Four hours of football, two teams missing key players, one player ejected after the first play, 453 total yards from one player, and eventually one winner. This year’s Music City Bowl was one to remember as the Louisville Cardinals and Texas A&M Aggies faced off. This was an extremely long game thanks to some questionable officiating from Big 12 officials. Louisville freshman QB Lamar Jackson had himself a field day as the Cardinals are officially your 2015 Music City Bowl champions, and here’s how they got to that point.
Lamar Jackson is just “okay”
The college football world was put on notice tonight as one of the best freshman players in the country came to play. Freshman QB Jackson was named the starter for Louisville and excelled in his starting role. In just the first quarter alone, he had 126 yards rushing. He played like Vince Young in the Rose Bowl (the commentators said it, not this writer). There was nothing that the Aggies could really do to stop him; every time they thought that he was stopped on a run, he ended up making them pay with a great pass. At the end of the game Jackson totaled 226 yards rushing with two touchdowns and 227 yards passing with two further touchdowns. The ACC needs to be on the lookout because they have two more years of Lamar Jackson coming. He now holds the all-time record for most rushing yards by a QB in a single season for Louisville after only starting SEVEN games as a freshman as well.
Poor officiating
This was a major point in the entire game which lead to it becoming a four-hour football slugfest, and it all started with the first play of the game. Senior UofL linebacker James Burgess was ejected for targeting despite the Texas A&M’s players head only going back from brute force to his chest. Then, James Quick dove for a first down and the play was reviewed before the officials eventually said he didn’t make any forward progress. Then, the Aggies weren’t called on pass interference for grabbing a player’s side when he was making a dive for the ball that was thrown to him. If Louisville lost this game, it would’ve arguably been because of the awful officiating.
DeVante Fields is a man among boys
The former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year was a huge reason why the Cardinals won this game. He had eight tackles, three sacks, and two pass breakups (one was on 3rd down on the final drive). He made the Aggies uncomfortable all night and was a big reason why Texas A&M 3rd string QB Jake Hubenak had grass stains all down the back of his white jersey. This could’ve been his last game as a Louisville Cardinal and he left it all on the field. If it wasn’t for Fields' heroics, then the headline of this article could easily be about Louisville losing grip of the game that was in their hands. Fields was the best guy on the field tonight not named Lamar Jackson and it was clear throughout.
Final: Louisville 27 Texas A&M 21
This was a fantastic win for the Cardinals who were a very young team this year. Bobby Petrino gets another bowl victory for his Louisville Cardinals and this one seems a little bit more sweet. Louisville could’ve easily allowed the Aggies to complete the comeback, but they never gave up. They won this game for James Burgess. Now, Lamar Jackson has been introduced to the CFB world, and he won’t be slowing down next year. He is the star player this young UofL team will lean on while celebrating their bowl victory and look for him to guide them to another one next season.