Now that there have been a couple of days to process Louisville’s loss to Georgia in the Belk Bowl, it seems like a good time to start taking a look back at the Cardinals 2014 football season. The Cardinals would start the 2014 season after losing 3 first round NFL draft picks and their entire coaching staff. The gamble to bring back a proven winner to the program paid off and Coach Bobby Petrino was able to lead this team to 9 wins and a trip to a bowl game in his first season back. What makes his first year back even more impressive is that he did it with a roster full of players that were recruited to play in a different system, three inexperienced QBs and in the Cardinals first season in the ACC.
OVERVIEW
Let’s take a look at the Cardinals first ACC season from a Bird’s-eye view (pun intended).
I can’t think of a football season in my lifetime that I had been more excited about than this one. A big reason why is for the first time ever the Cardinals would be playing in a very solid football conference. Gone were the days of playing schools with little or no football tradition. We were about to embark on a whole new journey with this team.
Coach Petrino’s Louisville sequel would start with the Cardinals ACC debut. It was obvious in the first game against Miami that this would be a season defined by a solid defense. In that game the Cardinals got their first ACC win but the offense faced many challenges especially after having to play without DeVante Parker who would miss the first seven games.
Not long after the first ACC win the Cardinals would get their first ACC loss at Virginia. The inconsistency at the quarterback position would become a reality during this game and would become a weekly theme. Our loss was their gain as it was their first win in the ACC in 11 attempts.
The wins weren’t pretty but they would be welcomed as the Cardinals beat Wake Forest and old foe Syracuse in the next two games.
The offensive woes probably weren’t more evident than in the Cardinals 2nd ACC loss of the season in Death Valley. The Cardinals had a chance for the go ahead TD with one minute left in the game but couldn’t get into the end-zone from the 1 yard line.
The offense would get a boost in the very next game against NC State as DeVante Parker would return to the line-up. Michael Dyer would also have his best game in a Louisville uniform in this win.
With these guys giving an extra boost to things it would help the Cardinals hang tough with the defending champs, but the Cardinals would still get their 3rd ACC loss to FSU.
The Cardinals were able to maintain some of that offensive consistency and would finish their first regular ACC season on a winning note beating Boston College and Notre Dame.
After taking Cardinal Fans on an up and down ride the Cardinals finished the regular season 9-3 and 5-3 in conference play.
BEST MOMENT
After a back and forth game the Louisville defense had another big goal line stand. With a minute left in the game the Notre Dame kicker Kyle Brindza missed a 32 yard field goal to give Louisville the win. The 15,000 Louisville fans that made their way to the game got to watch the Louisville Cardinals get a win in their very first trip to South Bend. The Cardinals offense leaned on running back Brandon Radcliff and Reggie Bonnafon that night. For Reggie this game was the answer to his late father’s request to own his destiny and it really was special watching him walk off the field to the echo of fans congratulating him along the way. Notre Stadium has been described as having the power to inspire. And it has inspired some great athletes over the years, and was the backdrop to one of the biggest underdog stories in sports. It has also been the site of many special moments and on that cold November night it was the Cardinals that left their story of triumph and glory among those walls and with those thousands of ghosts of seasons past. The Cardinals became only the 12th team in history to go to South Bend and win on their very first trip.
WORST MOMENT
All three of the Louisville losses were tough to take but in each game it felt like the Cardinals could have very easily won them. There was also no obvious valley to the season to point to. That being said the Cardinals 37-14 loss to Georgia was probably the toughest one of the season. From the start of the game Georgia quarterback Hutson Mason picked apart the Louisville secondary picking up third down after third down. The Bulldogs had raced out to a 20-7 lead by halftime, and after the half they pounded away with Nick Chubb who finished the game with over 266 yards. His rushing total was second highest in school history. The Cardinals defense gave up 492 yards of total offense. It was really hard seeing that unit go out like they did after standing tall time and time again all season. And it was tough watching that group of seniors go out with this type of loss. In a season full of optimism and pride this had to be the worst moment. It was really the only one I could think of.
SURPRISE MOMENT
No matter what the projections were for the Cardinals season, nobody expected red shirt Kyle Bolin to be playing and few people expected the season finale against UK to go right down to the wire much less to see Louisville trailing 40-37 with 5:38 left in the game. In that position though Kyle Bolin in his first college game came up with a seven-play, 81 yard drive that Brandon Radcliff capped off with a 4 yard touchdown run giving Louisville a 44-40 lead. A sack and interception by Gerod Holliman on the next Kentucky drive ended the game and sealed the 4th straight victory over the Cardinals arch rival.
OFFENSIVE MVP
There were a lot of gutsy performances this season on the offensive side of the ball for the Cardinals, but nobody had more of them than Cardinals running back Brandon Radcliff. He ran the ball 144 times this season for 737 yards and 12 touchdowns. He had big-time games against Wake Forest 129 yards with 2 touchdowns, Syracuse 110 yards with 2 touchdowns and his best of the season in the biggest win of the season at Notre Dame 136 yards with 1 touchdown. Even in the loss in the Bowl game to Georgia he ran his guts out for 89 yards carrying most of the load on the night. He is a remarkable young man with a lot of drive and determination and he only broke the mold on what he’s capable of this season. HONORABLE MENTION: DeVante Parker had 43 catches for 855 yards with 5 touchdowns and he did this while only playing in six games this season. His biggest performances of the season coming against Florida State 214 yards and Kentucky 180 yards with 3 touchdowns. He would have won the MVP by a mile had he played in every game.
DEFENSIVE MVP
I had to think about this one for a little while, but it kept coming back to Gerod Holliman. Not only did he have 44 tackles and one sack but he tied the NCAA record with 14 interceptions. His biggest games were at Boston College where he had 3 interceptions, Florida State with 2 interceptions and in the game against Kentucky where he had a big sack and huge interception on back to back plays to end that game. He really was a big part of a Louisville defense that stepped up all season. HONORABLE MENTION: Lorenzo Mauldin was the heart and soul of this Louisville defense and even if he hadn’t made a tackle all season just his leadership on and off the field would have got him mentioned in this article. He did have a lot of tackles though 52 of them to go along with 6 and a half sacks. His biggest game was against Wake Forest with 5 tackles and 3 sacks. Both of these guys are going to be deeply missed next season.
When Charlie Strong decided to leave the program Tom Jurich and other members of the Louisville administration were faced with a difficult decision. They had the choice to find a coach who was an up and coming unproven in the college ranks or go with the guy who had won here before. The second choice would bring a splattering of skepticism. The program had come too far since the last failed experiment of an unproven coach and Tom Jurich knew what he had to do to maintain the level of excellence that had been established. He did face a ton of backlash from the skeptics, but after watching his program win 9 games while facing their toughest schedule in years and becoming bowl eligible for a 5th straight season he had the last laugh. I think he made the right choice and the excitement for Louisville football is at an all-time high. We have a lot of momentum heading into year number two of the Bobby Petrino sequel. We will sign a top 25 recruiting class in February and should march another top 25 team on the field in April. I can’t wait to attend the signing day party and can’t wait to attend the first day of spring football practice. GO CARDS!