"Floored" ida. Cards upset #3 Gators in Sugar Bowl 33-23

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Louisville's fast start leaves Gators toothless

It is the biggest victory in Louisville football history.



The champ.

Just as Muhammad Ali shocked the world with a knockout over Sonny Liston in 1965 to claim the heavyweight boxing title, another Louisville legend -- the Charlie Strong coached Louisville football team -- shocked the world (as least the college football world) with a 10-point win over #3 Florida in Wednesday night's Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

Make that Lou Orleans.

Ali was on hand to see the win. So was a 5 year old cancer patient from Louisville who wanted to see this game with only months possibly left in his young precious life. The champ is smiling. The young man has his belief renewed that miracles can happen.
 

Scoring on the first play from scrimmage in each half, the Cards dominated the air game behind the heroics of Teddy Bridgewater. The Cards shut down the Florida offense for the majority of the contest and pulls off the biggest BCS bowl upset quite possibly in history. They moved the unmovable object. They danced past the gator pit unscathed.  

A 14-point underdog, the #21 ranked Cards proved the Vegas odds-makers wrong...holding off a desperate Florida rally in the fourth quarter. Gator bait? Not tonight.

Sugar Bowl champs. Right here in Derby City.

Charlie wears a Sugar Bowl confetti wig.

A win that proves the ACC chose the right school. Another notch in the totem pole for the best college town in America. A righteous justification for the coach who had been a bridesmaid so very often in the quest for a head coaching job. A testimony that there is no better athletic director in college sports than Tom Jurich. 

Louisville Cardinals. L1C4. Big East 1 - SEC 0.

We'll return to our usual coverage of UofL women's sports Friday. Today's column is for Teddy Bridgewater and his mom, a breast cancer survivor. For Eli Rogers and his mom, an 11-year AIDS survivor. For the 20,000 fans who made the trek to New Orleans and for those who watched on TV or listened on radio. For an athletic director who gave a man a chance. For a coach who urged fans to "get on the train." A coach who believes that when you give your word, you keep it. A guy who turned down the money and the SEC. A guy who kept pointing to the Louisville fan section and telling the world that "this one is for those people up there" -- dressed in red and black.

Strong? Yeah, you betcha.

Arlo Guthrie wrote a song years ago about a train that rode the rails to New Orleans. "Riding on the City of New Orleans" came true tonight. And, to paraphrase Aerosmith...the train kept a rollin' all night long. Ozzy Osbourne sang about riding on the rails of a crazy train. The Cards have done all that and more with this win. The Cardinal Cannonball.

Down goes Frazier? How about down goes Florida? Gators, you just been "Carded"?

Teddy hits the deck on first UofL offensive play
but Florida ends up on mat in the end.

A win that few...except Cardinal fans...expected. A win that had ESPN announcers stunned, stammering and shuffling for material. A win for a young team that the pundits claimed achieved false success against a weak schedule. A team that would not be able to withstand Florida's vaunted defensive pressure according to the experts. Big East beating the SEC? Impossible...

How does 33 points taste, Florida?

Have some.

A win for the ages. And a victory for underdogs everywhere. A Sugar Bowl shocker.

The team will arrive at 3:30 today back at PJCS. IF you aren't working, go to greet them. A larger celebration is needed. Maybe over the weekend in the house where it started. The pizza oven.

Sugar?

How sweet it is.
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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball defeats Illinois, Field Hockey over Ohio

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Lola-led Cards down Illinois 3-2 in Volleyball

- Paige Monson provides game-winner for Field Hockey

- Football goes to 2-0 with win over Missouri St.

( We'll also have an in-depth report by Jeff Mc Adams today on the VolleyCards successful weekend. DON'T MISS IT! )




CARDS DIG IN, OUT-POINT THE ILLINI

They may be the best un-ranked team in women's college volleyball and Anne Kordes' VolleyCards added to that legacy with a 3-2 win over #20 Illinois in the BIG EAST/BIG TEN Challenge Saturday in Cincinnati.

( EDITOR'S NOTE: I have since been corrected and told that Louisville is, in fact, 24th in the nation. Must be some hanging chads or voter machine malfunction still out there, though....because the Cards have defeated three teams this year with better TOP 25 rankings. The very un-official Timmy the Intern and Bill the Goat poll puts Louisville at #9 in the nation. We have no idea how they did their research and no clue who they've placed in the other Top Ten Spots.)

Leading the way for the Red and Black  was senior outside hitter Lola Arslanbekova...who delivered 22 kills and 21 digs against the Fighting Illini. 

"I'm so proud of the girls for these two wins because  the BIG EAST/BIG TEN Challenge is a prestigious tournament. We came so close last year, dropping both matches against Purdue and Illinois in five sets by the narrowest of margins. It just makes it that much more exciting to see the progress we have made. They are putting in the work and playing with confidence. I am very pleased." -Anne Kordes, head UofL Volleyball coach.

It didn't come easy for the Cards...who took the highly contested match 25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-9. 

Louisville roared out to an early lead in game one and at 12-4, looked to be catching the Fighting Illini unfocused and unprepared. A Illinois rally made it 17-13 but Lola led the Cards on a 5-0 run after that to snuff the UofI surge. 

The Cards appeared to have the edge early in game two and actually led 11-7, forcing a Illinois timeout. Still in command at 20-15, Louisville ran into some inspired blocking at the net and was outscored 10-3 the rest of the game to knot the contest at 1-1. 

Game three saw the Cards jump out early again and grab a 8-3 advantage. Lola continued to fuel the Cards progress and enjoyed dominance at 14-6 and 21-11. Aided by Kaitlynn James and Emily Juhl late...the Cards coasted in with a eight-point victory. 

Illinois would not go away, though and hung tough with the Cards in game four, forcing 14 ties and five lead changes in the hotly contested battle. The Cards posted a 22-21 lead after a Lola kill...but UofI swept the final four points to knot the match at 2-2.

In the deciding game, Louisville sprinted out to a 8-2 edge and stayed in the drivers' seat at 12-5. A Gwen Rucker block and two straight Lola spikes provided the Cards with the final three points needed to take game and match. 

Lola was named All-Tournament for her efforts. 

The Cards return to the KFC YUM! Center for the Louisville Invitational on Friday and Saturday...with UNLV, Middle Tennessee and Miami (FL) the other participants. 

FIELD HOCKEY DOWNS OHIO IN BLOOMINGTON

Paige Monsen picked a great time for her first career goal as a Cardinal, delivering at the 57 minute mark in the second half yesterday to give UofL a 2-1 win over the Bobcats in Bloomington. 

The first half provided an intense, scoreless battle until the final minute...when Elisa Garcia also got her first goal in college...driving a shot into the net with 41 seconds left on the clock.

Ohio tied it at the 56 minute mark, but Monsen retaliated for Louisville to make it 2-1 and the Cards defense kept the Bobcats out of the net the rest of the way. 

Senior goalkeeper Erin Conrad with a busy day, gathering nine saves. Louisville (4-2) takes to the road again next weekend...headed to East Lansing for games against Central Michigan and either Michigan State or American University Sept 14th and 16th.

GOOD JOB, TEDDY

Finally, props to the Football Cards who whipped the Missouri State Bears 35-7 in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Teddy Bridgewater throwing for a career high 344 yards against the Bears. 

A wonderful day for tailgating and football and most excellent results for the 2-0 Cards. It gets considerably tougher next week...North Carolina visits the Pizza bowl and they'll probably be looking for a fight after losing 28-27 to Wake Forest Saturday. The Cards 14-7 loss to the Tar Heels easily qualified as the most boring football game of the Cardinals 2011 season.
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Softball takes two and Spring Game a fun affair Saturday

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-Cards sweep Longwood 8-0, 7-1. Collins gets
no-hitter.


-Dullahan upsets Hansen in the Bluegrass Stakes


-Spring Football game showcases Teddy's Talent


Louisville softball took two from Longwood yesterday at Ulmer Stadium...Tori Collins getting the first no-hitter of her collegiate career in the first game. 


The Cards go to 37-2 with the win and can get out the broom and sweep the series with a Sunday game at noon today against the Farmville, VA squad.


GAME ONE

Louisville wasted no time getting an early lead against the Lancers. Jennifer Esteban and Katie Keller socked back to back singles in the bottom of the first and Alicja Wolny drew a walk. The bases were covered in Cards for Taner Fowler who singled to bring Esteban home. Jordan Trimble got the Cards fourth single of the inning and Keller scored to make it 2-0 UofL. Hannah Kiyohara got the second base on balls off Longwood starting pitcher Ashley Cornell which allowed Wolny to greet the home plate umpire. 3-0 Cards after one inning. 

Louisville increased the margin to 5-0 in the second. Esteban getting her second single of the game and Keller pounded a double to center next. Wolny drove both home with a single and the Cards were well in command after two. 


Meanwhile, Collins was dominating inside the pitching circle, allowing just one base runner on a walk in the second inning. Louisville added a run in the third when Esteban lifted a sacrifice fly that scored Kayla Soles. 

The Cards ended it in the bottom of the fifth. Soles started the inning with a double and scored on Hannah Kiyohara's triple. Whitney Arion doubled home Kiyohara to make it 8-0 and end the contest because of the "mercy" rule. 


Collins goes to 17-1 with the no-hitter. She struck out eight Lancers in her five innings of work. Four Cards had two hits in the white-wash.


GAME TWO


Once again, the Cards put runs on the board early. After a Kristin Austin single and Esteban walk, Wolny drove in both with a single to give the Cards an early 2-0 lead after one inning.

Wolny would lead the Cards again in the bottom of the second. After Kiyohara walked and Arion reached on a bunt, Austin singled to fill the bags with Cards. Esteban tapped a grounder and Kiyohara beat the throw to the plate to make it 3-0. That set the stage for Wolny's double which scored Arion and Austin. Wolny scored on a Fowler single and the Cards were in control 6-0 as the team went to the third inning. 


Louisville pushed their final run across in the bottom  of the third. Once again, Wolny figured in the tally...singling with two outs and getting home on a Fowler double. 

Sandy Pearsall used both Caralisa Connell and Chelsea Leonard in Game Two...Connell getting the start and win to go to 13-1 on the season. She pitched four innings of one run, two hit ball before giving way to Leonard. Leonard earned her eighth save of the season by shutting out the Lancers over the final two innings and striking out three Longwood batters. 

Sunday is the Cards "pink" game so get out and support Breast Cancer Awareness by wearing your Pink at Ulmer today! 


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DULLAHAN, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, unleashed a furious stretch run at Keeneland Saturday to catch front running HANSEN and win the Bluegrass Stakes by a length. 


It looked like HANSEN had put away challenger GUNG HO as the horses charged down the Keeneland stretch and was well on the way to victory...but DULLAHAN switched from the rail to the center of the poly-turf and gained rapidly on the leader...catching the grey just shortly before the wire and breezing by for the win.


DULLAHAN went off at 3-1 odds. HANSEN was the 6-5 favorite. Sonja long-shot favorite GUNG HO held on for third and HOLY CANDY came from far back to finish a rapidly closing fourth.  


The trifecta (6-4-2)paid $82.25 on a .50 cent wager and the .10 cent superfecta (6-4-2-9) returned $148.92. 


Dullahan               8.40 3.60 3.00
Hansen                         3.20  2.60
Gung Ho                               9.20


Not a bad return on investment. Two trifecta box tickets purchased for $24 returned $164.50. A .10 superfecta wheel cost $24 and returned $148.92. Straight out bets of $4 across the board on Hansen and Gung Ho cost $24 and returned $11.60 on Hansen and $18.40 on Gung Ho. 


We wonder if Hansen is capable of getting the mile and a quarter distance of the Kentucky Derby in first after losing the 1 1/8 mile distance Saturday in Lexington. Or, is Dullahan just that good in the stretch?


We'll know in 3 weeks.


BODEMEISTER ran away and hid from the field in the Arkansas Derby with Mike Smith on board...winning by almost 10 lengths. Trained by Bob Baffert, who also had second place finisher SECRET CIRCLE, the chestnut 3 yr. old went off at 2-1 odds. "The Bode" is now Paul's pick to win the Derby. 


Well played, sir.

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Over 15,000 attended the Spring game

The Louisville Football Spring Game on Saturday was a fun afternoon of pre and post game tailgating and the precision passing of sophomore UofL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.   

Poobah in disguise in a blue shirt and seen here calling
security to have Sonja locked up. 

The format featured Bridgewater and the first string offense and defense and Will Stein and the second string offense against the second string defense. It was Louisville against the Cardinals and Stein's squad got a 21 point advantage to begin the game. 

Poobah has gathered several devout followers
but the "Chair of the Divine (Miller) Lite" has
not been filled yet. 

WE were impressed with Teddy's accuracy and his hookups with former Ballard great DeVante Parker and Louisville Trinity grad Scott Radcliffe. It also looks like Louisville will have no shortage of capable and talented running backs this year. Senorise Perry, Dominique Brown, Jeremy Wright and Corvin Lamb will all keep defenses honest with their carrying skills. 

Tillie the Tour guide proved to us later that she
knows how to display the "L" the correct way. 

The rain early Saturday morning was a bit depressing weather...yeah it was ominous as we prepared to go over to Papa John's. Rained on us, in fact, pretty heavily as we made the drive to Floyd and Central. Just as we reached the I-65 cutoff for Eastern Parkway, though, the raindrops stopped and the rest of the day turned out beautifully. 

Upon arrival, we met up with CARDINAL COUPLE readers and staff members Tillie the Tour Guide and Tom the Transportation Captain. WE discussed shortening Tom's title to something like Tranny Tom or Tom the Trans-Sport but the motion was tabled when the "Tillie-ritas" (her EXCELLENT version of Maragarita's) came out.  

Poobah  details the events surrounding his trip to remove
Bobby Petrino from Fayetteville and his subsequent addition
of four Guatemalian engineers to his palace staff. 

The couple of hours before kickoff seemed to fly by. Plenty of Cardinal fans stopped by our tailgate staging area to say "Hi!" and, fortified with delicious food and beverage...we were prepared to make the walk inside PJCS and get an early look at the 2012 Football Cards.

Cardinal Couple readers and good friends Bill and
Barbara Hancock offer to take Sonja away from our
tailgate area and put her in a secure and safe area.

The crowd wandered inside in typical tawdy and casual Louisville fashion as the contest began. A brief second quarter rain sent some to the parking lot but most just sought higher, covered seating or braved the short shower out. It was 24-14 at the half and public address Sean Moth was covering the contest from field. He got Cards engaged in a side-to-side chant of "Go...Cards" and it could be a popular cheering tactic when the regular season arrives. 


Louisville has the potential to be great this year on the gridiron but needs to bolster the thin offensive line ranks. Two O-Line Cardinals suffered injuries early in the first quarter...but neither injury appeared to be serious and both are expected to be ready for fall practice. 

Popular Louisville Sports Report and local media impresario
Howie Lindsey stopped by to exchange greetings with our
group and take photos. He is seen here reacting to our shouts
that the stadium is in the opposite direction. 

Teddy's team defeated Stein's Squad 27-24 in the Spring Game but just because the contest was over didn't mean that the parking lot festivities were through. 

Several K.B.'s are hidden in this group of
Poobah disciples. They must be sought out,
revealed and eliminated.  

Plenty of Cardinal fans fired up the grills and brought the coolers back out for post-game discussions, bean bag toss and tailgating. We also were blessed with a group-consciousness vision and apperance of POOBAH. He appeared before us in his red chariot of fire, sacramental beverages magically appeared with this vision and he spoke of things relevant, forecasted future events and appearing with him our...the legendary "five horse" BABS. She brought word of her encounters with the evil Kitchen Biotches...the demons that have brought us all pain, suffering and bloating.


Poobah also revealed his dislike of a certain type of steak and told parables of the epic "battle of the mulch" and his "against all odds" winter campaign and victory...armed with only a rope and plastic garbage can lid. He then magically disappeared again and we departed as well shortly thereafter, honored and a bit humbled with this unexpected revelation. 


A great afternoon for football, fun and friends. WE arrived home a few hours later just in time to see Hansen's disappointing defeat on television and several hours later...were fast asleep after a full and rewarding day of gridiron and socializing.  
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Women's Soccer and basketball today

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SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Exhibition game for hoops team today at 3 p.m.

-Women's soccer quarterfinal match at 1 p.m.

-Football gets a win Saturday

-Field Hockey travels to Northwestern

The 2011-12 University of Louisville women's basketball team starts it up

today with a 3 p.m. exhibition game against Lindsey Wilson. CARDINAL COUPLE will be there to cover the action and give you a full report later
this evening on the results.

Interesting matchup against former teammate Ashley Rainey and potential future teammate Monny Niamke today for Louisville. Rainey had a spectacular season last year for Linsdey Wilson after leaving Louisville in mid-season two years ago.

Niamke chose Lindsey Wilson when it was determined that she didn't qualify academically for Louisville this summer. The French point guard will tangle with the Cards and we'll be interested to see how she matches up with her possible future teammates.

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The UofL women's soccer team plays in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST tournament today at Cardinal Park against Providence. Game time is 1 p.m. The Cards have been on a hot streak lately and drew a first round bye in the tourney. Providence got past Rutgers 1-0 to advance to today's game.

The Cards beat the Friars 1-0 in a regular season matchup this year. WE'LL have the results of that one for you, too, later today.

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Nice win yesterday for the football Cards, defeating Syracuse 27-10. We like the hard hitting, aggressive nature of Charlie's Strong defense and they really stepped up yesterday, keeping a Syracuse team that put up 49 points on West Virgina to just three until late in the game.

"Touchdown" Teddy Bridgewater continues to look a little better each week at quarterback and we saw the old Vic Anderson yesterday as well, running with the speed and skill that he showed as a freshman.

Headed to WVU next week. These two definitely don't like each other...

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Don't worry, Tom. You've got two
daughters that are excellent field
hockey players...

Field Hockey heads to Chicago to face Northwestern today in their final game of the regular season. Cards will join Syracuse, Connecticut and Villanova in the BIG EAST tournament next week.

The Cards are in fourth place in the seven team league. With Syracuse leaving, the league will drop to six teams. Neither Pittsburgh or West Virginia have field hockey teams.

The Cards have had a good season with first year coach Justine Sowry. Former Cardinal field hockey coach Pam Bustin is having success, too. Her Duke Blue Devils team went 11-5, 2-2 in the regular season and will play in the ACC Tournament next week.

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