Louisville Pulls Away In Orange

In Rare Bowl Appearance, Wake Forest Falls Short: Louisville 24, Wake Forest 13

MIAMI, Jan. 2 -- It looked so easy when Brock Bolen burst up the middle late in Tuesday's Orange Bowl game, sprinting 18 yards to the end zone through a big hole in the line with just under five minutes remaining. It wasn't. The No. 6 Louisville Cardinals ran into a feistier, more resourceful team than perhaps most expected in No. 14 Wake Forest, needing a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns and a late interception to secure the 24-13 victory in front of 74,470 fans.

Cardinals quarterback Brian Brohm didn't have a hand in a single one of Louisville's scores, but he led his team, steadily and spectacularly, to at first overcome and then overshadow a startlingly solid performance from his young counterpart, Wake Forest redshirt freshman Riley Skinner.

Both teams entered the game trying to prove they belonged on this stage. Louisville, which lost just once this season in a thriller against Rutgers, has appeared in nine straight bowl games, but this was the first BCS bowl. Wake Forest, meantime, hadn't played in January -- at least in football -- since the 1949 Dixie Bowl. The Demon Deacons have appeared in just seven bowl games in their history.

And both entered the game with quarterbacks who could not have been sure they would make it this far.

Brohm, a junior who declined to say whether he would return for his senior season, overcame knee surgery that ended his sophomore season early and a thumb injury that kept him out of two games early this season. Skinner began the season as Wake Forest's No. 3 quarterback. When Wake's backup went down with a shoulder injury in the preseason, and starter Ben Mauk left the first game with an arm injury, the starting job was suddenly his.

Brohm claimed most valuable player honors by hitting 24 of 34 passes for 311 yards. Skinner completed 21 of 33 for 271 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

"Our defense just hung in there and gave our offense a chance to go score and win it in the fourth quarter," Louisville Coach Bobby Petrino said.

From the start, Skinner sparkled even while Louisville's speedy defenders made Wake's running backs go backward. Skinner interspersed impressive completions, many on third down, with smart decisions until throwing an interception at Louisville's 10 that all but ended his team's hopes with 2 minutes 53 seconds remaining.

Brohm, meantime, saved his best for last, helping obliterate a slew of stumbles, poor kicks and fumbles (two) from the Cardinals during an eight-minute stretch in the fourth quarter in which he completed 9 of 11 passes for 123 yards. Besides the Bolen touchdown, the Cardinals also scored on a one-yard plunge by Anthony Allen two minutes into the period.

"We definitely give credit to Louisville," Wake Forest free safety Josh Gattis said. "We knew coming into the game that they're an explosive offense and capable of making big plays along the way."

After completing 10 of 13 passes in the first half, Skinner opened the third quarter with a sprinting, off-balance 30-yard touchdown pass to Nate Morton that tied the game at 10 just minutes into the period and set off a seesaw period that featured fumbles by both teams deep in each others' territory and a missed field goal by Louisville.

Wake Forest finally broke the scoring drought when Sam Swank kicked a 36-yard field goal one play into the fourth quarter, giving the Demon Deacons a 13-10 lead.

Inspired rather than demoralized by the score, Louisville's offensive players huddled together on the sideline.

"We just got into each others' faces and said, 'Let's go win this game,' " Brohm said. " 'Let's go make plays, and let's do it now.' "

And so they did it then. Brohm led his team 81 yards in barely over two minutes, hitting four of five passes for 66 yards. Allen scored from one yard out to regain the lead for the Cardinals, 17-14. Bolen's rush capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive.

In the first half, mistakes and near-misses slowed Louisville until a 42-yard field goal by Art Carmody tied the score in the second quarter. Just more than two minutes later, Louisville scored again with a piece of trickery that made the red-clad in the crowd erupt. Brohm threw behind the line of scrimmage to split end Patrick Carter, who caught the ball and then promptly lobbed it across the field to Allen, who was wide open.

As Wake Forest's fooled secondary scrambled to recover, Allen gathered the pass and slipped into the end zone.

"We all know how to do it now," Brohm said. "We've been here on the big stage. It's a great experience for everyone."