Louisville-Rutgers Postgame Notes
October 11, 2013 | Football
Oct. 11, 2013
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Louisville Postgame Notes
No. 8 Louisville 24, Rutgers 10
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013
Louisville game captains were Preston Brown and Marcus Smith.
Thursday's attendance was 55,168, the fourth-largest crowd in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium history.
UofL won the toss and deferred to the second half. Rutgers received the ball to start the game.
The Cardinals and Scarlet Knights met for the 14th time in series history, with Rutgers now holding a 7-6 advantage. Louisville has won the last four meetings. When playing in Louisville, the Cardinals are 4-3 versus the Scarlet Knights.
Louisville is 31-14 in four seasons under head coach Charlie Strong and became bowl eligible for the fourth-consecutive season under Strong.
With the decision, Louisville moved to 74-25 when playing in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
When scoring 20 points or more in a game under the direction of Charlie Strong, the Cardinals' record is 29-6. When holding opponents to 20 or fewer points, Louisville boasts a 19-3 mark under Strong.
Against Rutgers, under head coach Charlie Strong, Louisville is 13-for-16 in the red zone scoring chances over the last four years.
- 2013 - 3-for-5
- 2012 - 4-for-4
- 2011 - 2-for-3
- 2010 - 4-for-4
Louisville continued its success in the red zone, going a perfect 3-for-5 in scoring territory. The Cardinals are now 28-for-31 in red zone scores.
Of Louisville's 40 scoring drives this year, Louisville has scored on less than 10 plays on 33 occasions. Only six of those 33 plays have resulted in field goals.
The Cardinals' defense has limited opponents on the ground, holding them to 63 yards through the last three games. Rutgers was held to 12 yards, Temple accumulated 51 yards, and FIU was held to zero yards rushing.
Rutgers is the second opponent Louisville has held to less than 15 rushing yards this season.
Louisville finished the game with more than 400 yards of total offense, a feat the Cardinals' offense has accomplished each game this season.
Lorenzo Mauldin notched his team-leading seventh sack on that play to force a Rutgers punt. He finished the game with three tackles.
Marcus Smith recorded his third sack of the game, his sixth of the year. He was the last player to register three sacks in a game, accomplishing the feat on Oct. 8, 2011, against North Carolina.
Roy Philon sacked Gary Nova for Philon's second sack of the year. He finished the game with four tackles.
Louisville secured a season-high eight sacks, the most since the Cardinals recorded nine at Rutgers on Nov. 26, 2010.
James Burgess recorded his first interception of the season, third of his career, returned the pick 39 yards in the second quarter. He finished with seven stops.
Hakeem Smith registered his second interception of the year with 11 seconds remaining in the first half. Smith recorded his first sack of the year in the third quarter, a seven yard loss. It was his first sack since 2010, when he recorded a sack against Rutgers on Nov. 26 in Piscataway.
Calvin Pryor recorded a career-high 14 tackles, 11 of which were solo stops. He also recorded his sixth career interception during the game.
Terell Floyd, who finished the game with five tackles, recorded the fourth pick of the game. It was his fifth career pick.
Louisville's four interceptions are the most since 2000, when the Cardinals picked off Houston five times on Nov. 18.
Rutgers' touchdown with two minutes remaining in the second quarter marked the first touchdown Louisville's defense allowed in the first half.
Damian Copeland had a career night, recording personal bests in receptions (8) and receiving yards (115).
Louisville's defense held Rutgers to 3-for-13 on third-down conversions, a 23 percent rate. This season, the Cardinals have held opponents 19-for-79 this season, a conversion rate of 24.1 percent.
Senorise Perry scored the Cardinals' first rushing touchdown of the game on a one-yard run. He finished the game with 104 yards on 13 carries, including one touchdown.
- Perry went over the 100-yard rushing mark for the fifth time in his career, second time this season.
- His fumble was the first by a running back this season in 196 attempts and first since Jeremy Wright in the Southern Miss game on Sept. 29, 2012.
- Perry is the first 100-yard rusher against Rutgers this season and the first since Pittsburgh's Ray Graham totaled 113 against the Scarlet Knights on Nov. 24, 2012.
John Wallace connected on a 24-yard field goal to open the game, giving UofL the 3-0 lead. Louisville has scored points on the opening drive in five of its six games (four touchdowns, one field goal).
Kai De La Cruz caught a pass from Teddy Bridgewater from 34-yards out for his third receiving touchdown of the year. He was credited with his first start of the season.
Teddy Bridgewater Notes:
- Bridgewater threw two touchdowns in the victory, giving him 18 for the season. He is one short of tying Brian Brohm's 10th-place single-season total of 19, achieved in 2005.
- He finished with his 10 career 300-yard passing game after tossing for 310 yards in the victory.
- He connected with nine different receivers on the day, four of whom had multiple receptions.
- He has registered at least 100-passing yards in his last 13-consecutive games, and 29 of his last 30 contests.
- Bridgewater went 143 passes without a pick before he threw an interception in the second quarter.
- He has thrown touchdown passes in 18-consecutive games, the longest streak in school history. Dave Ragone held the previous record at 17-consecutive games from the end of 2001 (last nine games) to the start of 2002 (first eight).
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- Recent streaks: Chris Redman registered 14-straight games with touchdown passes. Brian Brohm threw a touchdown pass in every game in 2007 for a 12-game streak.
Teddy Bridgewater has been instrumental in getting all of his receivers involved throughout his career. He has connected with at least seven receivers on 27 occasions. He connected with a career-best 11 receivers against Syracuse in 2012. Below is the breakdown of the number of receivers he has hit:
- 7 Receivers - 5 times
- 8 Receivers - 4 times
- 9 Receivers - 13 times
- 10 receivers - 4 times
- 11 receivers - 1 time
James Quick registered his first collegiate reception with less than 12 minutes remaining in the third quarter. The six-yard reception was his only catch of the year.
Hakeem Smith earned his 44th-straight start. Others with consecutive starts: Calvin Pryor with his 26th, Preston Brown with his 24th, Marcus Smith with his 20th, and Damian Copeland with his 19th.
DeVante Parker, who had six-consecutive starts, had his streak snapped after sitting out the game with a shoulder injury.
Lamar Atkins, who has played linebacker, made first appearance at fullback.
The first field goal of the game marked the 200th score under head coach Charlie Strong (146 TDs, 54 FGs).
