2022 Fenway Bowl

2022 Wasabi Fenway Bowl
1st Fenway Bowl
Cincinnati Bearcats Louisville Cardinals
(9–3) (7–5)
The American ACC
7 24
Head coach: 
Kerry Coombs
(interim)		 Head coach: 
Deion Branch
(interim)
1234 Total
Cincinnati 0700 7
Louisville 71430 24
DateDecember 17, 2022
Season2022
StadiumFenway Park
LocationBoston, Massachusetts
MVPJawhar Jordan (RB, Louisville) & Monty Montgomery (LB, Louisville)[1]
FavoriteLouisville by 2[2]
RefereeJeff Servinski (Big Ten)[3]
Attendance15,000[4]
United States TV coverage
NetworkESPN
AnnouncersChris Cotter (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst), and Kelsey Riggs (sideline)
Fenway Bowl
  2023 > 

The 2022 Fenway Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 17, 2022, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. The game was the inaugural edition of the Fenway Bowl and it featured Cincinnati from the American Athletic Conference and Louisville from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The game began at 11:03 a.m. EST[5] and aired on ESPN.[6] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by cloud storage company Wasabi Technologies, it was officially known as the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.

The lead-up to the game was unique in that both schools made coaching changes shortly before, and shortly after, bowl matchups were being determined that involved each other. Immediately following the conclusion of their regular season, Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell was hired by Wisconsin, leaving the Cincinnati job vacant. On December 2, the Fenway Bowl matchup was announced, and three days later Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield was hired as Cincinnati's next coach, though he recused himself from involvement in the bowl game on the part of either team. Both teams had interim head coaches for the game: cornerbacks coach and special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs for Cincinnati and director of player development Deion Branch for Louisville.

The game started defensively; the first six drives resulted in three punts, two fumbles, and a turnover on downs. Louisville scored the game's first points with less than 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter with a one-play touchdown drive on a rush by Jawhar Jordan, and Cincinnati scored for the first time on their next drive with a pass from Evan Prater to Wyatt Fischer. The Cardinals scored the game's third straight touchdown in response, with a pass from Brock Domann to Marshon Ford, and added another on their next drive with under a minute left. After a fumble and two punts to begin the second half, Louisville added to their lead with a 48-yard field goal; Cincinnati punted on each of their final four drives and Louisville committed three turnovers before kneeling to run out the clock on their final drive to win 24–7.

  1. ^ Cubit, Alexis (December 17, 2022). "Louisville dominates Cincinnati in Fenway Bowl to retain Keg of Nails". Louisville Courier Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2022 – via MSN.com.
  2. ^ Taddeo, Frankie (December 8, 2022). "Odds for every college football bowl game in 2022–23". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  3. ^ Austro, Ben (December 4, 2022). "2022–23 bowl officiating assignments". footballzebras.com. Retrieved December 16, 2022.
  4. ^ Golen, Jimmy (December 17, 2022). "Interim coach Deion Branch leads Louisville past Cincinnati at Fenway Bowl". CBS News. AP. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference finalstats was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "2022 College Football Bowl Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved November 1, 2022.