In a day filled with not-so-exciting college football games, the Louisville Cardinals did not intend for this game to be close and filled with drama. After last week’s 14 point win at Kentucky, where a lot of people said our national title hopes and Teddy Bridgewater’s Heisman hopes took a hit, the Cards needed to come out and make a statement and be dominant. I would say they did just that, leaving no doubt in this game. If you are a top 10 team and you play a team that is this bad, you have to put on a performance like this and not struggle to have control of the game.
The final score of this one was 72-0. Offense, defense, and special teams all played great. Teddy Bridgewater only ended up with 212 yards, but that is mainly because most of Louisville’s possessions began in FIU territory. He was 17/22 with 4 touchdowns and did not throw and interception, so he took care of business the best way he could. And in all honesty, he was out there for one possession too many for me. I was thinking maybe play one possession of the 2nd half and then hand it over to Will Gardner. I thought we may even see Kyle Bolin get in the game if Teddy was out quick enough. And in the one possession that I thought he shouldn’t have been out there, he was chased out of the pocket and got hit as he made a throw and went to the ground. He obviously was not hurt, but that just wasn’t something you wanted to see in a blowout. But no harm done, so we move on.
The defense was incredible as FIU only got 30 yards….THIRTY YARDS OF OFFENSE! I don’t care who you are playing, that is impressive. Especially after building up such a big lead, to keep that edge and intensity to go out there and stop them over and over is a good sign. UofL never let up. FIU had 27 yards passing and only 3 yards rushing, with 2 first downs for the day. On 3rd down, or as the Cards call it, the “money down”, FIU only converted 1-13 chances to first downs. Kentucky was 0-13 last week on the “money down”, so that is 1-26 in the last 2 games for the Cards’ defense. To get off the field after 3rd down and not let the offense convert is huge. With the shutout yesterday, Louisville now leads the nation in scoring defense at only 6.8 points per game.
As usual with the running game, it was a team effort. In all, the Cards rushed for 210 yards and 4 touchdowns on 29 carries. Dominique Brown had the big carry of the day with a 77 yard rumble and stumble down to the 1 yard line, then punched it into the endzone on the next play after a timeout, which I am sure was taken for him to catch his breath! Senorise Perry, Michael Dyer, and Brandon Radcliff also each had a touchdown.
So like I said before, the Cards did what they needed to do. It was hard to watch at times because you kind of started to feel bad for FIU. I said kind of, don’t worry. It even got to the point where the 3rd down music was not played anymore. But with the schedule and the disrespect that we get nationally because of that schedule, these scores need to happen when they can. FIU just happened to be on the tracks when the train came through. Nothing personal, but you were in our way.
Louisville now has an off week before beginning conference play, which is like a new season. The first portion is done and we are now 4-0. The next portion will determine if we go back to a BCS game. The first conference game for UofL will be October 5th at Temple (0-3, 0-1).
And oh yea, ESPN had this intern working for them.
Go Cards!
JR