Football to Say Farewell To 16 Seniors
November 21, 2003 | Football
Nov. 21, 2003
Louisville, Ky. - The University of Louisville football team closes out its 2003 home schedule when the Cougars of Houston visits Papa John's Cardinal Stadium for a 3:00 p.m. kickoff this Saturday.
It will be the final home game for 16 of the Cardinal seniors. Seniors Rod Day, Ronnie Ghent, Victor Glenn, James Greene, Jason Hilliard, D.J. Kamer, Dan Koons, Scott Lopez, Josh Minkins, Richard Owens, T.J. Patterson, Chad Pinkston, Nate Smith, Jerry Spencer, Wade Tydlacka and Jason Weathers.
aLouisville has dropped its last two games for the first time this season after falling to Memphis, 37-7, last Saturday at PJCS. It was the first home loss for the Cardinals this season and also stopped a string of five straight home victories.
The Cardinals were held to a season-low 216 yards of total offense and just 57 yards on the ground. Entering the contest averaging 212.4 yards on the ground, the Cardinals managed to average just 2.1 yards per carry. Lionel Gates paced the Cardinals with 48 yards on 14 carries and a touchdown.
Louisville and Houston will meet for the 13th time, with the Cougars holding a 7-5 series advantage. The Cougars took a 27-10 victory last season in Houston, but the Cardinals have won three of the last four encounters. The Cardinals are 2-0 against Houston at PJCS and are averaging 36.5 points per game.
LAST MEETING VS. HOUSTON Houston quarterback Nick Eddy threw for 261 yards and three touchdowns, as the Cougars handed the Cardinals a 27-10 defeat at Houston. Eddy tossed a 40-yard scoring strike to Brian Robinson late in the game that sealed the outcome. Louisville trailed only 13-3 and had forced a punt in the third quarter when return man Anthony Floyd fumbled on a fair catch and Houston's Thomas Gafford recovered at the U of L 19. Three plays later, Eddy hit Reynolds for a 25-yard score, and a 20-3 advantage. Ragone came back on the next series and found Antoine Harris on a short out pattern. Harris faked toward the sideline after the reception, then cut back toward the middle of the field for a 57-yard touchdown play, but the Cardinals failed to generate any more points the rest of the way.
THE HEAD COACHES The University of Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino (7-3, .700) has the Cardinals off to a 7-3 start in his first season as head coach of Louisville. Petrino previously served as the offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2002 and worked in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 1999-2001. Petrino returns to the Derby City after serving as the offensive coordinator in 1998, where he guided the Cards to finish first in the nation in total offense and fifth in scoring offense.
Houston's Art Briles (6-4, .600) is in his first season as head coach of the Cougars and just is in his fourth year as a collegiate coach. Briles spent three seasons at Texas Tech as the running backs coach from 2000-2002. Prior to serving with the Red Raiders, Briles was a successful high school head coach at Stephenson High School, where he won four state championships. A former wide receiver with the Cougars in the 1970s, Briles played for Bill Yeoman and was a member of the 1976 Cougar team that captured the Southwest Conference championship.
ABOUT HOUSTON Houston became bowl eligible for the first time since 1999 with an impressive 34-14 win over Army last Saturday. Freshman Kevin Kolb passed for 301 yards and two touchdowns for Houston, who snapped a three-game slide. Brandon Middleton had six catches for 129 yards and two touchdowns, and Anthony Evans added 140 yards and one touchdown for the Cougars. Houston dominated offensively and defensively, amassing 561 yards and holding Army to 208 yards and 10 first downs. The addition of Kolb has been the difference in this Cougar team. Kolb has thrown for 2,379 yards and 19 touchdowns during his rookie season. He has two of the top receivers in the league in Vincent Marshall and Middleton, who have combined to catch 89 passes for 1,550 yards and 16 touchdowns. Evans has been the key on the ground, running for 772 yards and four touchdowns. The young Cougar defense is paced by junior linebacker Lance Everson, who has 96 tackles. Houston is yielding 32.0 ppg, but just 387.6 yards of total offense.
OFFENSE STALLS VERSUS MEMPHIS The least of the problems for the Cardinals this season has been the offense, but that's what stalled last week versus Memphis. Entering the game averaging 6.7 yards per play, Louisville averaged just 3.7 yards, including just 2.7 yards on first down. The Cardinals were limited to seven points, 216 yards of total offense and just 54 yards on the ground - all lows under the guidance of head coach Bobby Petrino.
TWO IN THE SAME YEAR It's only happened five times in school history that a player has caught a touchdown, rushed and thrown for one in the same season. However, its already happened twice this season. Stefan LeFors and Michael Bush have each rushed, threw and caught a touchdown this season, becoming the first tandem to do it in the same season. Bush did it in the same year when he scampered 32 yards for a score in the 34-10 win over Army. Two other players have also accomplished the feat, as Ralph Dawkins did it in consecutive seasons back in 1992 and 1993, and Ernest Givens also did it in 1985.
Oh Brother The 2003 Louisville roster features four sets of brothers in Robert and J.T Haskins, Travis and Bobby Leffew, Eric and Thomas Miller, and Brandon and Antoine Sharp. Robert and J.T. each play on opposite sides of the football, as Robert will see time at wide receiver and J.T. at cornerback. The Leffews hail from Danville, Ky., and are a pair of talented siblings. Bobby is a junior defensive tackle, while Travis is penciled in at offensive tackle. The Millers, a pair of freshmen, who hail from Palm Beach, Calif., are both defensive backs. The Sharps are also a talented pair of brothers. Brandon has seen action in the secondary, while Antoine, who transferred from the University of Florida, will sit out this season. Junior linebacker Robert McCune and junior wide receiver Tiger Jones are cousins.
BOWL ELIGIBLE By securing its sixth win of the season with a 47-28 win over Tulane on October 17, Louisville became bowl eligible for a school-record sixth straight year. The Cardinals appeared in their fifth straight bowl game last season, losing to Marshall in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. Louisville is one of just 18 programs that have gone to bowls in each of the last five years.
PAPA JOHN'S CARDINAL STADIUM One of the best collegiate facilities in the country, Papa John's Cardinal Stadium was built in 1998. The Cards have had outstanding success in their new stadium. Louisville sports a 28-8 mark at PJCS. Louisville has won five of six home games and have won 16 of the last 20 contests at PJCS.
GET OUT IN FRONT Louisville has done a great job of getting out in front early in the game. The Cardinals have scored a touchdown or a field goal on the first or second drive of every game this season. The Cardinals have outscored the opposition, 86-62, in the first quarter and, 82-40, in the second quarter. Opponents have outscored Louisville, 67-50, in the third quarter.
RUSHING RECORDS The Cardinal running game has been nothing short of spectacular this season. With at least two games remaining and the possibility of a bowl game, the Cardinals have rushed for 1,969 yards, which is the most since the 1978 team ran for 2,572 yards during a 7-4 season. The Cardinals rushed for a season-low 57 yards against Memphis, but is averaging 196.9 yards a game - the fifth-highest single-season average in school history. The 1957 team holds the top standard with a 293.7 average. The Cardinals have two players who've rushed for more than 400 yards in a season for the first time since the 2001 campaign. Sophomore Eric Shelton, who is likely done for the rest of the regular season, has run for 756 yards and junior Lionel Gates has tallied 460. Despite rushing for a 2.1 average last Saturday against Memphis, the Cardinals are on pace to become the first team in school history to average 5.0 or more yards per rush. Last season when the Cardinals finished 104th in the country in rushing, Louisville averaged just 3.4 yards a rush.
TOTALLY OFFENSIVE If the Cardinals were to hold a vote today for the Most Valuable Player Award, junior Stefan LeFors would be the easy pick. The 6-0 left-hander moved into eighth-place on the school's single-season list for total offense with 2,630 yards or 263.0 yards per game. LeFors has thrown for a career-high 2,376 yards and rushed for 254. The native of Baton Rouge, La., needs just 106 yards to crack the top 10 on the school's single-season list for passing yards. His 254 yards on the ground this season are the fifth-most for a quarterback in a season. He has rushed for 272 yards in his career, which places sixth in school history.
MORE GROUND SUCCESS Louisville rushed for one touchdowns in the loss to Memphis on November 15. The Cardinals have scored 24 touchdowns on the ground, which is the most since the 1998 team ran for 29 - the second-highest total in school history. The 24 TDs on the ground is the fifth-highest mark in the school annals. In the last six games, the Cards have totaled 16 scores on the ground.
OFFENSIVE OUTPUT Head coach Bobby Petrino has coached 22 games at the University of Louisville, 12 as the offensive coordinator and 10 as head coach. During that span, the Cardinals are averaging 37.4 points per game under his guidance. In 1998, the Cardinals averaged 37.0 per game and finished fifth in the country in scoring and first in total offense. This season is no different, as the Cardinals are averaging 34.0 points and 482.4 yards of total offense. The Cardinals have scored 30 or more points 14 times under the direction of Petrino and have scored 20 or more points in nine straight games for the first time since the 1999 season.
LeFORS SETS NEW CAREER-HIGH Junior quarterback Stefan LeFors continues to display record-breaking numbers in his first season as the Cardinals' starter. Against TCU on November 5, Lefors completed a career-high 31-of-46 passes for a career-best 459 yards and a touchdown. The 459 yards passing was the fifth-highest in school history and the fifth-largest in Conference USA history. LeFors now has two 400-yard passing games in his career, which is second to Chris Redman's eight. Lefors has thrown for 2,376 yards, which is 105 yards from surpassing Jay Gruden for tenth on the school's single-season list.
HAMMER TIME One player that's quietly had an outstanding season is linebacker Robert "Hammer" McCune. The junior captain notched his career-high in tackles with 19 in the loss to USF in Tampa on October 4. He had 10 tackles in the loss to Memphis - his eighth double-digit tackle game this season. Entering the 2003 season with 62 career tackles, McCune is leading the team and ranks second in Conference USA with 121 total tackles and is on pace to record more than 150 for the season.
GHENT GOING FOR FOURTH IN A ROW Senior tight end Ronnie Ghent has enjoyed an outstanding career with the Cardinals. The 6-3, 255-pounder is trying to become the first player in league history to be named first team All-C-USA four times. Ghent became the 11th Cardinal to record 100 catches in a career, and is already over the 1,000-yard mark for his career. Ghent has caught 108 passes for 1,174 yards. Ghent also has 14 career touchdown receptions, which places him fifth in school history. His 108 receptions are 10th in school history. In six conference games this season, Ghent is making a late run for league honors with 16 catches for 190 yards and a touchdown.
