Louisville Sleepwalks To Victory Over Duke

By Mark Bacon

Friday night many people tuned in to see one of the Nation’s hottest college football teams; The Louisville Cardinals hosted the Duke Blue Devils. What we saw, however? To paraphrase Haven Harrington, Louisville looked like the Clemson loss nearly sucked the life out of them. They were sloppy and sleepwalking. The stadium sounded quiet on TV. If the Dookies beat them? The life WOULD be sucked out of the team’s Playoff hopes.

Instead, behind who else? Lamar Jackson, the Cards survived Duke, 24-14. The same Blue Devil team who lost to Northwestern. No one loses to Northwestern.

The rain played a role, but everything seemed off. There were many miscues and errors caused by Duke’s defense, who deserve credit. Their blitz packages and heavy jumbo sets threw off the rhythm of LJax most of the evening.

Then fate intervened. Louisville benefited from Duke’s late roughing-the-kicker penalty and got a big rushing night from Lamar Jackson to escape Duke. After the Blue Devils’ personal foul on a missed field-goal try kept U of L’s drive alive, Jackson ran for a 2-yard touchdown with 1:32 left to give U of L (5-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) enough cushion to win in a game in which the Cardinals were 34.5-point favorites.

Jackson had 144 of Louisville’s 288 rushing yards and completed 13 of 26 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown, and Jeremy Smith ran for an 80-yard touchdown to help the Cards survive the Dookies (3-4, 0-3.

Duke’s offense was never too explosive, averaging just four yards per play, but it succeeded in converting enough third downs to eat up the clock and keep Jackson sidelined. The Blue Devils led U of L in time of possession 37:12 to 22:48. Duke’s slow-down game sped up the process, as the game finished in 2 hours, 52 minutes. It was a masterful game plan by Duke coach David Cutcliffe.

The strategy put a scare into the Cards. Daniel Jones’ 20-yard touchdown pass to Johnathan Lloyd with 6:34 left capped a 15-play, 75-yard drive of 8 minutes, 54 seconds and cut U of L’s lead to 17-14.

Looking for a touchdown to put the game away, Louisville drove back down the field and reached Duke’s 17, but Traveon Samuel and Jackson were tackled for losses on back-to-back plays, and U of L, eventually facing fourth-and-22, brought out Evan O’Hara for a 46-yard field-goal attempt with 2:05 left. O’Hara’s kick missed wide left, but Duke’s Breon Borders dived and rolled into O’Hara, who fell forward onto him. The 15-yard penalty gave U of L an automatic first down.

U of L was given new life at the Duke 14-yard line, Jackson ran for 12 yards, then 2 yards for the TD.

Now… Final Four? Heisman? It’s not going to happen. Last night was a reality check and a step into a world of increased expectations that, for one evening, seemed out of reach.

If you like this story look for more great content from the Main Event Sports crew on our app. Just go to the Google Play Store or iPhone App Store and search keyword "Main Event Sports Radio" and you will have tons of blogs, videos, pics, and more.

For Android users simply click on the link below to download the Main Event Sports app today. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app_maineventsports.layout

For iPhone users simply click on the link below to download the Main Event Sports app today. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/main-event-sports-radio/id989058411?mt=8