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Aaron Brown: Orange Bowl

AARON BROWN
4-Get about it, Louisville wins FedEx Orange Bowl by pulling away in the 4th quarter


“This is huge.  It's just another step in the direction of ultimately reaching the goal of a national title.  We not only got to a BCS Bowl game, but I think it's huge that we came in here and we won it.”

Brian Brohm

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By Aaron Brown. Photos by Aaron Brown
The emotion was almost uncontrollable. Heading into the 4th quarter, both teams (both Orange Bowl virgins) were held to only 10 points. Both teams were engaged in a hard fought “David vs. Goliath” battle. Nobody gave Wake Forest a chance. Supposedly Louisville was going to crush Wake Forest. However, as the Wake Forest fans each held up five fingers (not only signaling the 4th quarter, but a dedication to Jon Abbate’s brother, Luke, who unfortunately passed away in a car accident), the doubters opened their eyes.

Wake Forest did their part. They proved to everyone that a team, that nobody gave a chance this year, could compete against the top-tier schools in the nation (they became the first team to shut out FSU at Doak Campbell Stadium during Bobby Bowden’s tenure, as well as becoming the ACC champions). Now, would the #6 Louisville Cardinals stand up to the Cinderella story and prohibit Coach Jim Grobe from gaining Cinderella’s slipper (the FedEx Orange Bowl trophy)?

The Fairy Godmother must have hit the snooze button, because the Louisville Cardinals were not going to let their Orange Bowl title hopes slip away. When the game clock struck 12:31 (close enough to midnight, sorry Cinderella), and Louisville took a 17-13 lead, they never looked back. The final score was 24-13 Louisville.

Brian Brohm (the game’s MVP) stayed focused, didn’t turn the ball over, and finished the game 24-34 for 311 yards. The 311 passing yards is the third highest single passing yards statistic in the history of the FedEx Orange Bowl. “This is huge.  It's just another step in the direction of ultimately reaching the goal of a national title.  We not only got to a BCS Bowl game, but I think it's huge that we came in here and we won it.” said Brohm. Harry Douglas pulled in 10 catches for 165 yards for the Cardinals. Douglas’ 10 receptions ties Florida’s Travis Taylor and Michigan’s David Terrell for most receptions ever in the Fed Ex Orange Bowl.  “I can't tell you how proud I am of our football team.  It was a hard fought game.  We've been talking for a long time about finishing, and we're certainly real proud of the fact that we won the game in the fourth quarter.  I don't think you can say enough about Wake Forest. 

They have a great ball club.  They're very well coached.  They play football the way it's supposed to be played, with a lot of class, and it was really a privilege to be able to play them in a big game like this.  I just really liked the way our team fought and the way we played together as an entire team.” said Coach Petrino. One of the most prolific offensive coaching guru’s has proved that he can put points on the board, even against a top notch defense.

Riley Skinner did not have a bad game at all for the Deacons. He finished 21-33 with 1 td and 1 int. Not bad for a redshirt freshman who was not even supposed to be the Deacon’s starting quarterback coming into the season. “ I thought we had a great opportunity to win, but just didn't make the plays tonight that we needed to beat a really good football team.” said Coach Grobe.

Coach Grobe should not feel bad. The 2006 ACC Coach of the year, as well as the 2006 Bobby Dodd Coach of the year, has finally put Wake Forest on the charts. Teams will no longer consider playing Wake Forest as a “give me” game. Coach Grobe loves red shirting the majority of his players. He tries to install qualities into his players such as leadership, maturity, charisma, etc. It seems as if Coach Grobe wants his players to become what I personally consider Coach Grobe, a role model.