Louisville-Houston Posgame Notes
November 17, 2013 | Football
Nov. 16, 2013
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Louisville Postgame Notes
No. 19/13 Louisville 20, Houston 13
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013
Louisville game captains were Preston Brown and Marcus Smith.
Saturday's attendance is 53,027, the 10th-largest crowd in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium history.
UofL won the toss and deferred to the second half. Houston received the ball to start the game.
The Cardinals and Cougars met for the 15th time in series history. Louisville now holds an 8-7 lead in the series with the victory. In Louisville, the Cardinals are 5-3 against Houston.
The win pushed Louisville's senior class total to 34, tying the 1999-02 senior class for sixth most in program history.
Louisville is 34-15 in four seasons under head coach Charlie Strong.
With the decision, Louisville moved to 75-26 when playing in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals are 26-5 when scoring first under head coach Charlie Strong.
When scoring 20 points or more in a game under the direction of Charlie Strong, the Cardinals' record is 33-7.
Houston's 13 points are the lowest since it totaled seven against Tulsa on Nov. 10, 2012. It's also the first time the Cougars have been held under 200 yards of total offense, when they registered 184 against the Golden Hurricane.
- Houston's 121 passing yards are the fewest since it totaled just 119 against SMU on Nov. 19, 2005.
Louisville's defense remained intact with Alabama for the national lead in fewest touchdowns allowed. Both the Cardinals and Tide each allowed one touchdown on Saturday, the 12th each team has given up this season.
Louisville's defense hasn't given up a first-quarter touchdown all season. Louisville now has held eight opponents without a first quarter point.
Houston was held to 74 yards rushing, marking the seventh time a Louisville opponent has rushed for less than 90 yards.
- For total offense, Louisville now has held three opponents under less than 200 yards (FIU, 27; USF, 133; Houston, 195).
The Cardinals now have opened the game this year by scoring a touchdown or field goal in eight of 10 drives this season. They have scored touchdowns on seven of those drives.
Louisville continued its success in the red zone, going a 4-for-4 in scoring territory. The Cardinals are now 42-for-46 in red zone scores.
Dominique Brown registered his ninth career rushing touchdown, his fifth this season, on a 13-yard run in the first quarter. His 137 rushing yards this game put him at a season-high 650, surpassing his 2011 total of 533. He also finished with a career-best 27 carries.
- Brown registered his second career touchdown on the Cardinals' first drive of the third quarter. It's the first time in his career that he has scored twice on the ground in a game.
Louisville is now 16-2 under head coach Charlie Strong when a running back reaches 100 yards in a game. Senorise Perry went over 100 yards rushing against Rutgers and Dominique Brown has achieved the feat twice (USF, Houston).
Damian Copeland finished the game with three catches for 31 yards. His third reception of the game marked his 100th career catch.
John Wallace connected on a 37-yard field goal and later hit a 39-yard field goal, marking the eighth time in his career he has hit at least two field goals in a game.
Preston Brown finished with a team-high nine tackles, marking the third game this season he has finished with at least nine stops. He totaled a season-high 12 against UCF.
Roy Philon set a career high with four tackles for loss, including one sack. He finished the game with seven stops.
Marcus Smith, who finished the game with three tackles, recorded one sack to give him 11.5 for the year. That total ranks eighth on the school's single-season list, surpassing Carl Powell (1996) and Michael Josiah (2001).
Lorenzo Mauldin also recorded a sack in the game, pushing his season total to 8.5.
Louisville's impressive defensive streak came to an end against Houston, as the Cardinals were unable to force a turnover. Louisville had forced turnovers in 12-straight games.
Teddy Bridgewater Notes:
- His fifth attempt of the game marked his 1,000th career passing attempt.
- His eighth completion of the game pushed him into third all-time on the career completions list, passing Dave Ragone's total of 685 that was achieved from 1999-02. Bridgewater now has 697 career completions.
- Bridgewater currently ranks third on the school's career total offense chart with 9,007 yards. For the school's season list, Bridgewater's 3,068 yards of total offense ranks ninth.
- He connected with seven different receivers on the day, five of whom had multiple receptions.
Hakeem Smith earned his 48th-straight start. Others with consecutive starts: Calvin Pryor with his 30th, Preston Brown with his 34th, and Damian Copeland with his 23rd. Jake Smith made his 35th-straight start and John Miller made his 32nd-consecutive start.
Teddy Bridgewater has been instrumental in getting all of his receivers involved throughout his career. He has connected with at least seven receivers on 32 occasions. He connected with a career-best 11 receivers against Syracuse in 2012 and also against USF in 2013. Below is the breakdown of the number of receivers he has hit:
- 7 Receivers - 7 times
- 8 Receivers - 4 times
- 9 Receivers - 15 times
- 10 receivers - 4 times
- 11 receivers - 2 times
