It was a tale of two games. The first 29 minutes belonged to Rutgers as the Scarlet Knights built a 28-10 lead over the Louisville Cardinals when Ray Rice waltzed into the end zone from 6 yards out to cap a 6 play, 51-yard drive. It was Rice’s third rushing TD of the night. But, Brian Brohm had one minute in the half to work some magic. He needed only 49 seconds and five plays to get the ball into the end zone for the Cardinals and reduce the lead to 28-17 at the half. Worse, the 52 yard scoring pass to Patrick Carter shifted the momentum of the entire game.
In the second half the Louisville defense stiffened just enough, held RU to just 10 points, and allowed the offense to exert itself and get the Cardinals back into the game. In the second half, the Rutgers defense seemingly collapsed and the offense stopped opening holes for Rice. The Cardinals scored the final 17 points with Art Carmody kicking a 33-yard field goal with 20 seconds left to win the game 41-38.
RU Offense:
Rice ended the game with 120 net yards rushing on 30 carries and the three TDs. He had almost 100 yards in the first half. Mike Teel proved his thumb problem was heeled as he completed 21 of 32 passes for 265 yards and 2 TDs. Sophomore Kenny Britt (12 catches for 173 yards and 2 TDs) and Junior Tiquan Underwood (4 catches for 63 yards) surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for receiving for the year.
RU Defense:
The defense looked inspired in the first half. In the second they just looked tired. Missed tackles and containment assignments on the edges allowed some big running plays by the Cardinals. They did sack Brohm five times and made several tackles for losses, but the big plays were killers.
Louisville Offense:
Freshman Bilal Powell rushed for 103 yards on 13 carries and Junior Brock Bolen had 117 yards also on 13 carries for the Cardinals as they ran through and around a suddenly porous RU defense. Brohm was 12 of 22 for 227 yards including that 52 yard strike to Carter to end the first half scoring. Senior Art Carmody set a NCAA record for career points by a kicker when he booted a 41-yard field goal early in the first quarter and won the game with a 33-yard kick with 20 seconds to play. It was the first time in his four years that he had kicked a game winning FG with time running out.
Louisville Defense:
Much maligned during the season and beaten badly in the first half, they came out and played some very good football in the second half. They left nothing on the field and stopped RU from scoring too many points giving the offense a chance to win the game.
Rutgers falls to 7-5, 3-4 in the BIG EAST, as they head to Toronto for the International Bowl on January 5th. Louisville evened its record at 6-6, 3-4 in the BIG EAST.
The full story and stats here and here.
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