Louisville banged up, but beats ASU

Louisville Cardinals ... Head Coach: Steve Kragthorpe

2009 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 5-7
2009 Record: 3-5

9/5 Indiana St W 30-10
9/12 OPEN DATE
9/19 at Kentucky L 31-27
9/26 at Utah L 30-14
10/2 Pitt L 35-10
10/10 So Miss W 25-23
10/17 at Connecticut L 38-25
10/24 at Cincinnati L 41-10
10/31 Arkansas St W 21-13
11/7 at West Virginia
11/14 Syracuse
11/21 at USF
11/28 Rutgers
12/5 OPEN DATE

2008 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 7-5
2008 Record: 5-7

8/30 Kentucky L 27-2
9/6 Tenn. Tech W 51-10
9/13 OPEN DATE
9/17 Kansas State W 38-29
9/27 Connecticut L 26-21
10/4 OPEN DATE
10/10 at Memphis W 35-28
10/18 Middle Tenn W 42-23
10/25 South Florida W 24-20
11/1 at Syracuse L 28-21
11/8 at Pitt L 41-7
11/14 Cincinnati L 28-20
11/22 West Virginia L 35-21
11/29 OPEN DATE
12/4 at Rutgers L 63-14

Louisville Cardinals

Oct. 31
at Louisville 21 … Arkansas State 13
A banged up Louisville got up 21-3 helped by a 25-yard Brandon Heath interception return for a touchdown and two Darius Ashley touchdown runs. But Arkansas State didn’t go away quietly with Corey Leonard hitting Brandon Thompkins for a four-yard score late in the third and pulled within eight on a 21-yard Josh Arauco field goal. The Cardinals held on late even though ASU had a few chances.
Player of the Game: Louisville LB Jon Dempsey made 12 tackles with a sack.
Arkansas State: Passing: Corey Leonard, 23-41, 303 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Reggie Arnold, 10-22, Receiving: Brandon Thompson, 7-49, 1 TD
Louisville: Passing: Will Stein, 20-39, 232 yds, 1 INT
Rushing: Bilal Powell, 17-93, Receiving: Scott Long, 6-46
What It All Means: It’s all about survival right now for Louisville. Top two quarterbacks Adam Froman and Justin Burke are hurt, and the team’s best weapon, RB Victor Anderson was also out against Arkansas State. Will Stein didn’t do anything crazy and he kept the passes short and conservative, while Bilal Powell ran well in place of Anderson. However, to have a shot at beating West Virginia, the offense will have to take a few more chances and will have to get more creative. 

Oct. 24
at Cincinnati 41 … Louisville 10
QB Zach Collaros, playing in place of an injury Tony Pike, was nearly perfect, and Isaiah Pead ran for scores from one and 67 yards out, to go along with a 15-yard scoring grab, as Cincinnati won easily. Louisville went on a ten-point midgame run, with Josh Chichester catching a four-yard scoring pass and Ryan Payne kicking a 36-yard field goal, but it was all Bearcats the rest of the way. Louisville was held to 275 yards.
Player of the Game: Cincinnati QB Zach Collaros completed 15-of-17 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns, and ran 11 times for 52 yards.
Louisville: Passing: Will Stein, 6-9, 98 yds
Rushing: Darius Ashley, 13-67, Receiving: Cameron Graham, 3-35
Cincinnati: Passing: Zach Collaros, 15-17, 253 yds, 3 TD
Rushing: Isaiah Pead, 6-88, 2 TD, Receiving: Mardy Gilyard, 4-82, 1 TD 
What It All Means: It’s not that the Cardinals lost, Cincinnati is BCS good, but it’s the lack of scoring punch that’s so glaring. The O can’t score, coming up with a mere ten points to make the already struggling attack look even worse on the stat sheet. The passing game couldn’t make up for the lack of a running game, and no one was able to provide a spark. Don’t sleep on the Arkansas State game; that’s a beartrap if the Cardinals aren’t focused.

Oct. 17
at Connecticut 38 … Louisville 25
Andre Dixon ran for a 16-yard touchdown and two one-yard scores, and Jordan Todman put the game out of reach with a two-yard touchdown run as Connecticut ran past the Cardinals. Louisville got two short scores from Bilal Powell and a two-yard touchdown run from Victor Anderson, but four turnovers proved too costly to overcome. Lawrence Wilson made 16 tackles for the Huskies.
Player of the Game: Connecticut RB Andre Dixon ran 33 times for 153 yards and three touchdowns and LB Lawrence Wilson made 16 tackles, a tackles for loss, and recovered a fumble Louisville: Passing: Adam Froman, 24-31, 295, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Bilal Powell, 29-87, 2 TD , Receiving: Scott Long, 5-58
Connecticut: Passing: Cody Endres, 14-21, 273 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Andre Dixon, 33-153, 3 TD, Receiving: Marcus Easley, 6-108, 1 TD 
What It All Means: The Cardinals didn't play all that poorly, the offense was moving the ball, but the turnovers against Connecticut killed most of the good things done by the offense. He threw two interceptions, but Adam Froman was good on third downs and he had an effective overall day. On the flip side, the defense struggled to hold down the Husky running game. With Cincinnati up next, the offense will have to be perfect and the linebackers have to be stronger at making plays at the point of attack.

Oct. 10
at Louisville 25 … Southern Miss 23
Ryan Payne nailed a 32-yard field goal in the final minutes to give Louisville the win. Southern Miss held a 16-7 lead after the first half helped by three Justin Estes field goals and a one-yard Damion Fletcher touchdown run, but the Cardinals came back in the third quarter on a 13-yard Bilal Powell touchdown run and a 92-yard Scott Long touchdown catch. The Golden Eagles took the lead with 2:13 to play on a 13-yard Tory Harrison run, but couldn’t hold. This was Louisville’s first win over an FBS team since beating South Florida on October 25th of last year.
Player of the Game: Louisville WR Scott Long caught five passes for 146 yards and a score.
Southern Miss: Passing: Martevious Young, 22-30, 229 yds
Rushing: Damion Fletcher, 19-86, 1 TD, Receiving: DeAndre Brown, 5-85
Louisville: Passing: Adam Froman, 14-26, 248 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Vic Anderson, 14-90, 1 TD, Receiving: Scott Long, 5-146, 1 TD
What It All Means: It might not have been easy, and the Cardinal offense needed a huge play from Scott Long to stay alive, but after a three-game losing streak, and with the only win coming against Indiana State, this was big. There isn’t enough scoring punch and the passing game has been hit-or-miss, but with road games against Connecticut and Cincinnati up next, the start of the season might have been truly ugly if the Cardinals didn’t pull this off. However, the pass defense has to be a lot tighter after allowing USM’s Martevious Young complete 22-of-30 passes.

Oct. 2
Pitt 35 … at Louisville 10
Pitt was in a battle, down 10-7 at the end of the first half, and then the floodgates opened. The Panthers scored 28 unanswered points as Bill Stull connected with Dorin Dickerson for a 37-yard touchdown, Dickerson’s second scoring grab of the game, and Jonathan Baldwin took a pass 71 yards for a score. Louisville committed ten penalties for 98 yards.
Player of the Game: Pitt QB Bill Stull
Louisville: Passing: Adam Froman, 18-30, 166
Rushing: Vic Anderson, 12-51, Receiving: Vic Anderson, 4-24
Pitt: Passing: Bill Stull, 16-23, 242 yds, 3 TD
Rushing: Dion Lewis, 21-87, Receiving: Jonathan Baldwin, 4-105, 1 TD
What It All Means: Louisville moved the ball well, but couldn’t close with too many drives coming up empty. Too many penalties, too few third down conversions, and no production from the secondary in the second half all led to the blowout loss. The team needs to find something it can count on to produce on a regular basis, because at the moment, it’s RB Victor Anderson and a whole bunch of nothing. 

Sept. 26
at Utah 30 … Louisville 14
Utah got two Terrance Cain touchdown passes including a 42-yarder to David Reed and a 34-yarder to Jereme Brooks, but the offense suffered a huge loss when Matt Asiata got knocked out for the year with a knee injury after running for a 24-yard touchdown. Louisville was down 20-0 after the first half before Justin Burke ran for an eight-yard score and Cameron Graham caught a 16-yard touchdown pass to make it interesting, but the Utah balanced offense was too much to overcome and the defense shut down the Cardinal attack.
Player of the Game: Utah QB Terrance Cain completed 17-of-22 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns with an interception, and he ran 14 times for 51 yards.
Louisville: Passing: Justin Burke, 15-33, 181 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Bilal Powell, 10-25, Receiving: Scott Long, 6-61
Utah: Passing: Terrance Cain, 17-22, 202 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Eddie Wide, 19-129, Receiving: David Reed, 6-78, 1 TD
What It All Means: Louisville is still trying to find something it does well on a regular basis. The special teams aren’t bad, and the pass defense is decent, even though it got picked apart by Utah’s Terrance Cain, but the offense simply can’t rely on anyone or anything from one week to the next. Now is when Justin Burke has to get hot with the struggling Pitt defense up next and with a certain shootout against Southern Miss to follow. The season isn’t slipping away at 1-2, but a win over a BCS conference team would be a plus … and fast.

Sept. 19
at Kentucky 31 … at Louisville 27
In a wild back-and-forth shootout, Randall Cobb caught a 12-yard pass for a late Kentucky lead, and the defense held on with a tipped pass for an interception snuffing out one drive, and a missed Hail Mary stopping a final Cardinal chance. Justin Burke threw two fourth quarter touchdown passes for Louisville including a 66-yarder to Trent Guy for its final lead before the Cobb score. Derrick Locke ran for a two-yard score for the Wildcats and answered a six-yard Victor Anderson touchdown run with a 100-yard kickoff return for a score.
Player of the Game: Kentucky RB Derrick Locke ran 15 times for 72 yards and a touchdown, caught four passes for 47 yards, and returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
Louisville: Passing: Justin Burke, 15-28, 245 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Victor Anderson, 19-110, 1 TD, Receiving: Scott Long 5-89
Kentucky: Passing: Mike Hartline, 20-27, 178 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Derrick Locke, 15-72, 1 TD, Receiving: Randall Cobb, 6-71, 1 TD 
What It All Means: It might have been a loss, and it might have been a loss to the arch-rival, but the Cardinals showed that this might not be another dismal season. There’s hope for a major improvement if Justin Burke can build on his strong fourth quarter and if he can consistently keep the offense moving like he did throughout the game. Victor Anderson was his typical self and will make the running game the focus of opposing defenses, but as long as Burke is effective, Louisville will hang around with just about everyone.

Sept. 5
at Louisville 30 ... Indiana State 10
Louisville held Indiana State to 101 yards of total offense and seven first downs, while the offense got touchdown runs from six and 14 yards out from Victor Anderson and a six-yard scoring dash from Bilal Powell on the was to the easy win. The Sycamores had the lead going into the second quarter on a three-yard Chris Stutzriem run, but a 24-point Cardinal run put the game away. Ryan Payne connected on three field goals for the Cardinals.
Player of the Game: Louisville RB Victor Anderson ran 14 times for 93 yads and two touchdowns
Indiana State: Passing: Chris Stutzriem, 7-15, 58 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: Antoine Brown, 9-14, Receiving: Larry Lacotti, 3-26
Louisville: Passing: Justin Burke, 17-31, 223 yds, 2 INT
Rushing: Victor Anderson, 14-93, 2 TD, Receiving: Doug Beaumont, 5-69
What It All Means: Louisville won easily, but there's major cause for concern. The offense struggled a bit too much with Justin Burke having a hard time on third downs and not consistently making plays, while 176 rushing yards are way too few in a game like this. Indiana State is among the worst teams in the FCS, and if the Cardinals couldn't produce big against this team, it's going to have problems against Kentucky. Moving the chains will be a must, while the defense has to maintain the same intensity and do even more to make big plays to overcome the offenses' issues.