Charlie Strong welcomes his defensive unit back to the sidelines after still another stop.
The development of the University of Louisville football program is still a work in progress, probably ahead of schedule, and dreams of playing in a national championship game will go unfulfilled this season.
That became more obvious than ever in a 24-10 over Rutgers, the Cardinals needing a blowout before a national TV audience and not getting one, unable to put the Scarlett Knights away until the final two minutes. Staving off visions of an overtime and possible disaster.
A superb defensive effort would prevent an upset from occurring. Rutgers could manage only 67 yards on the ground, settle for 228 yards passing while its quarterback was getting sacked eight times and throwing four interceptions.
Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater may not have dazzled the two dozen NFL scouts on hand and his favorite receiver, DeVante Parker, was absent Fortunately for Teddy, Damian Copeland was available, pulling in a career high eight receptions for 115 yards. Kai Dela Cruz had three for 56 yards and the first touchdown. TB did connect on 21 of 31 passing attempts for 310 yards and two touchdowns.
While many in the crowd of 55,168 weren’t in their seats 30 minutes before kickoff, most amazingly, somehow, they all seemed to be sitting at kickoff. Just getting to the stadium was a nightmare, with every major traffic artery in the city clogged in the hours leading up to the game.