#8 Louisville Snaps Win Streak, Houston Looks to Remain Undefeated

And then there was one.

On Friday, the #8 Louisville Cardinals (6-1, 2-1) ended their perfect season and saw their National Championship dreams fade as they lost 38-35 to UCF (5-1, 2-0).

For Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater his Hail Mary pass fell short while UCF’s Blake Bortles clinched his opportunity with 23 seconds remaining in the game.

With a 28-7 lead through the middle of the third quarter, Louisville watched its advantage crumble as UCF amassed three touchdowns in a 7:22 time span from a one-yard touchdown run by running back Storm Johnson and a second one from him in the air. The third one came from running back William Stanback’s 12-yard score to tie.

A 34-yard field goal gave UCF its first lead of the game with 7:36 left in the game.

Louisville said not so fast, taking back the lead with three minutes remaining but Bortles’ final score to Jeff Godfrey got the win.

Blake Bortles

For the night, Bortles went 21-of-32, 250 yards and two touchdowns. Johnson ran for 18 carries with 109 yards and a score. UCF outgained Louisville in the game’s second half, 269-210 and concluded the game with a slight advantage: 446-445.

So much for Louisville entering the game as No. 2 in total defense.

As for Bridgewater, his stat line was 29-of-38, 341 yards and two touchdowns. In his drive to get the Cardinals their last lead of the game, he was 5-of-7 and 66 yards. It wasn’t all gloom and doom for Bridgewater’s night as the game represented his fifth 300-yard one for the season; he now has 20 touchdown passes and two picks with 2,213 passing yards (71.9 percent completion) to date.

Bridgewater said of the loss via the Associated Press, “You can’t live in misery or live in a loss. We are the type of team that has mature guys, and I am pretty sure our guys are switching their focus to South Florida. One loss doesn’t determine the whole season.”

For the Cardinals, they’re not used to losing. They haven’t suffered a loss since last November against Connecticut.

Along with a championship game no longer on the line, you can’t help but ask about Bridgewater’s Heisman dreams. They’ve likely ended as well. He entered the game at 10/1. All eyes will now shift to Oregon’s Marcus Mariota (7/5) and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel (3/2) performances.

As for all the questions about Louisville’s schedule, many people will now say I told you so. The Cardinals can only hope to now win the conference and somehow still land in a BCS game.

For this to happen, Louisville will need UCF to lose two games to even have a chance at this scenario. Next week UCF will play Connecticut (0-5, 0-1) and then Houston (5-0, 2-0).

But will Houston stand in Lousville’s way?

Houston now sits as the sole undefeated AAC team. Lousiville won’t meet them until Nov. 16. For this week, the Cougars will take on BYU (4-2) in their first meeting ever.

John O’Korn

They will bring an offense that scores 39.8 points per game with a defense that only allows 19 points. Freshman quarterback John O’Korn has 1,131 passing yards to-date with 11 touchdowns and zero picks this season as part of a passing attack that averages 287.8 yards per game.

One of his favorite weapons is wide receiver Deontay Greenberry. He has 39 receptions, 606 yards and three touchdowns.

In last week’s 25-15 win over Memphis (1-4, 0-2), the Cougars defense again forced numerous turnovers (its 13th consecutive game to do so). Efrem Olipant led the group with 13 tackles and one forced fumble. Memphis did outgain Houston by more than 100 yards but they just couldn’t get the scores.

O’Korn had 198 passing yards (13 for 30) with one touchdown.

BYU is excited to play on the big stage at Houston’s Reliant Stadium and will look for its defense to show up as it has held 12 straight opponents to 21 points or less.

It will be a battle of two teams with similar spread offenses but BYU will get the win (-9.5, 63 o/u).