By Sam Draut
Charlie Strong fed his team a message after his first victory against Kentucky in 2011. “Louisville will
never lose to Kentucky again.”
The No.7 Cardinals took care of business in Commonwealth Stadium with a 27-13 win against Kentucky
on Saturday, their third consecutive victory against the in-state rival.
The Cards feasted on a determined running game in the second half, while Teddy Bridgewater had a
modest day of 16-28 for 250 yards and one touchdown.
“We feed off each other. Teddy feeds off the run game. The run game feeds off the pass game, we
have to make openings for one another,” Dominique Brown said.
U of L churned out 242 yards on the ground, led by Senorise Perry, who finished with 100 yards on 11
carries and two touchdowns.
Michael Dyer added 62 yards on 11 carries while Brown finished with 45 yards on 12 carries.
“Once you are able to win the line of scrimmage you are pretty much unstoppable,” Bridgewater said.
Along with the running game, the Cardinal defense highlighted the game forcing two fumbles in the first
half, the second coming on their own 14 yard line with 43 seconds before halftime.
“They were driving the football and they had it in field goal range, and they could have walked out with
three points, you never know what could have happened in the second half,” Strong said. “That stop
was big. We kept points off the board whether it was three or seven. “
Kentucky finished 0 of 13 on third down conversions for the game and was held to just 162 rushing
yards.
“I take my hat off for the defense and their performance. Coach Strong says pack your defense and
have great special teams on the road. Our defense showed up today and it helped our offense because
we started a little slow,” Bridgewater said.
Louisville’s offense started sluggish, but took a 10-3 off a 13 yard touchdown pass from Bridgewater to
Parker, 2:36 before halftime. It’s Parker’s ninth straight game with a touchdown reception.
U of L started the third quarter with a 9 play 83 yard drive capped off by a one yard touchdown run by
Perry.
“You want balance and anytime you can get balance with your run and pass game it’s so critical,” Strong
said. “Our offensive line grinded it out.”
After U of L took a controlling 17-3 lead, Kentucky responded with a 40 yard kick return from Javess Blue
and a nine play 31 yard drive that reached U of L’s 28 yard line, but Charles Gaines intercepted Jalen
Whitlow’s pass at the 2 yard line.
The turnover led to a 10 play 94 yard drive that led to a 21 yard field goal by Jon Wallace.
The offense amassed 492 total yards, but didn’t include a dynamic passing game with Bridgewater
unable to get comfortable in the pocket. He was only sacked once, but uncharacteristically missed
throws throughout the game.
“I wasn’t as accurate as always. I’ll try to come back tomorrow and improve on every little aspect of the
game,” Bridgewater said.
“Overall, I’m very pleased, but we could have played better, but you get a victory on the road, you’re
very happy, it’s a rivalry game,” Strong said. “All games are big games, but this one is a little different
and that’s why we had to go out and prepare the way we did.”
The Cardinals take on Florida International on Saturday September 21.
