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By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA – The Bulls went for their first 3-0 league start in program history Saturday, but couldn't keep up with No. 16/18 Louisville in a 34-3 homecoming loss before a crowd of 37,782 at Raymond James Stadium.
Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater went 25-for-29 for 344 yards and three touchdowns to help Louisville improve to 7-1 (3-1 in AAC). The Bulls (2-5, 2-1) were again without star back Marcus Shaw (Arcadia, Fla.) because of an injury and totaled 133 yards of offense while using three quarterbacks.
“Against a team like that you have to score touchdowns. We were able to get away with that for a couple of games because our defense was scoring touchdowns for us,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “Against a team like that and a quarterback like that you've got to score some points in order to have a chance to win.”
Bridgewater extended his touchdown pass streak to 20 games by connecting with Damian Copeland for a 20-yard strike on the game's opening drive.
Louisville's next drive stalled at its own 13 thanks to sacks by DeDe Lattimore and Reshard Cliett, and a punt catching interference call started the Bulls at the Cardinals' 45. Marvin Kloss (Naples, Fla.) extended his field goal streak to 10 four plays later with a 50-yarder with 2:47 to play in the first quarter. Kloss has made program-record three 50-yard field goals and five from 47 yards or longer this season.
Lattimore (Athens, Ga.) sacked Bridgewater twice during the first half and finished with four tackles, three for a loss of 26 yards.
“He's doing a great job and our defense is playing like that because of his leadership; that's great to see,” Taggart said.
The Bulls as a whole racked up a season-high five sacks and 11 tackles for loss with defensive tackle Luke Sager (Niceville, Fla.) coming up with one for the fourth consecutive game. Senior defensive end Ryne Giddins (Seffner, Fla.) stopped Bridgewater in the backfield once to move into fourth place on USF's all-time sack list with 18.5.
Louisville extended its lead to 10-3 with a 19-yard field goal by John Wallace three and half minutes into the second quarter after the Bulls hung tough near the goal line. The Cardinals had a first-and-goal at the USF 3 and were stopped twice at the 1-yard line by Cliett and JaQuez Jenkins (St. Petersburg), who finished with game- and career-high nine tackles.
The Cardinals went into halftime with a 17-3 lead after Bridgewater hit Gerald Christian for a 69-yard touchdown with 7:16 remaining in the second quarter. Bridgewater completed 12 of 14 passes for 198 yards before the break.
“In order to stop Louisville's offense you have to get into the head of Teddy and we kind of fell short today,” said defensive tackle Todd Chandler, who was teammates with Bridgewater at Miami Northwestern High School.
Sophomore quarterback Steven Bench (Bainbridge, Ga.) replaced injured starter Bobby Eveld (Tampa) on USF's final play of the second quarter. Bench missed USF's 13-10 win at UConn on Oct. 12 because of an injury.
“We have to sustain some drives offensively, so we can get going and our defense is not out there as much,” Taggart said.
Louisville extended its lead to 20-3 with another 19-yard field goal from Wallace with 4:55 remaining in the third quarter before USF put together its most promising drive of the second half.
A 24-yard run by freshman back Darius Tice (Miami) and a 25-yard catch by tight end Mike McFarland (Tampa) moved USF to Louisville 18 on the ensuing drive before a lost fumble by Tice gave the ball back to the Cardinals with 3:37 to go in the third quarter. Louisville capped off 14-play, 7-minute, 44-second drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Bridgewater to Dominique Brown that widened the margin to 27-3.
The Cardinals added to their lead with a 70-yard interception return for a touchdown by Charles Gaines with 7:50 remaining. USF had two combined turnovers in its wins over Cincinnati and UConn heading into the showdown with Louisville, which improved to 6-5 in its all-time series with the Bulls.
Freshman quarterback Mike White made his collegiate debut late in the fourth in the quarter and went 1-for-2 for 5 yards. White was named the Class 3A Florida Player of the Year as a senior at University High School in Fort Lauderdale. He is the ninth true freshman to see action for the Bulls this season.
“I wanted to see what the kid could do for us and he's going to get the opportunity next week and we'll see how it goes,” Taggart said.
The Bulls look to bounce back in conference play Thursday, Oct. 31 at Houston. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
TEAM NOTES
The USF defense recorded season highs of 5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss in the game, the most since posting 6 and 12 vs. Chattanooga in the opening game of 2012. It marked the third straight game in which the USF defense has posted nine or more tackles for loss. The Bulls 5 sacks and 11 TFL accounted for -62 yards for the Louisville offense.
With the entrance of true freshman QB Mike White in the game in the fourth quarter USF has now had nine true freshman play this season, three on offense and six on defense.
Former USF QB Matt Grothe (2006-09) proposed to his girlfriend on the sidelines after the first quarter. She said yes.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
OFFENSE
WR, #81 Andre Davis made one catch on the day to extend his USF record consecutive games with a catch streak to 25. The 16-yard grab pushed his career yardage to 1,093 yards, good for 10th all-time on the USF career charts passing A.J. Love (1,092, 2007-11).
· RB, #31 Darius Tice picked up his first career start and recorded 44 rushing yards on the day.
TE, #89 Guito Ervilus earned his first career start for USF at fullback.
TE, #80 Mike McFarland recorded the longest catch of his career, a 25-yard reception in the third quarter.
True Freshman QB, #14 Mike White appeared in his first career game for USF, completing 1 pass for 5 yards.
Defense
LB, #34 DeDe Latimore posted 4 tackles on the day, and recorded his first two sacks of the season, an 11-yard loss in the first quarter and a 13-yard loss in the second. He now has 15 sacks on his career good for 7th on the USF career charts as he passed Chris Daley (13.5, 1999-2002) and Greg Walls (14.5, 1999-2002) on the day.
Lattimore also had 3 tackles for loss for 26 yards, tying a career high for TFL set against Rutgers in 2011. He leads the team with 60 tackles on the year.
LB, #16 Reshard Cliett also recorded his first sack of the season, a 14-yard loss in the first quarter. The sack was the third in his career.
S, #36 Nate Godwin recorded 5 tackles on the day, tying a career high set against Connecticut this season.
S, # 3 JaQuez Jenkins had 9 total tackles on the day, tying a previous career high set last year vs. Pittsburgh.
DE, #97 Ryne Giddins recorded his 4th sack of the season. The sack was number 18.5 for his career, good for 4th all-time at USF as he passed Shurron Pierson (18, 2001-02).
DT, #92 Luke Sager recorded a TFL for the fourth straight game and leads the team with 7. 5 TFL on the year.
Special Teams
K, #27 Marvin Kloss is now 3-3 of the season on kicks longer than 50 yards, after kicking a 50-yarder in the first quarter. The kick sets a USF record for most 50+ yard field goals in a career, passing Bill Gramatica's two. He has now made 10-straight field goals after missing his first of the season. He has five made FGs over 47 yards on the year, a USF record that is one shy of the career mark of six.
KR, #14 Fidel Montgomery saw his first action returning kickoffs and posted 78 yards on three returns and average of 26 yards per return.
Attendance: 35,782
USF won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. Louisville elected to receive.
#34 DeDe Lattimore, #11 Matt Floyd, #27 Marvin Kloss
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