U of L embraces underdog role in Belk Bowl

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The reaction of the University of Louisville football players earlier this month said everything to coach Bobby Petrino.

When the 20th-ranked Cardinals (9-3) found out that they'd play 13th-ranked Georgia in Tuesday's Belk Bowl, they went absolutely nuts.

"Our guys got extremely excited," Petrino said. "We wanted to play a very good football team" in a bowl game.

For the third consecutive postseason, U of L got its wish. After back-to-back bowl wins the last two years against name-brand programs Florida and Miami, the Cards get a shot at a third marquee bowl win when they kick off at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday against Georgia at Bank of America Stadium here in downtown Charlotte.

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It will be the fifth game this season that Louisville has taken on one of college football's powerhouses, but unlike Clemson, FSU, Miami and Notre Dame, Georgia has a conference affiliation that ups the ante.

Georgia is one of the top programs in the nation's most revered college football league, the Southeastern Conference.

"The name speaks for itself," junior defensive end Sheldon Rankins said of the SEC. "Hearing names like Georgia or Florida pop up on the screen, it gives us chills. No one thought we could compete on that level."

Rankins' answer spoke to a noticeable trend with the Louisville football team – and its fans – in recent years. Few programs in college football seem to get as fired up as U of L for non-championship-deciding bowl games.

Granted, it's impossible to measure a team's motivation or passion before a game. It's a hunch, no more than an observation. But U of L's players on Monday agreed with the premise, and they have their reasons.

"We're trying to put a stamp on the program," senior tackle Jamon Brown said. "We're trying to get the program in the talk with those elite programs out there. Any opportunity we have to play one of those elite teams, like Florida, Miami and now Georgia, we try to make sure that we do everything and anything possible to get ready for that game."

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Brown later said "being the underdog isn't so bad," and Rankins and linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin said similar things.

For his part, Rankins explained it in simple terms: When he arrived as a freshman in 2012, Louisville played in the Big East Conference, a league that reshaped last year into a non-football entity.

Last season, U of L competed in the American Athletic Conference, a new spinoff league that consisted of many of the former Big East members with football programs.

In both situations, Rankins felt that Louisville's records – 10-2 in the Big East regular season and 11-1 in the AAC – were dismissed because of the perceived weakness of the Cardinals' schedules.

"Everyone always threw that on us, that we don't play anyone," Rankins said. "We always carry that chip on our shoulder. Everyone's looking down on us. You know, 'Louisville hasn't done anything.' That little chip on our shoulders gets us fired up."

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Now Louisville's nearing an important juncture in its evolution as an emerging player on the national college football scene. As the veteran players who endured the weaker conferences move on, and the new players come into an ACC program that's won 32 games in three years, how long will that proverbial chip on the shoulder exist?

Another bowl win against a name-brand opponent on Tuesday, which would give Louisville its third consecutive 10-win season, might make the underdog label harder to sell, especially if Louisville continues to compete with the likes of Clemson and FSU for future ACC titles.

But for now, Rankins says the fire from previous seasons still burns hot for him and his classmates.

"The attitude doesn't change – we're still that team," Rankins insisted. "Maybe the freshmen don't quite understand, but we try to convey that message to them."

There's no question that Louisville's veterans pushed that message for the last three weeks as the Cardinals prepared for Georgia. And why wouldn't they? It's worked the past two years.

"It pushes everybody," Brown said. "Being able to prove people wrong is a great feeling."

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).

BELK BOWL

GEORGIA VS. LOUISVILLE

6:30 p.m. today, Charlotte, N.C.

TV: ESPN Radio: WHBE-680 and WHAS-840