With a 20-13 win over Houston on Saturday night, Louisville improved to 9-1 on the year, and perhaps more importantly, kept their slim AAC conference championship hopes alive.
Houston vs. Louisville final score: Cardinals fly just enough, win 20-13
With Teddy Bridgewater having a quieter night than usual, the burden fell to a different Cardinal.
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Louisville scored the first 10 points of the game, with a Dominique Brown 13-yard rushing touchdown and a John Wallace 37 yard field goal. The Cougars would tie it right back by halftime with 10 points of their own. Houston then took a 13-10 lead on a 22 yard field goal by Kyle Bullard with 25 seconds in the half.
Louisville would get the ball after halftime, though, and began to seize control from there, as they held Houston to a total of 18 yards on 7 third quarter plays, and just 31 total in the second half.
While the Cardinal defense was playing lights out with the Cougars, the offense did just enough to pull the victory, opening the half with a seven-play, 70-yard touchdown to make the score 17-13 Cardinals. A 39 yard pass from Teddy Bridgewater to DeVante Parker set up a 3 yard run by Brown, his second of the evening.
The Cardinals would stretch the lead to seven when John Wallace made another field goal -- this one from 39 yards out to put them ahead 20-13. That would be all they needed.
Box Score Hero: Brown did most of the heavy lifting, scoring both Louisville touchdowns and rushing for 137 yards on 27 carries.
Rankings Ramifications: Louisville is not likely to move up as a result of this win, as no immediate teams above them lost.
But Did They Cover? Vegas had the Cardinal as a 17-point favorite. They did not cover.
For More On This Game: For more on the Cardinals, visit Card Chronicle.
Next Week’s Schedule: Louisville plays Memphis next week, while Houston has Cincinnati at home.
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