The best Louisville game of the decade quarterfinals: 4 vs. 5
by Mike Rutherford on Dec 3, 2009 1:14 PM EST
in News
39 comments
There was still one Sweet 16 matchup to be played, but since it was the 2/15 tilt, I decided to simulate it.
The double overtime victory over West Virginia in the '07 Big East Tournament quarterfinals was actually putting up a decent fight before Trent Guy housed a punt return and the '06 West Virginia blackout game turned it into a route. The victory was capped off by Malik Jackson returning a fumble for a TD and then decapitating Mike Gansey.
So we move on to the round of eight.
Here's your first matchup:
4. THE 2005 CONFERENCE USA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (3/12/05)
HOW IT GOT HERE: Defeated No. 13- 2009 Big East Championship Game (67%-32%)
Let's skip the details and go straight into the reasons why this may have been the most fulfilling victory of the decade,
1. It was against Memphis.
2. We hate Memphis
3. The game was played in Memphis in front of a crowd of mostly Tiger fans.
4. It was the last Conference USA game we would ever play
5. It was the league title game.
6. The only chance Memphis had to make the NCAA Tournament was to win that game.
7. Darius Washington had spent the entire game pounding his chest and sticking out his tongue.
8. Washington looked over to Calipari and mouthed "it's over" after he was fouled by Garcia.
9. There is absolutely no worse way to lose a game than by missing two out of three free throws with your team down two and no time on the clock.
I've said it before and I'll say it again right now: if I died today and god told me "yeah, Heaven's awesome but the only catch is you're only allowed five minutes of television for eternity so choose wisely," I would pick the last five minutes of this game to be played continuously.
The horror I felt when Garcia was whistled and I realized that it was Washington who would be shooting three being replaced with the sheer joy I felt watching our beloved Cardinals celebrate as he feel to the floor may have been the biggest shift of emotion I've ever had in a five-minute period. Anyone who felt sorry for Washington was either a Memphis fan or didn't watch the game.
Ellis Myles summed it up perfectly afterward: "It's kinda hard to feel sorry for a dude when he spends the whole game thumping his chest and sticking out his tongue."
The victory set the tone for the best Cardinal postseason of the decade.
5. LOUISVILLE STUNS NO. 4 FLORIDA STATE (9/26/02)
HOW IT GOT HERE: Defeated No. 12- Jerry Smith's buzzer-beater beats Marquette (72%-27%)
The Louisville football program's first "signature win" had come more than a decade earlier via a thrashing of Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl, but this was the monumental victory that set the tone for U of L's rise to prominence over the next few years.
In a torrential downpour, the Cardinals - who had already dropped games to Kentucky and Colorado State after entering the year with their highest preseason ranking in history - forced the fourth-ranked and unbeaten Seminoles into overtime.
On the first play of overtime, FSU quarterback Chris Rix had his pass intercepted by U of L free safety Anthony Floyd. One play later, Louisville running back Henry Miller burst through the middle and waltzed into the endzone, inspiring the soldout crowd at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium to storm onto the field and tear down the goal posts.
"They were better than we were," said Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden. "Before the season, I was very concerned about this game because they were playing as good as anybody last season. We simply did not stop them."
Bowden also praised Cardinal quarterback Dave Ragone, who he said was "as good as any quarterback in the country."
"We fed off an unbelievable crowd in a torrential downpour," Ragone said afterward. "They started ripping down the goal posts, ripping off my helmet, ripping off everything."
The first spot in the Final Four is yours to decide.
Vote or Santa will do unspeakably obscene things to you while you sleep.
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playoff bracket
can we get a playoff bracket showing the matchups.
Tried it, couldn't do it
I’m ridiculously non-tech savvy.
by Mike Rutherford on Dec 3, 2009 1:39 PM EST up reply actions
I made my own bracket a bit ago and have it updated.
I just don’t have it anywhere on the interwebs.
2005 C-USA Championship
An awesome game from start to finish.
The football win was great as well, but for me, I love basketball just a little more and the Cards netting a C-USA Title in their final year in the conference meant more to me.
________________________________________________
~LK
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www.youtube.com/lordkayossrippro
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cry washington cry
no sympathy for you son. that’s what you get
by Cambroni Cardinals on Dec 3, 2009 2:37 PM EST reply actions
I chose football for the primary reason that I was at the game, and the rain made it one of the most surreal and memorable experiences of my life. The basketball game tasted sweet, but I still have battle scars (wrinkles on my poor little toes) from that football game.
Man the C-USA game is losing
Did Mike mention Calapari was coaching them? I thought this one had a real shot at going the distance, with it’s biggest challenge being the ’05 WVU game.
Watching arrogant assholes get theirs
beats a significant football win in my heart at least. Darius, Darius. Did we learn anything? How’s that NBA career going, eh?
theoldman
OH MAN this is a good one
I was at the FSU game and it was amazing…. but that Darius moment is just classic
Whoa...
Normally I have a little bit of anxiety right before I click the mouse to lock in my vote because I am afraid I’ll be on the wrong side of history, but this time, when I clicked my vote, the dramatic graphics shot out both voting bars and the percentages started scrolling up. My vote ended up making the tally 83-82 (I won’t say which way because I think keeping who or what you vote for to yourself is always appropriate (who set that precedent anyway?)) and it was at that point that I realized this one is coming down to the wire. I am already demanding a recount.
On a different note, last night’s Stetson game conversation: THREAD OF THE DECADE… THREAD OF THE DECADE!!
There are no secrets around here.
You voted for 2005 CUSA Camp Game. YOUR SECRET IS OUT! BWAHAHAHAHa
by sarasota-card on Dec 3, 2009 4:54 PM EST up reply actions
Still voted for UofL/FSU game
I know that’s about the time FSU was starting to lose it’s luster, but it was the start of our crescendo to the Orange Bowl a few years later. Plus we won that game. Memphis lost the game against us in that C-USA title game. I would rather prove we beat someone instead of stand on sidelines and watch the other team lose the game. There’s a big difference in my book. I would also say that I am definitely a much bigger basketball fan (aren’t nearly all Kentuckians?) None of this really matters though because I know that 2005 game against WVU to go to the Final Four will…go….all…the…way…
Maddie in Portland, Oregon
darius washington keeps it close
but I will never forget the rush of excitement, emotion, etc. that came over me when henry miller bolted untouched 25 yards to win…try and not watch the replay of the final play and hear Mike Tirico screaming as he scored; that was almost as awesome as being there in person and standing in the rain for over 3 hours and finally watching Cardinal Football “arrive” on the national scene
the C-USA conference championship would have been an even bigger deal, but it kind of got overshadowed by the final four run and pittsnogle game to me…
Any game against Pittsnogle
should win just so we can continue to say and write it. Pittsnogle, Pittsnogle, Pittsnogle. But I feel for that dude. He has had quite tough time since those days.
Maddie in Portland, Oregon
A great matchup, but this shouldn't be close...
…how many basketball goals were torn down and the pieces still kept around campus? Louisville basketball already existed on the national scene before the basketball game.
The FSU game was the REAL start of Louisville football getting noticed and other teams not wanting to schedule us anymore (esp. not @ PJCS). Tons of fans swarmed that field for probably the first time in school history and many fought through the rain to climb those non-collapable posts and tear them to shreds. I think some of the pieces are in a certain fraternity house? I think they were marched directly from PJCS without the help of a car… real start of our football program.
For my money, this one isn't even close.
I think the CUSA Championship game is far and away the better game here. And I was at the FSU game. Don’t get me wrong, that game and that atmosphere were absolutely incredible, but how can you not choose to bask in the glory that is Cal and Darius’s sweet comeuppance. As Mike said, the sheer turnaround of emotion in that last minute plus, from Garcia foul to tears-shed was unbelievable. Still warms my heart everytime I watch that title game video.
Just watched the FSU video and got really excited.
I don’t wanna change my vote, but I did wanna say: I miss us being good at football. I hate that it’s been so long since I’ve felt that level of excitement around a U of L football game. I’m confident it will happen again, that’s just the first thought I had after watching that video.
by Cool Hand Cards on Dec 3, 2009 8:05 PM EST up reply actions
Perfect Job of Seeding...
I was vote 290 and it is a four point margin. I vote the other way and it is only a two. Four v. Five = Pick ’em game.
My Heart Cockles
are kept toasty warm by seeing Darius crumble. Every time. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
Am I the only remaining alumnus that refuses to call them anything other than Memphis STATE?
Castrate Memphis State, Kirk is a Jirk, etc.
As for the match-up, in my mind the shock of what turned out to be the start of Free Shoes U’s descent into mediocrity trumps the tragicomedy watching an NIT team soil its drawers.
Knotted up at 153 apiece
We’ve got 13 1/2 hours to go.
by Mike Rutherford on Dec 4, 2009 12:35 AM EST reply actions
I'm gonna
continue to find every computer in the city and vote as many times as possible for the FSU game. I’m obsessive that way. How do you think that vanilla white dude beat out that vampire looking dude on American Idol this year? Vampires scare me.
Maddie in Portland, Oregon
i'm going to be very annoyed
if the final four is the elite eight game and three football games. seriously.
i’ve held my tongue while watching these fantastic basketball games get thrashed by football games where we beat big names that weren’t good (FSU and Miami) and arguably the worst team to make the bcs this decade (Wake Forest).
i can’t argue with the west virginia football win, but enough is enough with the others. do marquette buzzer beaters mean nothing? do wins over uk when they strutted in thinking they’d destroy us mean nothing? does history mean nothing? this has been an awesome decade for our basketball program, filled with great games and a lot of success, WAY better than the 90s.
i’m sorry to be debbie downer, but we can get charlie strong, tap the sunshine pipeline, and we still wouldn’t be one of the big boys, best case scenario. i want to play the big name programs who were too chicken to schedule us several years ago. i don’t want to sit there and play an acc or non-power conference team. we’re behind the 8-ball in the big east, and until we go to a bcs game and beat a team from the sec or big 12 who’s in the top 10, that’s not going to change.
meanwhile, you have a basketball program who has gotten to a final four and two elite eights in the last five years. we play in the best conference in the country and are a threat to make deep tournament runs (and even earn a no. 1 overall seed) every year at this point, with our recruiting foundation and new arena coming.
i love college football on the whole, i love the nfl, but tell me what i’m missing that makes you guys value our football memories more than our basketball ones? i hope not kragthorpe, you could’ve made these same arguments after our boring and sloppy win over wake freaking forest. that’s the system, and until we switch conferences or they get a playoff system, it ain’t gonna change.
(chugs myoplex)
now i’m done.
I can only answer for myself, but I tend to favor the football games on the whole for several reasons.
1. Volume. We play 3 times as many basketball games each season as football games, and over the course of my time following the Cards, we’ve probably played at least 10-20 times as many meaningful or significant basketball games as football games. Thus, no one basketball game ever seems as memorable as a comparable football game.
2. The nature of the sports. College football’s tag line is “every game counts” for a reason. Not only are there only 12 regular season games, but each one is critical to the final season result. In basketball, regular season game losses can be overcome easily, and big wins can be undermined by bad losses easily. Thus, no regular season win is ever going to seem monumental, and with the exception of the C-USA championship and WVU game, we didn’t have any post-season games this decade that went down to the wire (at least not in our favor).
3. Underdog factor. Everyone loves the underdog factor, and when it comes to football, we always feel like the underdog. Even though we were ranked higher than Miami, it still seemed like we were the upstart. In basketball, there’s no team or program so far above us that we feel like it is a shock to beat them. And when you are talking about wins over Marquette and Memphis (which was headed to the NIT), there’s nothing special about our opponent. If we won those games by 4 points, they would never be considered for this list.
4. Home games. I’ve written above that part of my preference for the FSU game was that I was there. Being part of the live atmosphere of the game makes it more memorable, and thus, home games against FSU, WVU and Miami are going to stick with people more than games in Milwaukee or Memphis. I suspect that is one of the several reasons why you will see the Orange Bowl fall in the next round.
I agree with you
maybe if we sucked at basketball had 7 good to great years and then sucked again people would have voted for those games. I think some of it is people taking basketball for granted, like we will do those things every year, while we know we can’t in football. If you want to break it down and be a football hater, you could say this. Besides West Virginia, and maybe Miami, all of those games were meaningless. The FSU game especially. I think the loss to Miami did more for the program than the FSU win. All I remember from Ragone’s senior year is they sucked against UK, this game and John L news broke at halftime when they were destroyed by Marshall. The Miami game wasn’t even the biggest game of that season. The Wake Forest win is nice because always and forever, Louisville won the Orange Bowl. In 10 years, people won’t remember we beat Wake Forest though.
FSU wasn't anything special, plus
‘last taps’ against our most hated basketball foe outside UK has to count for something. Vote Memphis St, people.
FSU now with a solid edge
Poll closes in three hours.
by Mike Rutherford on Dec 4, 2009 10:59 AM EST reply actions
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