Big Win for Louisville as Cardinals, BG, and WMU Lead MAC
Big Win for Louisville as Cardinals, BG, and WMU Lead MAC
Louisville, Bowling Green, and Western Michigan are all at 2-0 now in the DIAA MAC Conference after all won over the weekend.
WMU won comfortably over Ohio 56-7 to move to 2-0, while Bowling Green got by Dayton 64-8. This sets up a clash between these two longtime rivals on Saturday.
Louisville, meanwhile, faced an improving Cincinnati and came away with a dominant 77-3 win.
"Cincinnati is definitely getting back their confidence of old and we love to see them showing signs of growth to get back to competing in the MAC," said Louisville Coach Kyle Freeman. "For us we were able to keep the lead in the first half with positive tackles and getting key turnovers through the forwards when Cincinnatti made it down into our end."
Then, with the bench being cleared at 55 minutes the Cardinals ramped up the intensity.
"Each bench player added a spark to our attack," said Freeman.
Louisville scored seven tries in the second half thanks in large part to the reserves raising the level.
Sophomore scrumhalf Ryan Cammarata has shown improved leadership this year, benefiting from his experience playing with NAV 7s during the summer. So far this season freshman fullback Jack Eberle has been very effective on attack, countering nicely, kicking to space, and making one-on-one tackles. The forwards have been led through a veteran group amd Dylan Bylone has come back from a frustrating series of injuries to put in some huge performances.
"His tenacity to get better every year is showing now," said Freeman. "He has nothing but dominant carries, passing skills to put backs away for tries, and a nickname that has no equal."
The nickname? Lazer Snaker. Yeah, that's pretty good.
This coming weekend, along with WMU at Bowling Green, Louisville visits Ohio, Dayton hosts Cincinnati, and IUPUI takes on Pitt.
The chase is on for that semifinal space. If the top three hold form, the chase is really for 4th and a rebound for UC, along with the winner of IUPUI vs Pitt, would put those teams on the inside track.
