Cards Hit the Road for Key ACC Game at Pitt
November 16, 2015 | Football
Cards and Panthers meet for the first time since 2012 when the Cardinals won 45-35 at Heinz Field.
Winners of six of its last seven games, the University of Louisville football team travels to Pittsburgh to close out the ACC schedule on Saturday, Nov. 21, at 3:45 p.m.
The game can be seen on ESPN News with John Brickley and Al Groh calling the action.
The Cardinals look for their fifth-straight win and fifth-consecutive conference victory when they take on an experienced Pittsburgh squad that is looking to remain in the Coastal Division race in the ACC. The Panthers are 5-1 in the division, one game behind North Carolina.
After a slow start, the Cardinals have rebounded to be bowl eligible for the 16th time in 18 seasons after the 38-31 win over Virginia on Saturday.
Despite only having 13 seniors, head coach Bobby Petrino credits the team for sticking together after a difficult start.
"I am just really happy with the way our guys kept a good attitude, persevered, practiced real hard," Petrino said. Â "We stuck to our beliefs and didn't change how we believe you should practice and how you should prepare for a game."
The Cardinals, who played their last home game last week, hit the road for the final two weeks with Saturday's game versus Pitt and the Nov. 28 game at intra-state rival Kentucky.
"We just to continue to work it one game at a time, keep our focus on going out and practicing hard on Tuesday," Petrino said. "We didn't go run last night and we didn't take the young guys out and practice because sometimes late in the year I will do that but I did challenge them to make sure to come back Tuesday with a great attitude and ready to work hard and know we are going to practice extremely hard and fast on Tuesday so that is going to be important for us."
Looking to win at least eight games for the fourth-straight season, the Cardinals have a huge task against a solid Pitt team that is coming off a 31-13 win at Duke last Saturday.
"Pitt is a very good football team," head coach Bobby Petrino. "They are very well coached on defense, they play extremely hard, they make it hard on you to run the football and that is one of their main things is to stop the run and they do a good job of it."
Petrino added," Offensively they have one of the best wide receivers in the conference certainly, maybe in the country. Very, very talented guy that they do a lot with and there are even times that he lines up in the backfield and they hand him the ball so we have to make sure we know where he is. They will commit to the run and put a lot of big guys in there and just pound the run at times so they challenge you to be able to stop both the run and the pass."
In improving to 6-4 and 5-2 in the ACC, the Cardinals have revamped their running game in the last two weeks after totaling more than 260 yards in consecutive wins over Syracuse and Virginia. Petrino knows that Pitt will try and keep the Cardinals from getting their running game going this week.
"They like to load the box, they basically play their safeties at nine or ten yards deep and they have run responsibility and they don't hesitate to come downhill," Petrino said. "They do a good job and things are similar to what he did at Michigan State and they will sit out there and play press coverage and are very stubborn about stopping the run."
Louisville will resume its rivalry with Pittsburgh, who were both members of the BIG EAST Conference from 2005-12. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since the Cardinals won 45-35 at Heinz Field in 2012.
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Kentucky Game Slated for Noon
The Cardinals will close out the 2015 regular season against cross-state rival Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 28, at noon. The game will air on the SEC Network.
The Cardinals and Wildcats will meet for the 28th time, with the Cardinals looking to even the overall series with UK, who owns a 14-13 edge.
Fields Named ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week
University of Louisville defensive end Devonte Fields was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week, the league announced Monday.
Fields, who transferred this year from Trinity Valley Community College, had his best game last week in Louisville's 38-31 win over Virginia last Saturday.
The native of Fort Worth, Texas, totaled five tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack as the Cardinals limited the Cavaliers to 354 yards of total offense and 94 yards on the ground.
The former TCU transfer leads the Cardinals with 13.0 tackles for loss  and has been credited with 3.5 sacks. A former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Fields has started nine games and is is fourth on the squad with 47 tackles.
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The game can be seen on ESPN News with John Brickley and Al Groh calling the action.
The Cardinals look for their fifth-straight win and fifth-consecutive conference victory when they take on an experienced Pittsburgh squad that is looking to remain in the Coastal Division race in the ACC. The Panthers are 5-1 in the division, one game behind North Carolina.
After a slow start, the Cardinals have rebounded to be bowl eligible for the 16th time in 18 seasons after the 38-31 win over Virginia on Saturday.
Despite only having 13 seniors, head coach Bobby Petrino credits the team for sticking together after a difficult start.
"I am just really happy with the way our guys kept a good attitude, persevered, practiced real hard," Petrino said. Â "We stuck to our beliefs and didn't change how we believe you should practice and how you should prepare for a game."
The Cardinals, who played their last home game last week, hit the road for the final two weeks with Saturday's game versus Pitt and the Nov. 28 game at intra-state rival Kentucky.
"We just to continue to work it one game at a time, keep our focus on going out and practicing hard on Tuesday," Petrino said. "We didn't go run last night and we didn't take the young guys out and practice because sometimes late in the year I will do that but I did challenge them to make sure to come back Tuesday with a great attitude and ready to work hard and know we are going to practice extremely hard and fast on Tuesday so that is going to be important for us."
Looking to win at least eight games for the fourth-straight season, the Cardinals have a huge task against a solid Pitt team that is coming off a 31-13 win at Duke last Saturday.
"Pitt is a very good football team," head coach Bobby Petrino. "They are very well coached on defense, they play extremely hard, they make it hard on you to run the football and that is one of their main things is to stop the run and they do a good job of it."
Petrino added," Offensively they have one of the best wide receivers in the conference certainly, maybe in the country. Very, very talented guy that they do a lot with and there are even times that he lines up in the backfield and they hand him the ball so we have to make sure we know where he is. They will commit to the run and put a lot of big guys in there and just pound the run at times so they challenge you to be able to stop both the run and the pass."
In improving to 6-4 and 5-2 in the ACC, the Cardinals have revamped their running game in the last two weeks after totaling more than 260 yards in consecutive wins over Syracuse and Virginia. Petrino knows that Pitt will try and keep the Cardinals from getting their running game going this week.
"They like to load the box, they basically play their safeties at nine or ten yards deep and they have run responsibility and they don't hesitate to come downhill," Petrino said. "They do a good job and things are similar to what he did at Michigan State and they will sit out there and play press coverage and are very stubborn about stopping the run."
Louisville will resume its rivalry with Pittsburgh, who were both members of the BIG EAST Conference from 2005-12. It will be the first meeting between the two schools since the Cardinals won 45-35 at Heinz Field in 2012.
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Kentucky Game Slated for Noon
The Cardinals will close out the 2015 regular season against cross-state rival Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 28, at noon. The game will air on the SEC Network.
The Cardinals and Wildcats will meet for the 28th time, with the Cardinals looking to even the overall series with UK, who owns a 14-13 edge.
Fields Named ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week
University of Louisville defensive end Devonte Fields was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Lineman of the Week, the league announced Monday.
Fields, who transferred this year from Trinity Valley Community College, had his best game last week in Louisville's 38-31 win over Virginia last Saturday.
The native of Fort Worth, Texas, totaled five tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack as the Cardinals limited the Cavaliers to 354 yards of total offense and 94 yards on the ground.
The former TCU transfer leads the Cardinals with 13.0 tackles for loss  and has been credited with 3.5 sacks. A former Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, Fields has started nine games and is is fourth on the squad with 47 tackles.
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Players Mentioned
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