LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Louisville wide receiver Josh Chichester waited for the pass from Adam Froman, leaped into the air and stretched every last inch of his 6-foot-9 frame.
For a second, it was just like old times for the converted basketball player, who ended a year of misery for the Cardinals with the biggest catch of his football career.
Chichester's 15-yard touchdown reception with 1:24 to go atoned for an earlier miscue and carried the Cardinals to a 10-9 win over Syracuse on Saturday, a win that ended a nine-game Big East losing streak and gave beleaguered coach Steve Kragthorpe a much-needed boost.
"I went out, went up and tried to box the guy out and try to take it off the glass," Chichester said.
It was sweet redemption for Chichester, who had an apparent touchdown in the third quarter on a similar play called back due to offensive pass interference.
There was another flag on his game-winning grab. And for a second, Chichester wondered if it was just another cruel twist in Louisville's disappointing season.
"I saw the flag and I thought 'Oh no, not again, they're not going to take another one away from me,"' Chichester said.
The flag turned out to be against the Orange, and when Andrew Robinson -- who switched from wide receiver to cornerback early in the season because of depth issues -- picked off Syracuse's Greg Paulus with a minute to go, the Cardinals (4-6, 1-4 Big East) could finally exhale.
"I don't care if we were playing Mercy, we just needed a win," Kragthorpe said. "We fought. We scrapped and found a way to win the game."
And the Orange (3-7, 0-5) found a way to lose another close one. Syracuse appeared to be in control after Delone Carter's 3-yard touchdown run put the Orange up 9-3 with 12:58 remaining.
Holder/punter Rob Long, however, couldn't handle the snap on the extra point, a mistake that ended up costing the Orange dearly.
"I think it's one of those things you never take for granted," said Syracuse coach Doug Marrone.
Carter ran for 129 yards for the Orange, who dominated Louisville for the first 57 minutes. Syracuse outgained Louisville 266-151, held the ball for nearly 10 minutes longer and dominated Louisville's offensive line all day, but the Orange had no answer for Louisville punt returner/wide receiver Trent Guy.
Guy appeared to give the Cardinals a 10-9 lead early in the fourth quarter on an electrifying 95-yard punt return. The play was overturned by replay officials who ruled that Guy's right knee scraped the turf as he tried to reverse his position.
"I was praying they weren't going to take it away, but I knew I was down but I thought I just lost my balance and I wasn't all the way down," Guy said.
He got another chance minutes later. This time the senior kept his feet when he collected Long's punt at the Louisville 11. He swung wide to avoid a couple tackles then cut up the field before being tripped up at the Syracuse 45 with 3:14 to go.
Marrone said he wasn't going to second-guess himself for kicking to Guy again despite Guy's earlier theatrics.
"We were trying to go field position and get it back there," Marrone said. "We felt good to be able to get the ball back, get the yardage make them go the distance."
A couple of runs and a Syracuse penalty moved the ball to the Syracuse 28 before Froman -- who missed the last two games with an elbow injury -- avoided the Syracuse rush and scampered for 13 yards.
Froman stepped back and lobbed the ball in the direction of Chichester.
"I'll throw it to him every time down there because he's 8-feet tall," said Froman, who completed 9 of 18 passes for 117 yards.
Robinson made his acrobatic interception moments later when the ball skipped off Syracuse's Marcus Sales and into Robinson's waiting hands, though the play was initially ruled incomplete. Kragthorpe stood on the field in front of officials for several moments hoping to buy time to have the play reviewed.
"I didn't care if they threw the flag on me, I was going to somehow stop play," Kragthorpe said. "They would have had to drag me off the field."
The play was overturned and three snaps put an end to more than a year of frustration for the Cardinals, who hadn't won a Big East game since knocking off South Florida last October.
The streak included a loss to the Orange, who have been a painful thorn in Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe's side the last two seasons.
A stunning 38-35 by the Orange here two years ago signaled the first real cracks in Louisville's foundation after Kragthorpe took over for Bobby Petrino following an Orange Bowl season in 2006.
Louisville's shaky performance on Saturday did little to suggest the Cardinals are improving, but after 13 months of finding ways to lose conference games, Kragthorpe was hardly worried about style points.
"It wasn't pretty, but we found a way," he said.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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