Freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater tossed for 198-passing yards and two touchdowns Saturday to help the University of Louisville football program beat Syracuse University, 27-10, in Big East Conference game at Papa John's Cardinals Stadium. The Cardinals (4-4, 2-1 Big East) scored two first-quarter touchdowns to take an early 14-0 lead and then iced the contest with a 61-yard TD run by senior running back Victor Anderson, who gave Louisville a 24-3 lead with 10:32 remaining.
"Obviously we're disappointed. We lost the football game," said Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone after the game. "I think you're only disappointed when you've lost. I'm disappointed in myself, the other coaches, and the players in the locker room."
The Cardinals, who are now on a two-game winning streak, opened up the game with a four-play, 92-yard drive, which was capped by a 42-yard TD reception by freshman wide receiver DaVante Paker. Two Cardinal possessions later, Louisville tallied its second first-quarter TD when Bridgewater connected with senior tight end Josh Chichester on a two-yard pass that ended a nine-play, 50-yard drive.
Syracuse cut Louisville margin to 14-3 after sophomore kicker Ross Krautman nailed a 24-yard, second-quarter field goal that came with 3:19 remaining. The Orange were held scoreless in the third quarter and scored their lone TD during garbage time when Nassib connected with sophomore wide receiver Jarrod West on a 20-yard TD pass, the games final score, with 1:31 to go in the game.
The Orange (5-3, 1-2), who dominated nationally-ranked West Virginia University, 49-23, last week, was manhandled by Louisville on both ends of the ball. Senior quarterback Ryan Nassib played by far his worst game of the season completing just 22-of-36 passes for a season-low 162-passing yards and was sacked four times. Nassib also missed many deep passes that could have led to easy TD scores.
"We took a chance and tried to make some plays early on trying to be aggressive against the pressure and man defense," said Marrone. "We weren't able to make those plays."
"At the end of the day it's a team loss and I have to take a good look at myself in the mirror and make sure I can come back and find a way to put our players in position to win football games and play Syracuse football."
Overall, SU had its lowest offensive output of the season compiling a season-low in points (10), total yards (246), first downs (14) and third-down conversions (21.4 percent). The Orange also committed a season-high 12 penalties for 99 yards.
SB Nation New York will be providing postgame coverage of Syracuse's loss at Louisville. Follow along on Twitter at SBNationNY or Jared_E_Smith.