BOSTON — Jawhar Jordan rushed for 115 yards and cleared for two long touchdowns, and Louisville defeated former rival Cincinnati 24-7 in the twice-delayed first edition of the Fenway Bowl at the chilly home of the Boston Red Sox on Saturday.
With a grid over the diamond and “Fenway Park” in the end zones in the baseball team’s traditional typeface, Jordan hit from 49 yards at the end of the first quarter and from 40 yards at the end of the second to win the keg of the Nails for Louisville (Aug -5).
Brock Domann met Marshon Ford on a 40-degree day when both teams struggled to pass — or even hold the ball, with the Bearcats (9-4) fumbling three times (recovering one).
But Jordan and Maurice Turner, who rushed 31 times for 160 yards, gave Scott Satterfield’s former team a 287-55 advantage in rushing yards over his new team.
Evan Prater connected with Wyatt Fischer for the Bearcats’ lone result, barely coming off the pass before being brought down. Ford sliced back the field from the 20 and passed his defender to the end zone to make it 7-7 early in the second quarter.
But the Cardinals shut them out from there, earning bragging rights in the Ohio River rivalry that dates back to 1929 but has been dormant since Louisville joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014. The Louisville players then did flips on the field and awarded around the Keg of Nails to the winner of the rivalry game.
FLEXIBLE FENWAY
Football has been played at Fenway Park since the 1960s when it was home to the American Football League’s Boston Patriots and as recently as 2018 when it hosted The Game between Harvard and Yale. It’s seen everything from Irish hurling and big air skiing to NHL games – a second NHL Winter Classic is slated for next month – not to mention concerts and movie nights and Shakespeare in the Park.
But the century-old ballpark finally hosted its first bowl game after the pandemic wiped out the first attempt in 2020 and again last year when the SMU-Virginia matchup was disrupted by a COVID-19 outbreak three days before kickoff Participation of the Cavaliers was sunk.
INTERMEDIATE
The coaches for the game were both temps because Satterfield decided this month to switch sides and leave Louisville for Cincinnati. He said he stays away from the game and spends his time recruiting.
“It’s certainly an unusual situation we’re in right now,” he said on the show.
Former Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch, who won a Super Bowl MVP with New England, led the Cardinals in place of Purdue native Jeff Brohm; Kerry Coombs tended the Bearcats touchline while they waited for Satterfield to settle down.
“This is really my first look at Cincinnati,” Satterfield said. “So it’s interesting for me to watch these guys. … But yeah, that’s obviously a very unusual situation.”
CONVERTED BALLHOF
Sod was deployed over the dirt basepaths and warning trail behind the East End Zone in front of the baseball bullpens. Due to the lack of space on the quirky and winding field, both teams shared the same sideline.
The manual scoreboard on Green Monster was repainted to record quarters instead of innings, with “CINCY” and “L’VILLE” in the spots normally reserved for baseball teams. The balls and shots have been converted to down and distance.
A goal post was mounted near the third base Fungo circle. The other was in right field, right where David Ortiz’s game-winning grand slam in the 2013 AL Championship Series sent Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter over the bullpen wall and propelled the Red Sox to the World Series.
The Cincinnati Bearcat mascot and Louie the Cardinal of Louisville hung out with Wally and Tessie, the Red Sox Green Monsters. Between the third and fourth quarters, fans chanted “Sweet Caroline.”
The school bands tried to make up for the sparse crowd — more like Red Sox royals in July than a Yankees game amidst a pennant race. The midfield and left field stands were completely empty, and the fans mostly stood behind the dugouts and low in the right field stands. The red square, marking Ted Williams’ longest home run, stood out among the empty rows of green.
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