College Football Rewind: 5 most important games from 2004 season

5. (3) Miami 41, (18) Louisville 38

This is one of those games where I think who lost the game is more important than who won it. Miami was ranked third, but the 2004 Hurricanes were not as deep or talented as the past couple of teams and they were a couple of years from fading into mediocrity.

Louisville was a little bit like the new kid on the block. Head coach Bobby Petrino was a bit of a rising star in college football and was about to go on a good run with the Cardinals before departing for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007.

This was a primetime Thursday night game that the Cardinals would try to use as a springboard to a possible BCS game berth. The problem for Louisville was they decided to kick it to a guy named Devin Hester.

Louisville led 31-14 in the third but the Hurricanes cut it to 31-28. With less than nine minutes to go, the Cardinals punted to the future All-Pro returner and he took it 87 yards for a touchdown.

The Hurricanes would go on to win the game 41-38 and avoid an upset, but this game was important for several reasons. The Cardinals would not lose another game all year and this loss likely prevented them from making it to a BCS bowl game over a team like Utah.

This also showed that Louisville was a program on the rise and this season set the stage for a good run under Petrino, which peaked with an Orange Bowl berth in 2006.