Cardinals Ready to Turn the Page to USF
October 21, 2013 | Football
Oct. 21, 2013
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Charlie Strong: Audio | Video | Transcript 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The University of Louisville football team must turn the page quickly after suffering its first loss of the season last Friday to UCF. The Cardinals must rebound and get ready to hit the road to face a USF squad, which has won two-consecutive league games to sit atop the American Athletic Conference standings.
The Cardinals suffered their first loss of the season 38-35 to UCF on Friday night at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Despite holding a 28-7 lead in the third quarter, the Knights responded to tie the score at 28-28 with 30 seconds remaining in the period.
While it was certainly huge letdown to waste a big lead at home, head coach Charlie Strong knows his veteran team must put the defeat behind them and move on to the next league game if they are going to remain in the conference race.
"It was a disappointing loss we suffered on Friday night, but someone told me a long time ago, `Never let yesterday take too much of today,'" Strong said. "So, it's a loss that we have to learn from and just move on and get ready for South Florida, who is a very physical football team. We know that the preparation has to be there this week and the focus has to be there. We've got to take a football team on the road that's prepared to go play."
Despite having one of the nation's top defenses in the country, the Cardinals were blitzed by a UCF offense that was able to run the football and hit the Cardinals with a number of big plays. Strong was clearly upset that his top-ranked defense wasn't able to sustain such a large lead.
"I just said to them that it's a game we didn't play well," Strong said. "It's a game that we kind of gave away, but you have to give credit to Central Florida. They played well and scored at the right time. When you put your defense out on the field, you expect them to go out and stop them and we just didn't get it done. So, it's time for us to move on and get ready for the next game. It's always the next game, now."
The hardest thing after a tough loss is getting a team ready for the next game, and not to let one loss spiral into a greater issue. At 6-1, the Cardinals dropped to No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and No. 18 the Associated Press. The Cardinals can still have a magical season and all of their goals are certainly in front of them, but they need help to capture a third-straight league title.
"We still have five games to play," Strong said. "That's why I tell them all the time, it's so important to go game by game and it's so important that you worry about the task at hand and don't worry about what everyone else says. You have to focus on who you're playing."
Strong is confident his defense will bounce back just like his offense did after a 24-10 win over Rutgers on Oct. 10. The Cardinals sputtered at times on offense against the Scarlet Knights, but bounced back with 445 yards of total offense and 35 points against UCF, so Strong is hoping his defense will do the same.
"They've played good all year long," Strong said of his defense. "That was just one game. You still have five to go, so let's go see how well we can come back and this game is behind us. We got to put this game to rest. There's no bingos in this game, so we can't go replay it and go re-do it, so let's go move on."
The Cardinals will get back on the practice field and get ready for a talented USF squad that has won two in a row after dropping its first four games. The Bulls have always been talented on defense, but their offense has had a hard time getting on track this season with the new staff and indecision at the quarterback position.
"They are trying to play two quarterbacks with the one transfer, (Steven) Bench and (Bobby) Eveld is the other one," Strong said. "Similar to us a few years ago, they had 25 seniors last year and you think about B.J. Daniels who has always been their quarterback, then you have a coaching change plus a whole new staff change. It is more them just getting accustom to what they are trying to do."
Despite the gut-wrenching loss on Friday, Strong doesn't worry about his team not being able to bounce back this weekend. With a veteran squad and a lot to play for, Strong is certain the Cardinals will put the loss behind them.
"I don't think it will be hard," Strong. "One phase played well, the other phases didn't. It wasn't like the whole team played bad. It won't be hard to get them back. You have older guys and they understand now. You look at defense and the front seven didn't play well, but the front seven is loaded with seniors and juniors. They will be able to bounce back."
The best thing for the Cardinals is they will get an opportunity to get right back on the field this weekend, allowing an extra day of rest and preparation, to face USF and quickly right the course.
