Louisville 44
West Va. 34
LOUISVILLE – Under a coal-black Kentucky sky, in front of thousands of Louisville fans wearing “Blackout Thursday” T-shirts, against a team wearing black jerseys, and in a venue dimmed by a temporary loss of some stadium lights, West Virginia was left in the dark last night.
It was Louisville that saw the light, celebrating the biggest regular-season game in the program’s history by winning a battle of undefeated teams, 44-34, over West Virginia in an unofficial national championship semifinal game.
If the Cardinals (8-0, 3-0 Big East) win out (they play at Rutgers next Thursday in what will be the biggest game in Scarlet Knights history), they should meet the winner of the Nov. 18 clash between Michigan and Ohio State for the national title.
This game wasn’t as thrilling as last year’s 46-44 West Virginia win in triple overtime, but the stakes were much higher and the two teams combined for more than 1,000 yards in total offense – a Big East record.
“Hopefully we don’t go to triple overtime this time,” Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino said. “That would be hard on the heart.”
It didn’t go to OT because, in a span of 2:45 of the third quarter, under the cover of semi-darkness (some of the stadium lights malfunctioned), Louisville scored twice to take a 30-14 lead.
West Virginia’s Heisman Trophy candidate, Steve Slaton, fumbled and Malik Jackson returned the recovery 13 yards for a touchdown. The Cardinals forced a three-and-out and Trent Guy returned a punt 40 yards for another score.
It must have seemed like a horrible nightmare for the Mountaineers (7-1, 2-1), who trailed 16-14 at halftime. Cardinal Stadium, filled with a record 43,217 fans, was suddenly a black hole of noise.
Of course, anyone familiar with last season’s game knew not to declare a winner. The Cardinals led that 2005 contest 24-7 with eight minutes left only to be overwhelmed by the Mountaineers. That game, however, was in Morgantown.
“Toward the end of the third quarter we were still down by 10 or something and I looked over into the corner of the stadium and I saw a full moon,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said of last year’s game. “I’m thinking strange things are happening here.”
There was no full moon last night and no West Virginia comeback. The Cardinals were the Werewolves of Darkness, blacking out the Mountaineers’ 14-game win streak with some monster hits in the second half.
And when Cardinals quarterback Brian Brohm, who played his best game since returning from torn ligaments in his throwing thumb, lofted a five-yard touchdown pass to 6-6 receiver Mario Urrutia, who had a huge mismatch on West Virginia’s 5-10 corner Antonio Lewis, the Cardinals held a 37-21 bulge.
