Eastern Kentucky Colonels vs Louisville Cardinals Match Player Stats On Sep 07, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 7, 2013

No. 8 Louisville 44, Eastern Kentucky 7: Teddy Bridgewater threw for 397 yards and four touchdowns on 23-of-32 passing as the Cardinals cruised past the visiting Colonels.

Wide receiver DeVante Parker pulled in five catches for 134 yards and tied a career high with two touchdowns for Louisville (2-0), which dominated from the start. Parker and Damian Copeland each caught first quarter touchdown strikes for the Cardinals, who led 27-0 at halftime.

Eastern Kentucky (1-1) struggled all day against the Cardinals' defense, totaling only 206 yards and committing a pair of turnovers. Quarterback Jared McClain threw for 85 yards and ran for 27 more, but threw a costly interception and only found the end zone in the fourth quarter with the game already far out of reach.

Louisville needed less than five minutes to get on the board, with Copeland's touchdown snare from eight yards out capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive to open the game. Bridgewater was 5-for-5 passing for 59 yards on the Cardinals' first possession - a relative mirror image to his 6-for-6 opening drive performance against
Ohio last week, which also culminated in a touchdown pass to Copeland.

Safety Calvin Pryor intercepted McClain at midfield with Louisville leading 17-0 early in the second quarter, thwarting the Colonels best offensive opportunity to that point and setting up a Senorise Perry 5-yard touchdown run three plays later to extend the lead and effectively cement the outcome. Pryor went on to recover a fumble on Eastern Kentucky's next possession and recorded seven tackles to pace the Cardinals' defense.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Junior tight end Gerald Christian, a transfer from Florida who sat out 2012, set career highs with five catches for 74 yards and a touchdown for Louisville. ... After averaging 205.7 rushing yards per game in 2012 and tallying 207 against Robert Morris last week, the Colonels gained just 107 yards on the ground against the Cardinals. ... Senior LB Preston Brown doubled his career sack total, pulling down McClain twice.