Louisville football: Unlikely hero leads Cards to milestone victory

Louisville football picked up arguably their biggest win in three seasons as they knock off no. 19 ranked Wake Forest on the road.

Wow, what a wild, four-hour ride that was. The Louisville football program found a way to go into Winston-Salem, North Carolina and leave no. 19 ranked Wake Forest with a huge win. A win that Scott Satterfield was brought in to get.

Just one year after winning just two games total, the Cardinals now find themselves with four wins with six games to go. This one was earned not given and took a little bit of everything from everyone on the Cardinal team to come out on top.

This was the first win in the history of the Louisville program against a ranked ACC team on the road. It wasn’t exactly easy, but here’s how they got it done:

The Louisville offense didn’t miss a beat from their historic performance against Boston College last week. Micale Cunningham started the game at QB and led the Cardinals to 21 first-quarter points, with a little help from Hassan Hall and the special teams unit.

The Demon Deacons held Javian Hawkins to his lowest rushing total this season. So it was time for the other guys to step up, they did just that.

Louisville had 138 rushing yards combined between the two quarterbacks, Evan Conley with 79 and Cunningham with 59. The Cardinal receivers picked up right where they left off, all scoring a touchdown on Saturday night. Dez Fitzpatrick looked like the best player on the field, racking up 125 receiving yards on five catches with two touchdowns.

Seth Dawkins had 68 yards and a touchdown. Tutu Atwell was heavily involved as always, catching seven passes for 85 yards and a score. But his big plays came on special teams, his 51-yard punt return put the Cards in prime position to score again, which they did plenty of, scoring 62 total. But arguably his biggest play of the game came in a way that was very hard to see coming. Wake Forest’s last onside kick attempt looked to possibly be recovered by the Deacons, which would’ve given Wake a great opportunity to miraculously tie this game. But Atwell came away with the ball, like the Cardinals, Atwell just wanted it a little more tonight.

This game seriously had everything, turnovers galore, an abundance of points, special teams magic and a hero that was hard to see coming.

Micale Cunningham was playing fantastic, but a very hard hit in which he was undercut and lost the football knocked him out for the rest of the contest. Louisville turned to Evan Conley to save the day again, he saved his best moment in a Louisville uniform for the perfect time.

Conley is a guy that had no other power five offers and followed Coach Satterfield from Appalachian State to Louisville. He and Micale just did something that even Lamar couldn’t do, beat a ranked ACC team on the road.

This shouldn’t be taken lightly, this Louisville team may have found their quarterback, they may legitimately have two of them. Conley finished the game completing 12/18 with 196 yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown that surprised everyone. Louisville was up just three, 55-52 with under two minutes to go.

A first down would end the game, but a stop would put Wake very close to field goal range. Coach Satterfield opted to go for it. One of the more impressive play calls we’ve seen in this decade at Louisville featured Conley easily running for a first down. But he did more than that, he outran the entire Wake defense en route to a 41-yard touchdown, which would prove to be the game-winner for the Cardinals.

The Louisville defense once again could’ve been better this evening, giving up 40 first downs and 668 yards offense.

But what they did do, enough. They forced three key turnovers and made big plays when it mattered. UofL won the time of possession battle which we knew would be huge going into this one. Things are going to have to be better on that side of the ball, but a win is a win and man, was it an impressive one.

This game has sparked a conversation that I didn’t think was possible this season. The post-game show on ACCNetwork featured Mark Richt, EJ Manuel, and company, legitimately discussing whether the Louisville Cardinals were the second-best team in the ACC or not.

Almost all of these guys that you see putting Louisville in this current situation, went through the worst of bad situations last season. But it’s all looking like what it is these days, a thing of the past. The Cards are back.