All the makings of a potentially miserable day at L&N Cardinal Stadium. A late afternoon scorcher with temperatures above 90 degrees and the Southern Methodist University football team in town. The recipe for another bad memory for University of Louisville fans were Jeff Brohm not the coach doing the preparation.
The Cardinals had not won once in four previous outings against the Mustangs. But Brohm has a habit of winning the games his teams are not supposed to win. That’s why it was not all that surprising after Louisville wrapped up a nerve-racking 41-31 win over SMU on Saturday. A huge win in front of 50,991 perspiring fans. One of those memorable wins, one to be savored for quite a while.
Looked like another long day after the opening kickoff, with SMU marching 75 yards in eight plays for the first touchdown. Too easy, way too easy. Keep chugging on that water Card fans, the drought continues or does it?
That terrible fear was alleviated on the Louisville’s opening drive, with quarterback Lincoln Keinholz answering the bell on a one-yard touchdown dash to cap off a 12-play, 75-yard drive. Somehow the Cardinals would hold the Mustangs on the next series, and respond with another UofL touchdown drive, capped by a 33-yard pass play from Keinholze to Lawayne McCoy. Yeah, McCoy the wide receiver with the sticky hands and marvelous feet, making the impossible possible on those ridiculous catches.
“We found a way to make more plays than them, that shows the toughness and the makeup of the team,” said Brohm in the post-game news conference. “It shows the toughness and the makeup of our assistant coaches, of the ability just to fight to the end. Sometimes things look good, sometimes they don’t. You need to get down and you can do something about it. That’s why this sport is so great is because it teaches you to hang in there to the end no matter what, and special things happen.”
UofL’s running game eventually did in the Mustangs. Louisville running for 265 of its 442 total yards. Brown posting a career-high 165 rushing yards and two touchdowns, both of which were awe-inspiring runs of longer than 50 yards.
The lead changed hands eight times and the game was only decided in the final minutes with Junior Kaleb Beasley knocking the ball out of SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings’ hands at the half-inch line. Heisman Trophy candidate Kevin Jennings’ hands, by the way. Beasley had a busy day with 10 tackles and two interceptions. He will forever haunt Jennings’ unfulfilled visions of that elusive hardware.
The days of SMU football creeping up on Louisville are in the past. Good riddance, stay gone.
