Louisville Cardinals claim 51-10 win over Golden Eagles
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Tennessee Tech picked the wrong week to
wrangle with Louisville, and it wasn't the kind of homecoming that
Lee Sweeney expected.
Louisville (1-1), a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS),
had something to prove against the smaller Football Championship
Subdivision (FCS) Golden Eagles, and wasted little time setting the
tone. After suffering a humiliating 27-2 loss last week to
Kentucky, the Cardinals scored four times off Tech turnovers and
coasted to a 51-10 victory Saturday afternoon in Papa John's
Cardinal Stadium. The Cardinals scored 21 points during a
six-minute span in the second quarter to take control of the game,
and a partisan crowd of 38,694 cheered the Cardinals as they
expanded a 13-0 lead to 34-0.
It was the fourth largest crowd in Tech football history, but most
of them weren't there to see the Golden Eagles or Sweeney, who
originally signed with Louisville before transfering to Tech. The
Cardinals swarmed on their former teammate, limiting him to 93
passing yards.
"You've got to learn to play on the road," said Golden Eagle coach
Watson Brown. "When you get a good team you play well on the road.
You have a different mentality when you travel, you go to steal
one, and we didn't have that today. We played different than we did
against Gardner-Webb in front of 12,500 fans.
Travis Adkins blocked a PAT and caused a fumble
"You play these kinds of games and it's dangerous with the score
getting away, it's dangerous with injuries, and it's especially
dangerous playing an angry bunch," Brown said. "We hung in there
and we played hard. I think it helps to play these games because it
helps the confidence.
"They're not going to play a better player, and they're not going
to play in a more hostile environment in our conference. You can
leave with a little confidence. We would have had to play a whole
lot better to keep the game close," he said.
The Golden Eagles (1-1) have only four days to recover from the
loss, heading back on the road next Thursday (Sept. 11) to open
Ohio Valley Conference play with a nationally televised ESPNU game
at Southeast Missouri State.
Brown said the experience -- and the financial payoff -- will help
the Golden Eagles as they prepare for OVC play.
"This game will help us. You can't get hung up in the score," Brown
said. "I've been a D-I coach for the last 35 years, and then I go
to 1-AA and it's a whole lot different. We need these games
financially because the money is already spent. And I think it's
good for our kids, but we can't get hung up in the outcome.
"When you're going to play somebody this good, you have to do all
the things right to have a chance, and we didn't. We had a bunch of
penalties," Brown said.
There were a few highlights in the game for the Golden Eagles,
including two turnovers for the defense, the team's first of the
season. Senior linebacker Corey Reed, who led the team with seven
tackles, recovered a fumble that was caused by Taron Ryce. Dontrell
Baines recovered a fumble that was forced by Charlie Seivers. A
sophomore from Knoxville who moved from tight end to linebacker in
the off-season, Seivers had five tackles and a quarterback sack, in
addition to causing the fumble.
Louisville marched 84 yards in 11 plays on its first possession,
with Brock Bolen rushing up the middle for a one-yard TD to make it
6-0. Golden Eagle freshman Travis Adkins pushed his way through the
middle of the line to block the PAT kick, leaving it a six-point
margin.
Tech's offense sputtered, collecting four penalties on its first
possession, and the Cards regained possession following a 48-yard
punt by Nick Campbell. Six plays later, Hunter Cantwell hooked up
with Troy Pascley for a 35-yard score and a 13-0 lead midway
through the opening period.
Shortly afterward, Louisville bunched together three quick
touchdowns to blow the game open.
The home team drove 52 yards in six plays to make it 20-0 as Bolen
scored his second TD with 13:30 to play in the second quarter.
Chris Campa intercepted a pass by Sweeney at the 38, setting up a
62-yard, seven-play touchdown drive that made it 27-0 with 8:37 to
play. Vic Anderson went the final three yards for the TD.
Three plays later, Henry Sailes caught a pass from Sweeney at the
25, but fumbled and Adrian Grady picked up the bouncing ball and
raced 19 yards into the end zone for a 34-0 UL lead.
The highlight play of the game for the Golden Eagles came on Tech's
first play, when Colin Allen made a lunging catch of a long pass
from Sweeney, a 44-yard gain to the UL 12. Cardinal pressure on
Sweeney forced him to throw the ball away a couple of times, and
Tech settled for a 26-yard field goal by Justin Kraemer to make it
34-3.
The Golden Eagle defense forced Louisville to earn everything in
the third quarter, stopping the Cards on downs on their first
possession, then coming up with a goal-line stand. After UofL had
earned a first-and-goal at the nine, Tech stopped Louisville on a
couple of runs and knocked down a third down pass, forcing the
Cards to kick a 19-yard field goal to make it 37-3 with 6:29
remaining.
Junior Josh Lowery, who replaced Sweeney earlier in the period,
threw an interception at the Tech 28 on first down, and Louisville
converted it to another score, making it 44-3 with 4:54 to play in
the third. Cantwell hit Pete Nochta on a three-yard strike for the
touchdown.
Brown said he didn't replace Sweeney because of his
performance.
"He did fine, he had one bad throw the whole time," Brown said. "I
took him out in the second half. I told him I didn't want him out
there against his old teammates and us getting beat pretty good.
And I wanted to play these younger kids too."
The craziest play of the afternoon came late in the third period as
Sailes signaled for a fair catch on a punt, deep in Tech territory.
At the five, he got away from the kick, hoping it would bounce into
the end zone. Instead, Cory Goettsche's kick hit and bounced
backward and a swarm of players raced after it, including Sailes.
Officials ruled that the ball was touched by the Golden Eagle
sophomore and recovered in the end zone by Brandon Heath for a
touchdown. That made it 51-3 with 1:31 remaining in the third
period.
"Henry did some crazy things, he did some things he's not used to
doing, that's not like him," Brown said. "They never let him get
going today. They crowded us and we couldn't get him loose and for
sure we couldn't do anything from tackle to tackle. That took him
out of the game a lot."
Brown said the Cardinals were well-aware of Sailes' game-breaking
potential.
"They knew Henry is a good player. They tried to keep the ball out
of his hands as much as they could, and they did a good job. When
we'd get it out to the flanks, we didn't block the flanks, those
red shirts did a good job, they were on us before we could say
hello," Brown said.
"We just could never get him loose. You win the line of scrimmage
and a lot of good things happen, and that's where they beat us
today, on both sides of the ball.
Lowery, working behind the second unit on the line, drove Tech 72
yards in seven plays for a touchdown, drilling a scoring pass to
freshman Tremaine Hudson with 5:52 to play to make it 51-10.
"I looked out there on that last drive when they had their backups
in, and we had nine freshman in there, so we're playing a lot of
young guys, so that way it's good," I appreciate (U of L coach)
Steve (Kragthorpe). He didn't try to run up the score on us."
Louisville limited Tech to 33 rushing yards, and 176 yards of total
offense. Hudson was Tech's top ball carrier with 21 yards on six
carries. Sweeney finished 14-for-25 for 93 yards with one
interception, while Lowery was 6-for-8 for 50 yards, with one
interception and one TD. For the second week in a row, freshman Tim
Benford topped the receivers, making six catches for 45 yards.
Louisville had 234 rushing yards and passed for 217, combining for
451 yards of total offense. Anderson gained 114 yards on 12 carries
to lead the ground game, while Cantwell went 15-for-23 for 203
yards. He had two TD passes and was sacked twice.
Brown said the experience of facing a team the calibre of
Louisville will have long-term benefits for the Golden Eagles.
"I like the positive of doing this and letting them see what they
have to do to get better," Brown said. "I think playing someone
better than you always brings that out. When you play somebody who
you're better than, you don't always find that out until it's too
late. I like doing this and they can look back and say ?I can be
better'."
