By Noah Allison

 

With Louisville heading into the ACC and Rutgers into the Big 10, Thursday night’s

matchup proved to be the last conference rivalry game between these foes. U of L’s 24-10

victory closed the book on the Cardinal-Scarlet Knight rivalry. The past games may not

have captured the attention and imagination of the country as a whole, but folks in The

Ville and New Brunswick, N. J. will always hold dear the memories of beating each other,

and shudder in the painful memories of losing.

“It’s just a constant battle, it’s the respect for the football programs, and that’s a good

football team,” Head Coach Charlie Strong said. “You’ll miss this game, because it’s a fun

game and a tough battle. And you like it when we go there and they come here.”

In a season where the number eight Cardinals have flashed offensive brilliance and

lived off of defensive abuse, the ESPN primetime game was a chance for the Cardinals to

showcase their abilities to the nation. At a time in the second quarter U of L was winning

17-3 and it seemed like the route was quickly coming on, but its Rutgers-Louisville and the

Cards couldn’t land a haymaker early.

With leading receiver DeVante Parker sidelined with a shoulder injury, the offense

struggled to hit the big play and spread the field.

But junior quarterback Teddy Bridgewater still threw for 304 yards, went 21-32, threw

for two touchdowns and was the second leading rusher on the night with 32 yards. Senior

wide receiver Damian Copeland had a career-high eight catches for 115 yards and bailed

Teddy out on multiple third downs.

“Copeland, he is Mr. Reliable in this offense. He’s always in the right place at the right

time and he’s a detail player and it just showed tonight with his performance. He lays it all

on the line for this team every week. He’s a guy who’s been in this system for four or five

years now and he just understands everything we’re doing conceptually and he applies it on

the field,” Bridgewater said.

Senior running back Senorise Perry, carried the Cardinals through tough times with 104

yards rushing and a touchdown on just 13 rushing attempts.

The energy, provided by Card Nation, kept Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium rocking all

night, and the Cardinal defense was rocking Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova all night as

well. Nova completed 19 of 36 pass attempts for 202 yards. In the process he was sacked

eight times and threw four interceptions.

“Tonight’s performance was amazing. Even with eight sacks, we missed about four or

five. When you can put pressure on the quarterback and you can just rush four, you feel

like you have a pretty good front. I think Marcus Smith and Lorenzo Mauldin playing the

outside are two of the best defensive ends in the country,” Strong said.

The Rutgers rivalry provided games that will linger in the story of U of L football years

into the future.

An unspeakable loss to Rutgers in 2006 ended U of L’s National Championship hopes. A

hobbled Teddy Bridgewater limping off the bench in 2012 to erase the Cards deficit and get

U of L to its second BCS bowl appearance.

Although Rutgers got the ultimate laugh in that upset years ago, Charlie Strong closed out

the series the only way U of L fans would be satisfied, by winning.