Cardinals Get a Key Win: 38-29

University of Louisville fans were looking for answers last night and that’s exactly what they got. Every time Kansas St. tried to make a comeback the Cards had an answer. Those answers were frequently running back Victor Anderson and wide receiver Doug Beaumont. Coach Steve Kragthorpe frequently went for it on fourth downs, trying to maximize every Louisville drive.

The defense was also a major story of last night’s game. On Kansas St.’s first drive of the night the Wildcats made it all the way to the Cardinal 12 before Louisville got its first boost of the night. Josh Freeman fumbled the snap out of the shotgun and it was recovered by Louisville defensive end L.D. Scott. Louisville then drove all the way down the field to the Kansas St. 8 before they came up short on fourth and one.

Louisville tied the game up at 7-7 in the second quarter off of a Josh Chichester 18 yard touchdown grab. The rather large Chichester dragged his Kansas St. defender for the last few yards and he stretched out his 6-8 body for six points. Chichester played well except for two dropped touchdown catches in consecutive plays at the end of first half.

The Victor Anderson show then started in the second quarter on a 29 yard touchdown sprint to take the lead 14-7. After the dropped touchdown passes at the end of the half by Chichester, kicker Chris Philpott missed a 31 yard field goal. Philpott also missed an extra point after a Troy Pascley 13 yard touchdown catch in the third quarter. After that, soph. Purdue transfer Tim Dougherty took over the kicking duties for the rest of the game. Woodny Turenne showed his potential by intercepting two Josh Freeman passes in the second quarter.

Just when you thought Louisville might pull away Deon Murphy had an 86 yard punt return for a touchdown to bring the Wildcats within 6. Victor Anderson then decided to shut up the Wildcats with a 56 yard touchdown run in the third, and a 27 yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. For a change of pace Tim Dougherty actually made 36 yard field goal to make it 38-21. Brandon Banks had a 59 yard touchdown catch in the fourth to set the final margin at 38-29.

At the end of the day, Victor Anderson was the big story as he ran for 176 yards and 3 touchdowns. Hunter Cantwell and Doug Beaumont showed some great chemistry and Beaumont caught 9 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown. Cantwell ended up completing 22 of 33 passes for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns. Turenne had two interceptions in one quarter, and Brock Bolen quietly rushed for 104 yards. The kicking job is probably up for grabs at the end of the night, if Tim Dougherty didn’t already win it by default.

Kansas St. quarterback Josh Freeman never had a lot of time to throw and the Cards defense stunted a supposedly high power offense. They weren’t very lucky running the ball either and the Cards limited them to 37 yards rushing. A pressure defense and a timely offense gave the Cards a nice win on Wednesday night.