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Louisville Emerges with Win in Highlight-Filled 91st Annual Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl December 31, 2024

EL PASO, Texas – The 91st Annual Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl was one to remember. In its second Sun Bowl appearance in program history, Louisville emerged with a thrilling one-point victory – defeating Washington 35-34 on a sunny afternoon at the Sun Bowl.

Louisville’s winning effort was fueled by a performance from C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player Harrison Bailey who finished the day 16-25 with three touchdown passes. Louisville’s backfield duo of Isaac Brown and Duke Watson combined to rush the ball 28 times for 182 yards.

Washington also received impressive individual performances from quarterback Demond Williams Jr. who ended the day with 26 completions on 32 attempts for 374 passing yards and four passing touchdowns. Williams Jr. also served as the Huskies leading rusher as he ran the ball 20 times for 48 yards and a touchdown. Washington’s Giles Jackson served as the number one receiving target for Williams Jr. as he tallied 11 catches for 161 yards and a bowl-record four receiving touchdowns.

Following a short-lived first offensive possession for Louisville, the Cardinals’ redshirt senior cornerback Tahveon Nicholson came up with the game’s impact play of the game as he intercepted a Demond Williams Jr. pass on 3rd-and-12 and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. The pick-six put Louisville in the driver’s seat and marked the first time since 2001 that the bowl game’s first score was produced from the defensive side of the ball.

Both defenses had their way in the early goings of the contest as Louisville’s first two drives spanned just six plays and amassed 16 yards while Washington’s opening two possessions last six plays and saw the Huskies gain just five yards of offense.

On the heels of the pick-six, Williams Jr. got the Huskies’ offense moving as he found Keleki Latu for a 12-yard gain on the second play of the ensuing drive to mark the game’s first first down over six minutes into the tilt. Following the connection with Latu, Williams Jr. found senior wide receiver Giles Jackson over the top of the defense who jumped over a Louisville defender for a 40-yard touchdown pass. This would even the score at seven points apiece with 8:09 remaining in the first period of the game.

Following consecutive empty possessions for both sides, Louisville received a burst of energy from return man Caullin Lacy who took the Washington punt back to the Husky 32-yard line – giving Louisville what would be its best starting field position of the game. Lacy would continue to assert himself as he later hauled in a pass from Harrison Bailey before battling through several Husky defenders and into the end zone to cap off a five-play scoring drive for the Cardinals. With the Lacy score, Louisville took hold of a 14-7 lead which it carried into the second quarter.

The Louisville defense would then force Washington to punt the ball for the third time of the game and provide the Cardinals with a chance to extend its lead. Following a promising start to the drive, Washington’s defense came up with a stop to force a decision on 4th-and-1 at midfield. With 8:21 remaining on the clock, Louisville Head Coach Jeff Brohm elected to keep his offense on the field for the short-yardage situation. Trailing by seven, the Washington defense came up with a big stop as Washington’s Carson Bruener stopped Louisville running back Duke Watson short of the line-to-gain to force a turnover on downs.

With new-found momentum, Washington used just one play to find the end zone as Williams Jr. found an uncovered Giles Jackson for his second touchdown of the game. The quick strike left the two sides even on the scoreboard with just over eight minutes to play in the second quarter.

Louisville’s offense sparked a response as Harrison Bailey led the Cardinals’ offense on its longest scoring drive of the game (7 plays, 79 yards). The Cardinals began the drive with its longest rushing play of the first half as Isaac Brown scampered for 26 yards to move the ball into Husky territory. The drive would be fueld by big plays as this would be one of three plays on the drive of longer than 15 yards. Bailey later found Mark Redman for a 17-yard pass before connecting with Antonio Meeks for a 28-yard passing touchdown to give the Cardinals a 21-14 advantage with 4:39 left to play in the period.

The two sides would continue to throw jabs back-and-forth as Washington answered Louisville’s drive with an extended drive of its own. On the ensuing Husky drive, Washington would find itself set up over the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl logo at midfield after just two plays. The Huskies would then face a setback as an offensive pass interference penalty left Washington facing a 1st-and-25 from its own 31-yard line. In need of an explosive play, Demond Williams Jr. used his arm to erase the mishap as he found Decker DeGraaf for a 34-yard gain – setting the Huskies up at the Louisville 35-yard line.

Three plays later, Williams Jr. would use his legs to advance the ball into the red zone as he scrambled 10 yards to the Cardinals’ 16-yard line. The elusive quarterback would later cap off the drive with a seven-yard scramble into the end zone to bring the 10-play, 75-yard drive to an end. This would leave the score at 21-21 with 51 seconds left on the clock. This is where the score would stay as the two teams trotted into the locker rooms at the half.

The 42 combined first-half points between the Huskies and Cardinals would mark the second-highest scoring first half in Sun Bowl history and highest scoring first half since the 2005 game featuring UCLA and Northwestern.

As the score would reflect, the game was fairly even on the stat sheet as Washington outgained Louisville by just 42 yards in total offense (231-189). Most of Washington’s damage was done through the air as they tallied 168 yards of passing offense. Meanwhile, the Cardinals eclipsed 100 yards of rushing offense in the first half as they ran the ball 18 times for 110 yards during the first two quarters of action.

Following an empty Washington possession to start the second half, Louisville came out with a purpose during its first drive as it used its first three plays to move 47 yards and across midfield. Later, Louisville would face 3rd-and-11 when Harrison Bailey found a streaking Nate Kurisky along the seam for a 21-yard passing touchdown. This moved the Cardinals back in front 28-21 with 4:46 left to play.

The Cardinals defense would then force a three-and-out to give its offense the ball once again. On the first play of its second drive of the half, Louisville running back Duke Watson would find a crease and sprint up the sideline for a 54-yard rush to the Washington eight-yard line. On the ensuing play, Harrison Bailey would hand the ball to wide receiver Caullin Lacy who pushed his way into the end zone to give the Cardinals a 35-21 lead. This would also mark the first time of the game that the deficit would extend beyond one score for either side.

Despite a 42-yard pass play on the first play of Washington’s next drive, the Huskies would be unable to generate points as back-to-back sacks from Louisville’s Thor Griffith and Jordan Guerad on the following two plays would bring up 3rd-and-19 for the Husky offense who would eventually punt the ball back to the Cardinals.

Facing a 14-point deficit, Washington’s defense allowed the Cardinals’ offense to move the ball, but ultimately stood tall when it needed to force Louisville to punt the ball back to the Huskies with 9:52 left on the clock.

Following a punt that was downed at their own three-yard line, Washington managed to go on a 13-play, 97-yard drive that spanned six minutes and 10 seconds. This would be capped off by a 31-yard passing touchdown to Giles Jackson to mark the third time that Jackson and Williams Jr. connected for a touchdown in the game.

The Huskies quickly had the ball once again as Louisville punted the ball back to Washington following a three-and-out. With the game on the line, Washington generated its third drive of 10 plays or more as it used 11 plays to move the ball 62 yards in just two minutes and 29 seconds. On the drive, Washington advanced the ball to the Cardinals’ eight-yard line where it stood with one minute and 10 seconds left on the clock.

Two plays after moving the ball inside the 10-yard line, Louisville defender Rene Konga sacked Washington’s Demond Williams Jr. in the backfield to bring up a 4th-and-goal from the 10-yard line. On the fourth-down try, Washington would draw a defensive pass interference in the end zone to set Louisville up with a first down at the two-yard line with 47 seconds remaining in the game.

Following a sack. a play in which Williams Jr. appeared to come within inches of stretching the ball across the goal line and an incompletion, Williams Jr. would find Giles Jackson yet again for a touchdown on fourth down – bringing the Huskies within one point of the Cardinals with nine seconds left on the clock.

Washington Head Coach Jedd Fisch then made the decision to forgo the extra point and elected to go for two to attempt to win the game in regulation. On the two-point try, Williams looked to Jackson again, however, the pass would fall incomplete and allow Louisville to maintain its one-point lead.

The Huskies would then attempt an onside kick on the following kickoff, but to no avail as the kick trickled out of bounds to give Louisville its second Sun Bowl victory in program history.

Louisville Cardinals celebrate after defeating the Washington Huskies in the 91st Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl game.