After going into the Mid-American Conference as the #3 seed, the Louisville Cardinals defeated seeds #2 and #1 to win the conference playoffs this weekend.
In Saturday's semifinals, WMU ran out to a 30-14 lead with 15 minutes to go. This paralleled what their previous result had been (29-16 WMU) and it seemed clear the Broncos were set for the final.
But in the final 15 minutes Louisville stormed in for three tries, with freshman Jack Eberle going over for the game-winner.
It was a remarkable turnaround, but one that has its genesis in Louisville's earlier loss to WMU.
"After our last loss we sat down and made an inventory of what our strengths and our weaknesses were," said Head Coach Emil Walton. "The losses weren’t indicative to our style of paly. We do perform better in a dry climate, but we also knew we needed to get the ball in our hands. We had some uncomfortable meetings I can tell you that, but there were things we needed to say. We talked about our meetings being bulletproof—you come in and put your [figurative] bulletproof vest on and we're honest about our shortcomings and talk about it, but also work to help each other."
The players embraced it, and certainly did in the second half of the semifinal.
Meanwhile, Bowling Green defeated Cincinnati 29-15. Joey Apel was excellent with his goalkicking, converting three tries and adding a penalty. Ben Young, Phil Tracey, and Griffin Black all scored tries. Late in the game with BGSU up by just a try at 22-15, Apel quick-tapped on a penalty and raced 25 meters down the sideline to ice the game.
Western Michigan defeated Cincinnati 58-10 to take 3rd in the MAC.
