Kragthorpe Previews Saturday's Home Game Against Syracuse
November 09, 2009 | Football
Nov. 9, 2009
- Gameday Central
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville football head coach Steve Kragthorpe, redshirt freshman running back Darius Ashley and sophomore defensive end Greg Scruggs met with reporters on Monday to preview Saturday's BIG EAST Conference home game against Syracuse. The Cardinals and Orange are scheduled to kick off at noon ET at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and the game will be televised by the BIG EAST Network on WHAS-TV.
The Cardinals and Orange are both coming off BIG EAST road losses. Louisville fell to 0-5 on the road this season with a tough loss at West Virginia, while the Orange fell to Pittsburgh 37-10 at Heinz Field. The Cardinals are trying to snap a nine-game BIG EAST losing streak. Louisville's last league win was a 24-20 win over 14th-ranked South Florida on Oct. 25, 2008.
Louisville's defense was the story last Saturday afternoon, limiting the high-powered Mountaineer attack to just 273 yards of total offense and held Noel Devine, the BIG EAST's second-leading rusher to just 56 yards on 13 carries. West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Brown was held to just 9-of-17 passing for 94 yards and a touchdown.
Playing with one healthy running back, Louisville rushed for 201 yards on 43 carries, but was held out of the end zone for the first time this season. With sophomore Victor Anderson out and junior Bilal Powell hobbled with turf toe, red-shirt freshman Darius Ashley stepped in and rushed for a career-high 164 yards on 33 carries.
Making his second career start at quarterback, red-shirt freshman Will Stein was limited to just 100 yards through the air on 14-of-26 passing. The Mountaineer defense pressured Stein into five sacks.
The Cardinals lone offensive production came off the right foot of sophomore kicker Chris Philpott, who booted field goals of 37, 44 and 29 yards in loss. His 44-yarder in the second quarter was a career-best. He came into the game just 1-for-3 on field goal attempts in his career, but stepped in and banged three straight through the pipes on Saturday afternoon.
The Series - U of L and Syracuse
This will be the ninth meeting between the two schools and the fifth as members of the BIG EAST Conference. Syracuse owns a 5-3 series advantage and have won the last two meetings, 28-21 at Syracuse last season and 38-35 in 2007 (snapped Louisville's 20-game home winning streak). Syracuse is 1-1 all-time at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Syracuse and Louisville met in Tokyo in 1989 with the Orange winning 24-13.
GAME FACTS - Louisville (3-6, 0-4) vs. Syracuse (3-6, 0-4)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 14
Time: Noon ET
Site: Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (40,000), Louisville, Ky.
TV: BIG EAST Network (WHAS-TV) will televise the game with Mike Gleason (play-by-play) and John Congemi (analyst)
Radio: Paul Rogers (play-by-play) and Craig Swabek (analyst) will call all the action and Doug Ormay will report from the sidelines on WKRD 790 AM
Also: SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Ch. 158; XM Satellite Radio, Ch. 203
Rankings: Both Louisville and Syracuse are unranked in this week's AP Poll and USA Today Coaches Poll.
Coaches: Louisville's Steve Kragthorpe is 14-19 in his third season as the Cardinals' head coach. He went 6-6 in 2007 and 5-7 in 2008. He is 43-41 all-time in his eighth season overall. Syracuse's Doug Marrone is 3-6 in his first season as the head coach at Syracuse after spending three seasons as the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints.
