-Cards stay perfect in Homecoming battle
The Bulls came to Louisville with one thing on their minds Saturday. They wanted to start the second half of their season off right and spoil the Cards Homecoming. But Teddy QB and company were determined not to let that happen as they survived a gutsy effort by South Florida winning the Homecoming battle 27-25. With the win our Cards move to 2-0 in the Big East and 7-0 on the season for just the third time in school history. The last time this happened was in 1925 and 2006.
Coach Strong: “You watch today, and it was a good lesson for us. They came in here, South Florida wanting to win this game bad. But we had the answer at the end.”
These two teams met for the 10th time Saturday and South Florida almost pulled off the stunner. USF kept Louisville off the scoreboard in the first quarter. But the Cardinals would open the second quarter on the USF 1 and Senorise Perry just got enough on fourth down to help give Louisville a 7-3 advantage. Then really got rolling when Jeremy Wright ran 11 yards into the end zone with 3:38 to go before the break. The first half was all about Teddy QB as he completed all 11 of his pass attempts for 125 yards and led all rushers with four attempts for 48 yards. Cards led 14-3 at halftime, but B.J. Daniels and company weren’t going to go away quietly as he threw three TD passes in the second half, the last one putting South Florida ahead 25-21 with 3:09 left. This set the stage for a impressive drive by Teddy QB as he would lead the Cards down the field 75 yards. He set up the winning TD pass by scrambling 11 yards, and officials flagged Bulls cornerback Kayvon Webster for a late hit as the QB went out of bounds. A play later, Bridgewater found Rodgers at the back of the end zone. DeDe Lattimore blocked the extra point and Louisville remained on top 27-25. On South Florida’s ensuing possession, Daniels could only advance the ball to the Bulls’ own 47 before his final throw was intercepted by Adrian Bushell. Cards close out the Bulls to even up the 10 game series at 5 each.
USF Coach Skip Holtz: “Seems like we’ve been here before, we had our opportunities today, but one thing I certainly can say is that this team did go out and just compete their tails off.”
Most impressive moment of the game in my opinion was during a goal-line stand in the third quarter when South Florida thought it had scored not once but twice. After Marcus Shaw’s 4-yard run set up 1st-and-goal from the four, the Cardinals denied the Bulls of the end zone on four straight running plays. Daniels was stuffed for no gain on fourth down and South Florida came away with nothing after eating up over five minutes of the game clock. This is the biggest defensive moment of the season for the Cards.
(Video Courtesy of uoflcardgame.com YouTube channel)
Teddy QB was my player of the game completing 21-of-25 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns connecting with nine different receivers in his seventh straight game with at least one touchdown pass. He added 74 yards rushing on 10 carries. Other mentionable Senorise Perry and Jeremy Wright each scored a touchdown. Damian Copeland had 93 yards and one TD.
Cardinal Nation was hoping for a game featuring undefeated teams on Friday Night when old rival Cincy comes to town for the Keg of Nails battle. But they were upended by Toledo on Saturday. Nonetheless we will see a battle of undefeated teams in the Big East. This is also the oldest rival for each. Our Cards will look to make history as they go for an 8-0 record matching the feat of 2006.