By Jamie Rhodes,, U.S. PresswireTeddy Bridgewater moved above .500 (6-5) as a starter in his second season at Louisville.
By Jamie Rhodes,, U.S. PresswireTeddy Bridgewater moved above .500 (6-5) as a starter in his second season at Louisville.
When Kai Dominquez muffed a punt, forcing the Cardinals to begin their opening possession from their 1-yard line, Bridgewater simply directed a 99-yard touchdown drive. It was the first time since 2007 that the Cards scored on their first series of a season.The play that might have summarized Bridgewater's nearly flawless game came on that first drive. One third-and-9 from the 2, he threw a 23-yard strike to Damian Copeland. The Cards faced only one more third down on that drive."Last year I felt I was just playing football just to play, just to be out there," Bridgewater said. "Now I'm playing with a purpose. And playing quarterback you have to be the manager; you have to be the leader of the team. So I did a great job managing the game."The sophomore was 19-for-21 (a school-record 90.5% completions) for 232 yards and sat out the fourth quarter. Coach Charlie Strong replaced him for the final series of the third quarter with senior Will Stein, who was the starter last year before getting hurt in the UK game.It might have seemed early to go with Stein, considering the Wildcats marched to Louisville's 5 on their first possession of the fourth quarter. But that threat ended when CoShik Williams lost the Wildcats' second fumble of the game.But even if Kentucky had pulled within 11 points, the Cards were confident Bridgewater could have come back in to erase any of their mistakes. Strong, however, said he was certain Stein would finish the game."Once I took Teddy out I was going to leave Stein in the game," Strong said. "They turned the ball over, so I guess I'll never be able to find that out."But Bridgewater has the confidence of his teammates."He's been on all summer and all camp," center Mario Benavides said, later adding, "Obviously, there are areas for improvement, but knowing he's back there really helps a lot."Bridgewater led touchdown drives on the Cards' first three series — marches of 99, 85 and 93 yards —and they never trailed en route to their first home victory against Kentucky since 2006."You can't give up 76 yards on four-plus drives," Wildcats coach Joker Phillips said. "You can't do that, and we are better than that on defense."Maybe, but Bridgewater made it seem otherwise.As a freshman last season, he filled in against UK after Stein was hurt, and he lived up to the recruiting hype by leading the Cards to a 24-17 victory in Lexington. His first game as a sophomore made another statement."A year ago I don't know if he was really locked in," Strong said. "He wanted to be the quarterback, but it's almost he didn't want to study the game to go be the quarterback. So now it's just a totally different ballgame."It certainly helped that the Cards' running game proved to be better than it was last season. They produced two 100-yard rushers in a game for the first time since 2010, with Senorise Perry gaining 108 yards —including a 47-yard score — and Jeremy Wright running for 105 yards and three touchdowns."A lot of times you just don't know with the first game," Strong said. "You just don't know how well they will play together. … We were able to stay in sync, and we were able to just move the ball up and down the field."The Cards outgained UK 219-93 on the ground, marking the 17th consecutive time in the series that the team with more rushing yards won.Kentucky defensive coordinator Rick Minter pointed to the Cats' inability to stop the run for Bridgewater's success."I've always said as a head coach or as a coordinator: When you can run the ball, you can do whatever you want to," Minter said. "If you can run the ball, you can throw the ball. Because then all of the sudden you quit rushing (the passer), your guys are tired, they're beat up, they're demoralized, they're no longer putting pressure on the quarterback."Louisville didn't put much pressure on the passer, either. Maxwell Smith completed a career-high 35 passes in 50 attempts for 280 yards and two touchdowns.The Cats' no-huddle offense kept the Cards on their heels, but despite 373 yards of offense, they didn't take advantage of all their opportunities.Phillips surprised Louisville with an onside kick to start the second half. The Cats recovered and marched to Louisville's 24, but Craig McIntosh missed a 42-yard field goal attempt.Raymond Sanders fumbled after the Cats drove to the Louisville 39 in the second quarter."We obviously have to do a better job finishing drives," UK offensive coordinator Randy Sanders said. "That was probably the biggest thing today: We didn't finish."
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