Every once in a great while, a purported Game of the Year will live up to the hype, but frequently one team or the other will throw in a clinker that renders the final result completely unappetizing.
Last night in Louisville, the souffle did not fall.
Third-ranked West Virginia and No. 5 Louisville, two of the nation's most prolific offenses, torched the Papa John's Cardinal Stadium turf for 78 points and a Big East record 1008 combined yards. The host Cardinals won 44-34 in front of a record crowd of more than 43,000.
Expect more than 100,000 to claim they were there for the biggest victory in U of L history -- kind of like the fans who claimed they were there when Roger Maris hit his 61st home run, or saw Babe Ruth's "called shot" in the 1932 World Series. The Cards and Mountaineers put on that sort of a show.
I wasn't out there freezing my butt at the Pizza Palace -- but my wife and I hung on every play via ESPN. (Thank God she loves football almost as much as I do.)
And I'd be willing to bet two of the biggest smiles in the state of Florida belong to former U of L head coaches Lee Corso and Howard Schnellenberger.
The seed for a U of L home game of this magnitude, one might argue, was sown by Corso sometime between 1969 and 1972 -- probably the Saturday he made his pregame entrance to Fairgrounds Stadium on the back of a Barnum and Bailey Circus elephant. Corso's relentless promotion of Cardinal football started the process that led to last night's spectacle.
Schnellenberger added more fuel to the process with his 1985 proclamation, "The University of Louisville is on a collision course with the national championship; the only variable is time." Most observers questioned his sanity, especially when his first three teams went a combined 8-24-1, but maybe he was onto something after all. Certainly the Cards' 34-7 demolition of Alabama in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl served notice that U of L was capable of becoming a player on the national scene.
After last night, that "collision course" talk doesn't sound quite so crazy.
Dessert, anyone?
Last night in Louisville, the souffle did not fall.
Third-ranked West Virginia and No. 5 Louisville, two of the nation's most prolific offenses, torched the Papa John's Cardinal Stadium turf for 78 points and a Big East record 1008 combined yards. The host Cardinals won 44-34 in front of a record crowd of more than 43,000.
Expect more than 100,000 to claim they were there for the biggest victory in U of L history -- kind of like the fans who claimed they were there when Roger Maris hit his 61st home run, or saw Babe Ruth's "called shot" in the 1932 World Series. The Cards and Mountaineers put on that sort of a show.
I wasn't out there freezing my butt at the Pizza Palace -- but my wife and I hung on every play via ESPN. (Thank God she loves football almost as much as I do.)
And I'd be willing to bet two of the biggest smiles in the state of Florida belong to former U of L head coaches Lee Corso and Howard Schnellenberger.
The seed for a U of L home game of this magnitude, one might argue, was sown by Corso sometime between 1969 and 1972 -- probably the Saturday he made his pregame entrance to Fairgrounds Stadium on the back of a Barnum and Bailey Circus elephant. Corso's relentless promotion of Cardinal football started the process that led to last night's spectacle.
Schnellenberger added more fuel to the process with his 1985 proclamation, "The University of Louisville is on a collision course with the national championship; the only variable is time." Most observers questioned his sanity, especially when his first three teams went a combined 8-24-1, but maybe he was onto something after all. Certainly the Cards' 34-7 demolition of Alabama in the 1991 Fiesta Bowl served notice that U of L was capable of becoming a player on the national scene.
After last night, that "collision course" talk doesn't sound quite so crazy.
Dessert, anyone?
posted by Alan at 6:27 AM
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