So after a post-game snack, I sat in front of the screen and stared, wondering what the appeal was and how to describe a truly bizarre game of football.
Scoreboard at 00:00: Louisville 31, Georgia Tech 19.
To be honest, I stared at it for a little longer, but at that moment I got an email from my former editor, which in its entirety said, “I have no idea how I wrote this. I mean, just when you think there isn’t enough lipstick in the world to make this pig cute, it starts singing and dancing and playing the piano.”
The lipstick color is a cardinal color.
Where I landed seems like maybe the obvious choice: Defense. FG defense. They each scored points. Other than that, the final totals were all intact: Rec 19, Cardinals 17.
That said, I’ll mention but ignore the complete collapse of the defensive secondary at the end of the first half, which allowed King’s 51-yard pass to Singleton for first-and-goal at the Louisville 3 with seconds left in the marching band show.
Well, despite the “double cover”.
GT scored with four minutes remaining to cut the visitors’ deficit to 14-17.
At the time, that seemed like a big deal.
But there was more good than bad that came from the coaching of Ron English and Carl Maslowski.
As Quincy Riley and Ramon Puryear capitalized on an immature blunder by Haynes King — a pass backwards while being sacked — QR batted the pass back in the air, and RP grabbed it and brought it in, tying the score at 7-7 at the 2:11 mark of the first period.
And in a shaky moment for the home team — a safety after a great stop at their own 1-yard line — Tayon Holloway came up with a big play, blocking a field goal and catching a nasty 50-yard attempt by erratic kicker Brent Key for a score.
This extended the Cardinals’ lead to 12 points late in the game, essentially sealing the win.
One of those stops wasn’t just one of the University of Louisville’s own stops.
They also thwarted GT’s final possession on 4th-and-1 at the Cardinal 21-yard line, sealing the game.
* * * * *
Besides Tyler Shaw’s unfortunate slip and fall in the end zone (which was obviously not fatal), the University of Louisville running back also had a few falls.
I’m wondering if there was any condensation on the scorching hot grass.
I’ve been there on days like Saturday, when the heat rising from the artificial turf is subtropical and stifling, and the “turf” is plastic, so hot it literally melts the soles of your shoes.
I don’t know what was going on, I’m just riffing here.
* * * * *
These two teams were really inefficient.
Technicals: Six penalties for 44 yards, some at key moments, like the run-in on Cardinal punter Brady Hodges at the end that gave Louisville a first down on the final series of a knee-down game.
Cardinals: Seven penalties for 69 yards, several at key moments.
An example of Cardinal weirdness: In the first quarter, Louisville had 77 yards of offense and 37 yards of penalties.
FG kicks: Tech was 1/3, Cards was 1/2.
Louisville managed just a whopping 57 net yards rushing, with Hayes King gaining 58 on his own.
Harris King had 43 more yards passing through the air than Tyler Shaw, but TS had two TD passes and King had zero. On the second down the right sideline, Jacorey Brooks was interfered with and forced to do a 360-degree turn, but still caught the ball for the score.
This time it’s not ESPN Instant Classic.
But it’s a W.
— C.D. Kaplan
