Editor’s note: The piece below is a republication of The Daily Orange’s coverage of SU’s Dec. 4, 1989 24-12 against Louisville in Tokyo, orginally written by Rob Guyette.

Syracuse University redshirt freshman quarterback Wendal Lowrey handed the ball off for the first time in an Orange uniform Sunday.

And after the game, the ball was handed right back to him.

Lowrey was awarded the the game ball after he connected with Rob Carpenter for a pair of long scoring catch-and-runs in the fourth quarter as SU won the 14th annual Coca-Cola Bowl over Louisville 24–13 in Tokyo, Japan.

“The guys gave him the game ball and I think that says it all,” said a jubilant SU coach Dick MacPherson.

Lowrey was called to action in the second quarter when starter Mark McDonald went down with an injury to his right ankle.
That left Lowrey, the third string quarterback, as the leader of the SU offense.

Starter Bill Scharr was unavailable after he sprained his right thumb on Nov. 23 against West Virginia and then reinjured it last Thursday in practice.

Lowrey completed 4-of-5 passes on the day for 168 yards and two touchdowns in directing Syracuse to 17 half points.

“I was just telling myself, ‘You can do it, you can do it,’” Lowrey said. “I finally did it. It’s just a great feeling.”

“All he was waiting for was a chance,” Carpenter said. “When he finally got it, he came in and got the job done and got me the ball and I did the rest.”

The Orangemen finish the regular season with a 7-4 mark and will face Georgia, 6-5, in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30 in Atlanta, Ga.

The Bulldogs lost their season finale to arch-rival Georgia Tech 33-22 Saturday in Atlanta.

“All I can think of is going into the Peach Bowl at 7-4,” said MacPherson, whose Orangemen secured their third consecutive winning season. “We deserve it and we’re going to Atlanta.”

“Obviously, coach MacPherson and Syracuse played a great game,” Louisville coach Howard Schnellenberger said. “We weren’t a match for them offensively or defensively. We’re very proud for them.

We’re a little disappointed because we didn’t play as well as we could’ve.”

Syracuse took the opening kickoff and marched 74 yards in seven plays to take a 7-0 lead as McDonald hit Rob Moore on a 46-yard scoring pass.
The Cardinals came right back to tie the game on a touchdown run by senior Carwell Gardner.

McDonald went down with an injury to his right ankle in the second quarter and was replaced by Lowrey.

“I think when Mark McDonald went down we lost our poise a little bit,” MacPherson said. “But the big plays helped us tremendously.”

Louisville’s Ron Bell drilled a 31-yard field goal with one second left in the second quarter to give Louisville a 10-7 halftime lead.

Louisville outgained Syracuse 161-114 yards in the first half. Each team had one turnover in the first half, with SU’s coming on a Sean Whiteman interception.

The Orangemen enjoyed excellent field position for the entire second half. SU started its first third quarter drive on its own 48-yard line and drove down to the 14-yard line of Louisville before the drive stalled.

John Biskup tied the game at 10-10 to cap and eight-play, 38-yard drive with 9:46 left in the third quarter. Lowrey’s 19-yard pass to Moore highlighted the drive.

Alban Brown and Terry Wooden both tallied sacks on Louisville’s next possession to set up a Cardinal punt.

Wooden later recorded another sack, bringing his season total to eight, and was named the defensive player of the game.

Cardinal sophomore Klaus Wilmsmeyer’s short kick gave the Orange the ball on the Louisville 47-yard line, but a fumble by Lowrey ended the SU possession.

Louisville then drove down to the Syracuse nine-yard line, setting up Bell’s 26-yard field goal attempt. Bell missed an opportunity to give Louisville the lead when his kick sailed wide right.

The third quarter ended with the score tied 10-10.

Early in the fourth quarter, Lowrey connected with Carpenter for a 64-yard touchdown pass to give SU a 17-10 lead.

The reception was Carpenter’s first catch of the day and fourth touchdown reception of the season.

SU’s Rob Thomson then recovered a David Moyler fumble on the very next play from scrimmage, but SU couldn’t capitalize on the turnover as Biskup was tackled trying to punt out of the field goal formation.

Bell’s 35-yard field goal with about six minutes left in the game capped a nine-play, 47-yard drive and reduced Syracuse’s lead to 17-13.

On SU’s next possession, Lowrey found Carpenter all alone again for a 78-yard touchdown pass to give SU a 24-13 lead.

“We were trying to do an isolation on a linebacker,” Lowrey said. “All I did was run up in the pocket and deliver it. Rob
Gardner’s 65-yard reception brought Louisville within striking distance on the Cardinals next possession, but quarterback Browning Nagle threw a pass right into the arms of SU linebacker Dan Bucey at the Syracuse five-yard line, sealing the Orangemen’s seventh win of the season.

The interception was the first of Bucey’s career.

“It wasn’ that hard,” Bucey said. “He threw it right to me. It was a bad throw on his part and I was in position.”
SU then kept the ball on the ground and ran out the clock by accumulating three first downs.

Syracuse outgained Louisville 353-303 yards while Louisville racked up 17 first downs to SU’s 15.

Moore caught three passes for 72 yards and became the first receiver in Syracuse history to accumulate more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season (1,065). Moore also moved past Scott Schwedes to become the all-time SU receiving yardage leader with 2,123 yards, 12 yards more than Schwedes. Owens rushed 19 times for 70 yards to break the 1,000 yard plateau. For the season Owens finished with 1,014 yards putting him in fifth place on the Syracuse all time season rushing list.

This is only the seventh time an Orange back as rushed for over 1,000 yards. Owens joins the likes of Joe Morris (three times over 1,000 and all-time leading rusher with 1,372), Larry Csonka (twice) and Floyd Little in the SU record books.

Published on October 2, 2014 at 11:24 pm