Strong Previews Saturday's Home Finale Against WVU
November 15, 2010 | Football
Nov. 15, 2010
Charlie Strong Audio | Josh Byrom Audio | Cameron Graham Audio
Charlie Strong on Podcast
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville football head coach Charlie Strong, senior offensive lineman Josh Byrom and senior tight end Cameron Graham met with reporters on Monday to preview Saturday's BIG EAST Conference home game against West Virginia.
The Cardinals and Mountaineers are scheduled to kick off at noon in U of L's final game of the season at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The contest will be televised by the BIG EAST Network and by WHAS-TV locally.
In their last outing, the Cardinals lost a heart-breaker at home last Saturday, falling in overtime to USF, 24-21. It was the first overtime game for Louisville since falling 46-44 to West Virginia in 2005. Senior running back Bilal Powell returned to the lineup after missing one game to record his sixth 100-yard game of the season, running for 140 yards on a career-best 31 carries. He leads the Cardinals with 1,207 yards on the ground this year, which is tied with Lenny Lyles for sixth-place on the school's single-season rushing list.
Making his second-straight start at quarterback, senior Justin Burke was 16-for-30 for 146 yards and a career-high three touchdown passes in the loss. For the fourth-straight week, the Louisville defense limited the opposition to less than 300 yards of total offense. The Cardinals held USF to 259 yards and 87 yards through the air. The Cardinals gave up 115 yards on just two plays. Senior linebacker Brandon Heath led the Cardinals with a career-high 11 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss.
The Series - Louisville and WVU
The Cardinals and Mountaineers will meet for the 12th time in history on Saturday. West Virginia leads the all-time series against Louisville 9-2 and has won the last three meetings in the series, including a 35-21 win in Louisville in 2008. The Cardinals last win in the series was a 44-34 win at home in 2006.
Louisville-Rutgers Game Set for 11 a.m. ET Kickoff on ESPN2
Kickoff for Louisville's Nov. 26 BIG EAST road game at Rutgers is set for 11 a.m. ET at Rutgers Stadium and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.
GAME FACTS - Louisville (5-5, 2-3) vs. West Virginia (6-3, 2-2)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 20
Time: Noon ET
Site: Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (55,000+), Louisville, Ky.
TV: BIG EAST Network will televise the game live with Mike Gleason (play-by-play) and John Congemi (analyst)
Radio: Paul Rogers (play-by-play), Stefan LeFors (analyst) and Doug Ormay (sideline) will call all the action on WHAS 840 AM
Also: SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Ch. 127
Rankings: Both teams are unranked in this week's national polls.
