No. 15 Louisville Blows Out South Florida

Posted 8:06PM on Saturday 23rd October 2004 ( 20 years ago )

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Stefan LeFors completed his first 13 passes, threw for one touchdown and ran for another in Louisville's 41-9 victory over South Florida on Friday night. LeFors finished 21-of-26 for 242 yards for the 15th-ranked Cardinals (5-1, 3-0 Conference USA), who bounced back from last week's 41-38 loss to No. 4 Miami. Louisville, third in the nation in total offense, racked up 517 yards and reached 40 points for the eighth time in 19 games under second-year coach Bobby Petrino. The sputtering Bulls (2-4, 1-3) finished with 203 yards and 13 first downs. LeFors, completing 75.6 percent of his passes coming into the game, lost his perfect game when J.R. Russell missed a diving attempt with 1:03 left in the first half. Art Carmody salvaged the drive with a 34-yard field goal that gave the Cardinals a 27-3 halftime lead. Russell finished with eight catches for 111 yards. The Bulls gained only 40 yards on 27 plays in the first half. Sophomore quarterback Pat Julmiste misfired on 12 of 13 passes before halftime, with many of his incompletions coming on drops by receivers. The Cardinals glided into South Florida territory on their first three possessions. Senior tight end Adam McCauley caught three passes on Louisville's first scoring march, including his first career TD reception with 5:21 left in the opening quarter. The Bulls went three-and-out from inside their own 10-yard line and Montrell Jones returned a short punt to the South Florida 26. Three plays later, Michael Bush ran into the corner of the end zone on a sweep for a 14-0 lead. A pass interference call on Louisville cornerback Antoine Harris kept alive a South Florida drive that ended with Santiago Gramatica's 38-yard field goal. LeFors was 9-for-9 when Petrino replaced him with backup Brian Brohm early in the second quarter. It was the fifth time in six games Petrino has made the move, as he continues grooming the freshman for the future. Brohm went 3-for-7 on two possessions and Carmody finished the second with a 34-yard field goal with 4:55 left in the half. Andre Hall brought the ensuing kickoff out of the end zone, but only reached the 10-yard line. Travis Lipp bobbled a pass from Julmiste a minute later and Louisville linebacker Robert McCune intercepted it at the Bulls' 16. A clipping call backed up the Cardinals, but a 30-yard pass from LeFors to Broderick Clark set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Eric Shelton. LeFors had a 13-yard touchdown run and Bush scored from 19 yards in the third quarter, giving the Cardinals a nation-leading 24 rushing touchdowns this season. Julmiste threw a 50-yard pass to Johnny Peyton early in the fourth quarter. Julmiste finished 3-for-20 for 67 yards.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/10/149239