our defense played great, we applaud them every week for their efforts. We should win games when the other team scores 17.”
Tight end Cameron Graham, for whom Burke’s pass was intended, caught six passes for 95 yards on senior day. Fellow senior and star running back Bilal Powell was bottled up in limited action, sitting out most of the second half from fatigue. Powell had been ill with the flu all week. Freshman backup Jeremy Wright had 13 carries for 20 yards.
“It’s really, really frustrating that we haven’t been able to get this sixth win,” said Gnat, who had four and a half tackles on Saturday. “We just have to be determined to go get the next one.”
The Cards have one game remaining to become bowl eligible, next Saturday on the road at Rutgers, a game that senior Josh Byrom says won’t be an easy win.
“That’s a hostile crowd there and it’s always cold there,” said Byrom. “But we’re full of excitement; we’ve got to go get this win.”
Burke said the Cards needed to continue to have a sense of urgency to get to a bowl.
“It’s a one game season now,” said Burke. “We try not to dwell on this, we just have to have that sense of urgency to go up to Rutgers and get it done.”
