Louisville-UCF Postgame Notes
October 19, 2013 | Football
Oct. 19, 2013
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Louisville Postgame Notes
No. 8/6 Louisville 35, UCF 38
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Friday, Oct. 18, 2013
Louisville game captains were Kamran Joyer and Deon Rogers.
Friday's attendance was 55,215, the fourth-largest crowd in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium history.
UofL won the toss and deferred to the second half. UCF received the ball to start the game.
The Cardinals and Knights met for the second time in series history, with the series now tied at one apiece. Louisville won the first meeting, a 42-21 decision in 1985.
Louisville, which stands at 6-1 overall, lost its first game since Nov. 24, 2012, when the Cardinals fell in triple overtime to Connecticut 23-20.
Dating back to 1980, this is the first time Louisville has blown a 21-point lead that's resulted in a loss.
- The Cardinals had a 21-point lead against Cincinnati on Nov. 28, 2003, blowing a 28-7 lead. Louisville came back, though, and won 43-40 in regulation.
- On Oct. 14, 2004, Louisville gave up a 20-point lead to Miami (Fla.) and ultimately lost 41-38 on a touchdown by Frank Gore with 49 seconds remaining in the game.
Louisville is 31-15 in four seasons under head coach Charlie Strong.
With the decision, Louisville moved to 74-26 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 29-7.
Louisville continued its success in the red zone, going a 4-for-5 in scoring territory. The Cardinals are now 32-for-36 in red zone scores.
Of Louisville's 44 scoring drives this year, Louisville has scored on less than 10 plays on 35 occasions. Only six of those 35 plays have resulted in field goals.
Louisville's defense held UCF without a point in the first quarter. Louisville has only given up three points all season in the opening quarter.
Louisville finished the game with more than 400 yards of total offense, a feat the Cardinals' offense has accomplished each game this season. The Cardinals totaled 445 yards on 62 plays.
Eli Rogers caught the Cardinals' first touchdown of the game, marking the fourth-straight game with a touchdown catch. He tied his career high with 10 receptions and went for 95 yards and one touchdown.
DeVante Parker caught the Cardinals' second touchdown of the game on a 10-yard pass from Teddy Bridgewater. It was Parker's seventh touchdown of the season, 23rd of his career. He had five catches for 66 yards along with the score.
Dominique Brown recorded his third rushing touchdown of the season to finish Louisville's first drive of the second half. After totaling 54 rushing yards on the drive, he punched in his seventh career rushing score on a 20-yard scamper. Brown finished the game with 88 yards and a career-best two rushing touchdowns on 12 carries. He also caught three passes for 41 yards.
- Brown had a career-high 129 yards of total offense.
Lamar Atkins recorded his first career reception, which resulted in a two-yard gain.
On a muffed kick in the third quarter in which Senorise Perry forced his first career fumble, James Quick recovered the fumble and carried it 30 yards for the touchdown. It was Quick's first career touchdown.
- The last time a Louisville player returned a fumble for a touchdown was on Nov. 19, 2011, when Malcolm Mitchell went 36 yards at Connecticut for the score.
Louisville ended its first possession of the second half with a Dominique Brown touchdown, marking the fifth time the Cardinals scored on the first drive of the second half. Of those scores, four have been touchdowns.
Louisville's defense held UCF to 5-for-11 on third-down conversions, a 45 percent rate. This season, the Cardinals have held opponents 24-for-90 this season, a conversion rate of 26.7 percent.
Teddy Bridgewater found Eli Rogers for an 18-yard score, giving UofL the 7-0 lead. Louisville has scored points on the opening drive in six of its seven games (five touchdowns, one field goal).
Calvin Pryor, who finished with 11 tackles, recorded his third pick of the season on the Knights' opening possession of the game, the seventh of his career.
- Pryor's pick gives Louisville's defense its third-consecutive game with a pick and six in the last three games. Through seven games this season, the Cardinals' defense has totaled nine picks. The squad had 11 through 13 games last year.
Louisville now has forced a turnover in 10-consecutive games. The last time the Cardinals didn't force a turnover was against Syracuse on Nov. 10, 2012.
Preston Brown forced his second fumble of the season and second of his career.
Teddy Bridgewater Notes:
- With his two touchdown passes, Bridgewater became the first quarterback in school history to have 20 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
- Bridgewater has thrown at least two touchdown passes in 20 games through his career.
- Teddy Bridgewater recorded his 19th and 20th touchdown passes of the season, tying him with Jeff Brohm (1993) and Stefan LeFors (2004) for eighth most in a season school history.
- He finished with his 11th career 300-yard passing game after tossing for 341 yards in the loss.
- He connected with nine different receivers on the day, five of whom had multiple receptions.
- He has registered at least 100-passing yards in his last 14-consecutive games, and 30 of his last 31 contests.
- He has thrown touchdown passes in 19-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 28 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 - 14 times
- 10 receivers - 4 times
- 11 receivers - 1 time
Hakeem Smith earned his 45th-straight start. Others with consecutive starts: Calvin Pryor with his 27th, Preston Brown with his 25th, and Damian Copeland with his 20th.
Louisville gave up its first 100-yard rusher since Nov. 24, 2012, when Connecticut's Lyle McCombs ran for 133.
