Thursday night more energy coursed through Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium than I’ve seen in recent memory as Louisville squared off against the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers. As I entered the stadium I couldn’t help but feel the excitement mounting.
For the last couple of years Rutgers has been a formidable foe for the Cards, and the team probably represented their toughest challenge up to that point.
With kickoff out of the way, the game commenced with a back and forth contest that saw Louisville maintain its lead despite shifting momentum. With a concern that Louisville was “going to let them back in the game” from one nearby fan, Louisville was able to cement the game not till the end of the fourth quarter with a touchdown drive that essentially shut the door on the New Jersey team, as the team went to 6-0, with a final score of 24-10 against Rutgers.
It should be noted that the final score really didn’t represent how tight the contest was at times. Louisville will stay in conference to meet their next opponent, Central Florida at Papa John’s on Friday at 8; the game will be broadcast live on ESPN.
I think I need to allow coach Charlie Strong to have the final words on this match-up, “We came away with a victory and it was a good game. Rutgers played well also. If you’re sitting there with someone watching the game, you’re probably saying, ‘This is a really good football game.’ You’ve got two outstanding teams and we’re able to play well on offense with our quarterback - even though he threw an interception and got hit from the blind side, we still played well. And on defense, we were able to put pressure and the kicking game we played well. I think we showed the country we have a good football team.” That comment was made in a post-game press conference to GoCards.com.
Image courtesy of University of Louisville
