Louisville 34 USF 3, Cardinals bounce back with easy win over the Bulls

There was every reason for Louisville fans to be a little nervous about today's game against USF. There was the fear of an emotional letdown after losing last Friday against Central Florida. And Tampa hasn't exactly been kind to the Cardinals over the years (the team's win there in 2011 was the first win in Tampa in the program's history). Louisville handled the game like a mature team and made sure it was never in doubt, cruising to a 34-3 win.

The Cardinals offense was rewarded for going with Dominique Brown as the primary tailback and Teddy Bridgewater was his usual robotically-efficient self (25 of 29, 344 yards, 3TDs) en route to an easy victory that improved the team to 2-1 in the American Athletic Conference. The performance wasn't perfect (the Cardinals were still forced to kick some field goals in the red zone and Teddy took a bunch of hits in the first half), but they still gained nearly 500 yards of offense and

More importantly, the Louisville defense, which was uncharacteristically gashed by Central Florida last week, dominated a struggling Bulls offense and kept the game from ever being close. The Cardinals didn't have to face USF's leading rusher Marcus Shaw. In the second quarter they knocked starting quarterback Bobby Eveld out of the game and after that, South Florida's offense was stalled for good.

Louisville now gets ready to hit the road and play UConn in 13 days.