The 2013-14 Cardinal Football season was one of the most anticipated seasons that I have been involved with. A year of transition that brought high hopes of another BCS Title game and one that some thought could land the Cardinals into the National Title game. Although those things didn’t happen Cardinal fans still had much to cheer for and cheer they did. All seven home games this season were sold out. Fans poured into Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium to watch Teddy throw for over 3500 yards and 28 touchdowns in his last season as a Cardinal and got to see a defense that was one of the best in the country. Once again it’s been a great ride since last spring.

-9/1/13 Louisville vs. Ohio
The 9th ranked Louisville Cardinals and their lofty expectations welcomed the Ohio Bobcats to town to kick things off for the 2013 season. Louisville fans were out in full force for what may have been the biggest Card March in school history. The atmosphere that day in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium had the feel of a big time program and the Cardinals would perform as such. On this day Ohio learned that big time football had arrived in Louisville. Right out of that gate Teddy was 9 for 9 on his first two drives for 122 yards, and hooked up with Damian Copeland for two 2 touchdowns. The onslaught would continue as Teddy would throw for four touchdowns in the first half. He would finish with five on the day. The key was his ability to connect on 3rd downs as he was 8 for 8 with 7 first downs and two touchdowns on third down. It was toss and catch all day long with Copeland, Parker, Clark, De La Cruz, and Christian against the Ohio D. Teddy said he felt “like a kid in a candy store” with all the weapons. Cards won 49-7.

-9/7/13 Louisville vs. EKU
The atmosphere in Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium was awesome as just over 53,000 fans showed up for the 12:00pm kickoff. It was the 5th largest crowd ever to watch a game. Pretty impressive numbers considering that it was against a FCS opponent. The now ranked 7th ranked Cardinals made took care of business against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels 44-7. They built a huge 37-0 lead behind the play quarterback Teddy Bridgewater who was 23-32 for 397 yards and 4 TD’s. Bridgewater hooked up with DeVante Parker 5 times for 134 yards and 2 TDs and was led in rushing by Senorise Perry who had an average day with only 36 yards, but blocked well and reached the end zone himself. On Defense, the Cardinals dominated up front from the beginning and would have pitched the shutout if not for letting their reserves get some playing time late in the game. The Cardinals finished with 475 yards of offense to Eastern Kentucky’s 206.

-9/14/13 Louisville vs. Kentucky
Heading into the game against Kentucky Louisville fans had high hopes for how the Cardinals would perform in the Governor’s Cup. And although it was a hard fought victory some came away feeling like this team had some work to do. Louisville entered this contest after moving to 2-0 with a convincing win over in-state EKU. The Cardinals high offense racked up 492 yards and was once again led by the play of quarterback Teddy Bridgewater who threw for 250 yards and a TD. It was his lowest statistical outing of the early season. Senorise Perry added 9 yards a carry on his way to 100 yards and two TD’s and DeVante Parker managed a TD despite a low yardage day. It was the strong play of the Louisville defense that shined brightest on this day holding Kentucky to a season low in points and just 376 yards of total offense. The Louisville defense now ranked 4th in the nation in points allowed at 9.0 per game. The Cards keep the Governor’s Cup for the third consecutive year and this game now moves to Thanksgiving Day weekend.

-9/21/13 Louisville vs. FIU
Fresh off another impressive win, the undefeated, 7th ranked Louisville Cardinals played host to the 0-3 Florida International Panthers. This game had over by halftime written all over it, and it played out like that as the Cards demolished Florida International 72-0. It was so bad that the FIU coaching staff asked for the running clock rule, but did deny it later. Bridgewater led the way throwing for 212 yards and 4 TD’s with no picks. He connected with DeVante Parker twice in the first half as the Cardinals built a 38-0 lead at the break. The Louisville defense was dominant as well, locking down FIU to an eye popping 30 total yards. FIU was pretty much three and out all game long and were only able to muster 3 yards on the ground. The Cardinals defense now ranks 1st in the country at 6.8 points per game for opponents. Bridgewater and the high octane offense ranks 8th with a 48 ppg average.

-10/5/13 Louisville vs. Temple
The 4-0 and 7th ranked Louisville Cardinals headed to Philadelphia for their first AAC match-up and took care of business in easy fashion with a 30-7 win. The Cardinals went to work early as Teddy Bridgewater threw to Gerald Christian for a TD. The Louisville defense took over from there as the unit forced a first half turnover and routinely gave the offense solid field position on their way to a 24-0 lead at the half. The Owls finished with just 255 total yards of offense and most gained during the garbage time when the game was out of reach. Bridgewater continued his strong play with 348 yards and 2 TDs on the day with no picks. With the Owls focusing their attention on DeVante Parker, Eli Rogers led the Cardinals in receiving with 77 yards and a TD on 5 catches. The Cardinals added 177 yards on the ground by committee with Dominique Brown’s 76 yards leading the way. With the win, the Cardinals now boast a nation’s best scoring defense 6.8 ppg and the 12th ranked scoring offense at 44.4 ppg.

-10/10/13 Louisville vs. Rutgers
This series came to an end on this night and the Cards went out on top winning their 4th straight over the Knights 24-10. The Cardinals were a little sluggish initially before Teddy Bridgewater connected with De La Cruz for a 34 yard TD and Senorise Perry punched one in to give Louisville a commanding 17-7 halftime lead. That is the entire cushion the top ranked Louisville scoring defense would need. Routine pressure and strong coverage by the Cardinals DB’s resulted in 4 Gary Nova interceptions and plenty of good field position for Teddy Bridgewater and company. Teddy finished the game with 310 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception and Senorise Perry had a game high 104 yards on the ground with a touchdown as well. The end of this series for the foreseeable future was kind of bittersweet as there were many great moments.

-10/18/13 Louisville vs. UCF
What was supposed to be and had been up until this game a dream season for the Louisville football program became a Knightmare on Floyd Street as the Cardinals would lose to Central Florida 38-35. Louisville was favored in this contest and looked as though they were going to run away with the game as they built a 28-7 lead early before UCF turned on the gas for a late rally. Louisville gave up 21 points in the final 4:50 of the 3rd quarter as the Knights took advantage of turnovers and rode Storm Johnson to tie the score. A Dominique Brown run made it 35-31 Louisville before the knights marched down the field and scored on a 2 yard pass to win it with :23 remaining. Teddy Bridgewater threw for 241 yards and 2 touchdowns with no picks but the Cardinals were undone by two costly fumbles. Eli Rogers led all receivers with 10 catches and 95 yards and a touchdown. With this loss, Louisville remained in the hunt for the conference title but now would be avid fans of UCF’s opponents week in and week out moving forward.

-10/26/13 Louisville vs. USF
The now 6-1 Cardinals still feeling the effects from a disappointing loss looked to rebound as they traveled to South Beach for this one. They would do so in a big way beating the Bulls 34-3. Louisville broke this one open early and never looked back as Teddy Bridgewater connected with Damian Copeland and Gerald Christian before the half on long touchdowns. Bridgewater finished the night with 344 yards, 3 td’s and no picks. Dominique Brown led all rushers with 126 yards on the ground and the Cardinals offense racked up 483 total yards while smothering South Florida to just 133 total yards for the contest. It was during this game that the Louisville offense started to look slightly different than it had in the early part of the season. It would become more of a methodical approach instead of a wide open one.

-11/8/13 Louisville vs. UCONN
The Cardinals now ranked 19th in the country would travel to face a winless Continue reading →