– Cards take it to the Bears and Teddy QB leads the way.

It was a great day for football in Louisville at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium. And there was a great crowd on hand to watch the Cardinals take on the Bears. Missouri St did provide some competitive spirit but they were no match for a stingy Louisville defense and offense that wouldn’t disappoint as QB Teddy Bridgewater lead the team to a solid victory 35-7.

Teddy QB had a career day completing 30 of 39 passes 344 yards and touchdowns to tight ends Nate Nord and Ryan Hubbell. He would  connect  with 10 different receivers to help keep the Cardinals in control throughout the day. Louisville racked up 475 yards of total offense and was a combined 11 of 17 converting on third and fourth downs.

Charles Gaines had a game-high 73 yards including a 55-yard deep ball in his first time seeing action for the Cards. Eli Rogers had six receptions. Senorise Perry led the team in rushing again this week with 72 yards and one touchdown.

The Cardinal defense did its part as well, holding the MSU offense to just 249 yards of total offense on the day. UofL was really effective in stoping the Bears’ rushing attack, limiting MSU to 99 yards on 31 carries. Calvin Pryor led the defense with eight tackles and one interception. Lorenzo Mauldin had one sack.

Coach Charlie Strong seemed pleased with his teams effort but was a bit discouraged by the execution. The Cards had 9 penalties in the game. 

Strong: “I am very pleased with the victory, but what’s frustrating is that we played hard but did not play smart,”  “If you look at last week, our offense ran pretty well and then this week we sputtered in the first half. Defensively we were able to make some plays.”

It was another great day to be a Louisville Cardinal fan. Much has been said about changing the culture of the football program. During the last two weeks I have experienced that culture change first hand. You can see the pride that Louisville fans have for this team and this system. Fans show up early and they leave late. The Cards have not disappointed and are now 2-0 ranked 23rd in the nation. Up next is North Carolina.

– Beat down in the Bluegrass Cards keep the Cup

Another chapter in the football version of the “Battle of the Bluegrass” has been written. Our 25th ranked Louisville Cardinals ended a three game home losing streak to Kentucky. Beating the Cats for the second year in a row 32-14 and the Governor’s Cup will remain where it belongs in the Louisville trophy case.

Louisville established offensive dominance early starting the game with some monster scoring drives of 99, 85 and 93 yards. The Cards scored 5 times on their first 7 drives. UK started off with an impressive drive of its own but just didn’t have the fire power to match Louisville’s intensity. Coach Strong put this game in cruise control in the 3rd quarter putting in his back-up QB Will Stein. Stein did a solid job managing the lead and putting this one away.

Louisville was lead by Teddy Bridgewater who had 232 yards passing, Jeremy Wright who had 105 yards with 3 TD’s, and Senorise Perry who had 108 yards with 1 TD.

Bridgewater: “That’s what we pride ourselves on, that’s why we work hard”,”We practice game-like situations, so Sunday was just like practice.”

Wright: “It was a team effort and everybody pushed each other in practice,” “and we got it done because of execution.”

Coach Strong: “Anytime you play a rival game, you want to go win the football game and that is what our focus was,” “Not only that game, but we want to win them all if we possibly can.”

The “Battle of the Bluegrass” really wasn’t much of a battle at all as most had predicted. These are two football programs going in very different directions. The Cardinals outclassed the Cats in every aspect of this game talent, coaching, and execution. With this one in the books it’s now on to the next. And let’s hope our Cards stay hungry because we got a lot more to achieve than beating up on the dying program up the road.

(GOOD TIMES & A GREAT DAY TO BE A CARDS FAN)