Offense Hopes to Showcase Talents in Front of Home Crowd
October 16, 2012 | Football
Oct. 16, 2012
Shawn Watson | Teddy Bridgewater
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville's offense finally got an opportunity to showcase its talents without any interference from inclement weather at Pittsburgh. After playing two-straight games in heavy downpour, the Cardinals received a much-deserved gift - a sunny and warm day in the Steel City - and the Cardinals took full advantage with one of their best offensive performances of the season.
"We were excited to play in good conditions without some kind of strange adversity," said offensive coordinator Shawn Watson. "The guys did a great job. We had two weeks to get ready and they played really well during the whole ball game."
Louisville scored a season-high 45 points and racked up 460 yards of total offense in a 45-35 win. However, Louisville trailed 21-14 late in the second quarter before sophomore quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and classmate wide receiver DeVante Parker decided to take over the game.
After getting the ball on its own 43-yard line with 51 seconds remaining in the half, the Cardinals only gained two yards on the first three plays, before Bridgewater and Parker teamed up for 27 yards on fourth-and-8 to set up a career-tying 45-yard field goal by John Wallace to get the ball rolling.
Bridgewater and Parker hooked up on the first play of the third quarter to start a string of 21-straight points, leading to a 38-21 lead in the third quarter. However, it was the play of the young quarterback that really got the Cardinals' offense going.
Bridgewater was 17-of-26 for 304 yards, his second 300-yard game of this season and his career, and the Miami, Fla., native is starting to become one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, according to his coach.
"That was probably his best game," said Watson. "He is doing a lot of things that, to the naked eye, you don't see. He is running so many cadence tempos at the line of scrimmage. He is doing a lot of things in the signal game, with our kill game and our check game. He is running like a pro right now. He is playing the best football I ever had a quarterback play. I've never had one play like this. He is playing great ball."
Senorise Perry and Jeremy Wright led the Cardinals on the ground with a combined 162 yards and five touchdowns. But it was Perry who stole the show. The product of Summerville, Ga., scored a career-high four rushing touchdowns and notched his second-straight 100-yard game to pace the offense to their highest-output of the year.
"Perry and Wright did a great job of running behind their pads," said Bridgewater. "The offensive line did a great job of opening holes for them and we relied on them to milk the clock toward the end of the game until Senorise hit a big run."
Louisville is able to return home for the first time in over a month, where it won three-straight games to open the season. And, after over 35 days on the road, the Cardinals are excited to play in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium for the first time since Sept. 15.
"It's a great feeling to be home and that we don't have to get on a plane and fly an hour-and-a-half or two hours," said Bridgewater. "And just knowing we will be back in front of our home crowd and our fans, and being able to give them something worth watching. I think there is going to be a lot of excitement with the fans. We have been gone for a month and our fans can't wait to see us play."
And provided the weather cooperates for the second-straight week, the Cardinals have shown what they can do and, more importantly, finally will be able to showcase the fireworks in front of their home crowd.
