By Charlie Leffler
It was a football game being played in the city which was the home of Muhammed Ali so it was only appropriate that the Cardinal’s game against Colorado St. ended up looking like a battle for the heavy wieght championship. Audiences probably tuned into the game to get a glimpse at what has become a traditional power packed offense. What they saw instead was a slug-it-out battle on defense that would have made Rocky proud.
Before a national television audience and a crowd of 39,389 fans, the Cards eked out a 7-2 win in what was the greatest defensive battle Papa John’s Stadium has ever seen. The combined 9 points was the lowest point total in a Louisville game since 1980.
“We just kept wailing on each other,” said U of L head coach John L. Smith. “I kept thinking they’re gonna go down and they wouldn’t.” “If you like defense, this was a good ball game,” CSU head coach Sonny Lubick said. “I’m sure they’re over there saying the same thing because both offenses did not play well tonight.”
The defensive stats are a good way to tell how the game went. It could be seen that it was not a good night for the Cardinal offense when two offensive players and the punter ended up with tackles.
Yet, on the other side of the ball it was a different story. Once again, U of L’s Dewayne White led the way on defense. The sophomore defensive end finished the game with a total of 12 tackles, one pass break-up, one sack, a forced fumble and was probably selling popcorn in the stands at halftime because he seemed to be everywhere. Nine of White’s tackles were unassisted. “I knew that it was a day that the defense was going to have to come and limit the offense,” White said, but also indicated that he was only a part of the entire team effort. “If I make plays it’s just going to carry over to the linebackers and the safeties. If I’m pressuring the quarterback he might throw an errant pass. He did a couple of them.”
The Louisville defense limited CSU to a total of 148-yards of offense. It was their lowest yardage for a game since 1993 during Lubick’s first year. “The defense did a great job,” said Cardinal quarterback Dave Ragone. “They won the game for us and we needed that. The offense should not take one bit of credit. The defense played incredible. I think no offense could have done anything against that defense tonight.”
The Cardinal defense came out strong from the start by limiting the Rams to 13-yards of offense in the first quarter. The period ended in a scoreless tie and was the first time U of L has failed to score in the first quarter since their game against Southern Miss on November 4th 2000.
Things were looking much brighter for the offense as the second quarter began. On a third down with two yards to go, freshman running back Lionel Gate broke outside to the right and picked up 9 quick yards. That was followed by a 12-yard strike to receiver Deion Branch from Ragone. Then a two-yard run by Tony Stallings had the Cardinals sitting on second and goal from the one-yard line. But a fumbled snap from center Ariel Rodriguez never made it to Ragone’s hands and the Rams’ Eric Pauly recovered on the two-yard line.
It appeared that the defense was going to quickly get the ball back when Colorado St. was forced into a third down and six-yard situation from the six-yard line. But Rams’ quarterback Bradlee Van Pelt found a wide open Joel Dreessen for a 23-yard gain, which would have been longer if he had not fell down. It was CSU’s first, first down and it came at the 12:10 mark of the second quarter.
The play was followed by a 37-yard run by Henri Childs that brought CSU to the Louisville 34-yard line. The two back to back plays accounted for nearly half of the Rams total offensive production on the night. Then, just as it seemed to happen to both offenses all night long, the tide turned. On the next play, U of L’s Chad Lee caught Childs in the backfield for a three-yard loss. Then White came crashing in to chase and sack Van Pelt back causing him to fumble and Koby Clark of the Cardinals recovered on the 46-yard line. The Cards moved the ball steadily down the field but ended up being faced with a fourth down and one yard from the CSU 28-yard line. Instead of kicking a field goal Smith went for it. Handing the ball off, Gates broke to the right and picked up 19-yards before being knocked out of bounds. Three plays later Ragone hit receiver Zek Parker in the endzone for a 7-yard touchdown at the six-minute mark of the second quarter. It would end up being the only offensive score by either team in the game.
The Card’s season-long plague of penalties was greatly reduced in the game. Louisville was only flagged for 51-yards on five penalties. Yet, the penatiles that were recieved seemed to happen at the most inopprtune time. With 11:08 to go in the second quarter Louisville was faced with first and five from the CSU 41-yard line. Branch picked up six-yards on a pitch but the Cards were flagged for a personal foul after the play losing them 15-yards.
With 4:18 left to go in the game and the Cards clinging to a tenuous 7-2 lead, the Rams were faced with fourth and five from the Cardinal 46-yard line. Knowing that there was little chance of getting the ball back if they punted it away, CSU went for it but the passing play was broken up by the Cards’ Michael Brown. But a holding penalty against U of L gave the Rams a first down and new life.
Just as a week ago against Memphis, the game came to a wild finish and this week was no different. In the fourth quarter, eight of the nine possessions by the two teams ended in a turnover. At the 13:03 mark of the fourth quarter Louisville’s Anthony Floyd sailed in from the left side to block the Rams’ Joey Huber’s punt. Louisville then moved the ball to the 14-yard line where Ragone was hit as he was throwing and the ball was intercepted by CSU’s Drew Wood. Nine plays later Van Pelt threw a pass down the middle which was intercepted by Floyd. But on Floyd’s runback attempt he fumbled and CSU recovered at the 48-yard line. On the Rams’ next play, Van Pelt was interecepted by U of L’s Curry Burns at the 13-yard line. Three plays later Louisville was looking at fourth and seventeen from its own four yard line and had to punt from the endzone. Wade Tydlacka’s punt was blocked out of the back of the endzone for a CSU safety and its only score.
After the free kick, the Rams took possession but could not do much and Louisville took over on downs. But then two plays later, Ragone was picked off by Ameer Lowe. Faced with fourth and thirty from the 39-yard line and only :32 left on the clock, Van Pelt attempted a desperation heave into the endzone which was intercepted by U of L’s Ronnie Gallishaw.
