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PHOTO GALLERY: Cards rope ’em Bulls

Saturday night the No. 13 University of Louisville football team defeated the University of South Florida Bulls 31-8, keeping their Big East championship hopes alive. Louisville’s win comes after an emotional loss to Rutgers last week and one year after South Florida embarrassed the Cards at Raymond James stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida. With the victory, Louisville improves their conference record to 4-1, while South Florida drops to 3-3 in the Big East. The Louisville victory coinciding with Rutgers loss to Cincinnati means brings U of L closer to their first Big East championship.

“This was a good win for us,” said U of L head coach Bobby Petrino. “This was a good, hard fought contest that are players kept competing in.”

Harry Douglas led the Cards with seven catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns while Brian Brohm went 19 of 33 for 274 yards and a pair of touchdowns of his own. Anthony Allen also ran for two scores while Gary Barnidge set career highs with five catches for 112 yards. Freshmen quarterback Matt Grothe finished 15 of 31 for 237 yards, a touchdown, and an interception to lead South Florida in a losing effort, despite being sacked six times by the U of L defense. Brohm outshined his quarterback counterpart while pacing the Cards to victory.

“I obviously didn’t have the best game (at Rutgers),” said Brohm. “I just wanted to come out and show everyone I could still play and that wasn’t my normal game.”

Both teams struggled in the first quarter, trading turnovers and punts. Grothe threw an interception to William Gay that stalled a drive by South Florida, while a Louisville turnover on the one-yard line cost both Kolby Smith and the Cardinals a touchdown.

At the start of the second quarter South Florida kicker Delbert Alvarado missed a 37-yard field goal attempt, his first of two on the night.

Louisville took the ball back and pulled ahead after Brian Brohm threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Douglas that put the Cardinals up 7-0. The touchdown pass tied Brohm with former U of L quarterback Browning Neagle for 7th place on the school’s all time list with 32 touchdowns.

Art Carmody added a 47-yard field goal to push the Louisville lead to 10-0 before the half. Carmody’s field goal was his 16th of the year, setting a new U of L single-season record.

The Cards marched down field on their first drive of the second half, capping it off with a one-yard touchdown run by Anthony Allen that brought USF’s deficit to 17. Brohm added another touchdown pass to Douglas to extend the lead to 24 right before the end of the 3rd quarter.

With 9:55 to go in the final quarter, South Florida missed another opportunity to put points on the board with the second missed field goal by Alvarado from 51-yards. The Bulls did find the endzone on their next possession after Grothe threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Amp Hill. The succeeding two-point conversion was good, cutting the Louisville lead to 24-8 with 5:55 to go in the game.

Louisville put the game out of reach with another touchdown run by Allen on an eight play, 42-yard drive, leaving the Cards up 31-8 with just 1:28 left in the fourth quarter. The 31 points scored were the most given up by a stingy South Florida defense all season.

“Now we have to get ready for Pittsburgh, go on the road and try to get another one,” said Petrino.