Louisville Football’s Bowl History (2013-2021)
Picking up in December 2013, let’s continue to see how Louisville fared in their postseason bowl matchups from December 2013-2021:
2013 Russell Athletic Bowl: Louisville 36, Miami (Fla.) 9
In what would become Charlie Strong’s final season with the Cardinals, he led them to a 12-1 record and a dominating performance over Miami (Fla.) in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had a historic performance over the Hurricanes with his 447 yards passing, three touchdowns through the air, and capping it off with a rushing touchdown.
Wide receiver DeVante Parker was his go-to man with 142 yards receiving and one touchdown. Miami’s Gus Edwards scored the only touchdown of the game for the Hurricanes in the fourth quarter after their only other score coming in the first quarter, which was a safety.
2014 Belk Bowl: Georgia 37, Louisville 14
In Bobby Petrino’s first season back with the Cardinals ended with a massacre at the hands of Nick Chubb and the Bulldogs. Louisville’s defense could not find a way to slow Chubb down as he finished the game with 266 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
Chubb was the focal point of the offense as Georgia’s Hutson Mason only threw for 149 yards, which paled into comparison of Louisville’s quarterback Kyle Bolin who recorded 300 yards in the air. Georgia found their way into the endzone in each quarter and really was too much for a Cardinals team who did finish the season in the AP Top 25.
2015 Music City Bowl: Louisville 27, Texas A&M 21
In Louisville’s fifth straight bowl appearance, they made their way to Nashville, Tennessee for a Music City Bowl matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies. Louisville’s Lamar Jackson single-handedly defeated the Aggies with four touchdowns. He nearly had identical passing and rushing stats with 227 passing yards and 226 rushing yards.
Wide receiver Cole Hikutini made an impact on the game catching three of Lamar’s 12 passes and netting 103 yards. Other than that, it was The Lamar Jackson Show. The Aggies tried to keep up with Jackson built ultimately were unsuccessful. Even with quarterback Jake Hubenak’s 307 passing yards and running back Tra Carson’s 106 rushing yards, it was not enough to slow down a future NFL MVP.
2016 Citrus Bowl: LSU 29, Louisville 9
On New Year’s Eve in Orlando, Florida, the Tigers overwhelmed the Cardinals with a 29-9 victory. Despite Lamar Jackson’s 186 yards of total offense, Derrius Guice led the Tigers with 138 rushing yards, a rushing touchdown, and a receiving touchdown. Louisville, on the other hand, never found its way into the endzone. Kicker Blanton Creque was their sole source of offense as he went 3-for-3 on field goals.
LSU’s defense out-performed Louisville’s offensive line as they recorded eight sacks, four quarterback hurries, and recovered a fumble. This remains the only matchup up to this point between LSU and Louisville.
2017 TaxSlayer Bowl: Mississippi State 31, Louisville 27
In Louisville’s third loss in four postseason berths, the Cardinals suffer defeat at the hands of the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Jacksonville, Florida. This matchup was a battle of dual-threat quarterbacks as the Bulldogs’ Keytaon Thompson outdueled Lamar Jackson with three rushing touchdowns on 147 rushing yards.
Lamar Jackson totaled 329 yards of offense, but it was not enough to outlast the Bulldogs as he also threw four interceptions. Three of them were caught by Mississippi State linebacker Mark McLaurin, who also totaled eight solo tackles. Keytaon Thompson would finish the game with 274 yards of total offense as well.
2019 Music City Bowl: Louisville 38, Mississippi State 28
A postseason rematch from 2017, this time Louisville would take home the win against Mississippi State in Nashville, Tennessee. Quarterback Malik Cunningham would earn revenge for his predecessor Lamar Jackson as he would go on to total 360 yards of total offense against the Bulldogs.
Wide receiver Tutu Atwell had success as well as he threw a touchdown pass to tight end Marshon Ford and would finish the game with 147 receiving yards. Running back Javian Hawkins also added 105 rushing yards and one touchdown to cap off Scott Satterfield’s debut season as Louisville’s head coach with a win.
2021 First Responder Bowl: Air Force 31, Louisville 28
The Air Force Falcons switched up their game strategy and attempted more passes than they had in their final three games of the season combined, one of which went into triple overtime. Haaziq Daniels, the Air Force quarterback, finished the game with nine completed passes for 252 total yards and two touchdowns.
Louisville’s Malik Cunningham finished the game with 207 passing yards and a 22-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter with 2:57 left on the clock. But it was not enough to overcome the 31-28 deficit. The loss would cap off a 6-7 season for the Cardinals in what was the only ever matchup between Air Force and Louisville.