Instead they went out with
a thud, or more accurately, a dud of a second half.
West Virginia outscored the Cardinals 28-14 after
intermission - including 21-7 in the third quarter - to
send the seniors out on a sour note, 35-21, Saturday in
front of 34,796 fans at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
"It was tough walking off the field knowing my last game
at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium was an L," Wood said.
"It's a shame it ended like this."
It could get worse.
The Cards (5-6, 1-5 in the Big East), who have now lost
four straight games for the first time since since 1997
(Ron Cooper's final year), close their season Dec. 4 at
Rutgers with slim bowl game hopes.
"We've got to bridge the gap and the bottom line is that
we've got to get to six wins," UofL coach Steve Kragthorpe
said. "If we get to six wins, we're in (a bowl game)."
"I'm not 100 percent familiar with bowl committees and how
they select their teams, but I know if we win at Rutgers
we'll be bowl eligible," added senior quarterback Hunter Cantwell, who was 27 for 47 for 276 yards with one
touchdown and three interceptions. "We have to beat
Rutgers and let the chips fall where they may."
UofL fell to the Mountaineers for the third time in four
years thanks in large part to five turnovers, including
four in the second half, a time that has become especially
troublesome for the Cards. In its current losing streak
UofL has been outscored 80-38 after halftime.
"We're close, but close don't count, we've got to find a
way to win," said Kragthorpe, whose two-year record at
UofL dropped to 11-12. "Close doesn't count, only in
horseshoes, drive-in movies and hand grenades, that's
where it counts."
The Cards rarely came close to stopping West Virginia
quarterback Pat White, who rushed for 200 yards and three
touchdowns and passed for 122 yards and two more scores as
he continued to write his name in the Big East record
book.
"Pat's a phenomenal player, we had him dead-to-right a
couple of times and he gets away," Kragthorpe said. "We
knew coming into the game we had to stop Pat, but we
didn't do that."
The Cards showed plenty of spark early.
On the third play of the game Victor Anderson broke off a
40-yard run to put UofL at the West Virginia 18. The Cards
couldn't convert that into points, though, as the drive
stalled and Ryan Payne missed a 30-yard field goal.
UofL bounced back on its third possession, though. Taking
over at their own 3 the Cards embarked on their longest
drive of the season, going 97 yards in nine plays and
taking a 7-0 lead thanks to Bilal Powell's 1-yard TD dive
with 1:53 to play in the first quarter.
Powell rushed six times for 36 yards on the drive and
Cantwell connected up with Doug Beaumont on a 47-yard pass
play to set up the score.
Louisville's lead was short-lived, however. On the fourth
play of the Mountaineers' ensuing possession White
sprinted 66 yards around the right end for the tying
touchdown with nine seconds to play in the period.
The Cards seemed to regain the momentum at the end of the
first half when they stopped West Virginia on fourth-and-
goal at the Louisville 1.
The third quarter was almost all West Virginia.
The Mountaineers (7-3, 4-1) marched downfield with the
opening kickoff of the second half thanks to White and
Noel Devine. Devine ran twice for 27 yards, while White
ran twice for 12 yards, then tossed a 28-yard touchdown
pass to Dorrell Jalloh.
Louisville looked to answer, but on its third play
Cantwell connected with Chris Vaughn for a first down, but
Vaughn fumbled the ball away to West Virginia.
Two plays later White went for another long TD-run, this
one 43 yards.
"I think everyone in the country knows Pat White is a
dynamic player," UofL senior nose tackle Earl Heyman said.
"They executed their game plan pretty well with their
second half adjustments."
Louisville responded with a 13-play, 67-yard scoring drive
- which was capped by Brock Bolen's 5-yard TD run - to
close within 21-14. The Cards' defense then held the
Mountaineers to three-and-out, but on the third play of
UofL's next possession Cantwell's pass was tipped twice
and intercepted by WVU linebacker Anthony Leonard. Leonard
returned the ball to the UofL 7 and on the Mountaineers'
first play White scampered in for the TD.
White added a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jock Sanders with
8:51 to play, which began the mass exodus to the exits for
UofL fans.
The Cards added a late TD - on a 17-yard pass from
Cantwell to Josh Chichester - but the outcome was already
decided by then.
"Our guys are playing hard and I'm sick we're not
winning," Kragthorpe said. "I hate it for our guys in the
locker room because they're working their tails off
everyday in practice. I thought we played hard in the game
today, but it's very frustrating."