Dominating Defense Leads The Way
For the first time since 2013 former rivals, Louisville and Cincinnati met on the gridiron. In only something the bowl season could draw up they traveled all the way to Boston. Behind a strong defense interim coach, Deion Branch picked up his first win. Let’s break it down as Louisville wins the Fenway Bowl 24-7.
Unique Atmosphere
In some ways getting to play the Fenway Bowl was an accomplishment. Originally slated for 2020 the game was postponed for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The third time was the charm as the teams from the AAC and ACC finally were able to play.
Football looks good on you, Fenway. pic.twitter.com/0al8Nc3PdV
— Wasabi Fenway Bowl (@FenwayBowl) December 17, 2022
Remaining Neutral
Of course the major story heading into Saturday’s game was coach Scott Satterfield. The Louisville head coach announced on December 5th he was leaving after four years. In a surprising move, he’s heading up Interstate 71 to take the Cincinnati job. He’s replacing Luke Fickell who’s off to Wisconsin.
Out of respect for both teams, Satterfield didn’t have any part of the Fenway Bowl. However, that didn’t stop the ESPN crew from interviewing him during the game. In the interest of fairness, they did talk to new Cardinal coach Jeff Brohm in the second half. Overall the whole thing was quite awkward. With the major storylines out of the way let’s dig into the game recap as Louisville wins the Fenway Bowl 24-7.
A Dominating Display
If you read our game preview, we talked about how strong both defenses were. In addition with UC and U of L playing backup quarterbacks the defense would likely carry the way, especially early. The Cardinals went three and out on the first two series while the Bearcats turned the ball over on downs and then punted.
Finally, Louisville broke through forcing a fumble by Cincy quarterback Evan Prater. One play later Jawhar Jordan took it 49 yards to the house scoring the first touchdown in Fenway Bowl history. Cincinnati came right back taking it 73 yards in nine plays to tie it up. The last 20 came on a pass from Prater to Wyatt Fischer. Unfortunately for the Bearcats that’s pretty much all the offense, they could muster.
On Louisville’s next series Brock Domann hit Marshon Ford on a nine-yard strike giving Louisville a lead they’d never relinquish. In the process, the tight end tied his head coach with his 18th career touchdown. Another Jordan touchdown, this one 41 yards, put the Cardinals up 21-7 at the half.
More Of The Same
The second looked a lot like the first with the Louisville defense dominating things. In fact, the only points scored were a 48 yard field goal by James Turner. Overall they held the Bearcats to 127 yards and turned them over twice. In addition, they held a strong Cincinnati running game to only 48 yards.
On the other side of the ball, Domann threw for 132 yards and a score filling in for Malik Cunningham who opted out of the game and is off to the NFL. Louisville had 413 yards of total offense including 281 on the ground.
Looking Ahead
With the win, Louisville finishes up 2022 with an 8-5 record. After starting 2-3 they went 6-2 down the stretch. As we mentioned earlier former Cardinal great Brohm is returning home and coming down Interstate 65 to take over the program next year.
They creep a little closer in the all-time series with Cincinnati now leading 30-23 with one tie. However, the Cards have won the last three. Louisville also keeps the “Keg Of Nails” given to the winner of the game when the two teams played every year.
As for the Bearcats, they wrap up the year at 9-4 and dropping their last two. Saturday’s game marks the final one for them in the American Athletic Conference as they’re joining the Big 12 next year with their new coach Satterfield.
Again Louisville wins the Fenway Bowl 24-7 in very impressive fashion. Will there be a second installment of the game next year? We will all wait and see. Thanks for checking out our recap here at Last Word On College Football. Remember we have previews and recaps of every bowl game leading up to the Championship on January 9th.
