Louisville, KY – Teddy Bridgewater completed 30-of-39 passes for 344 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns to lead No. 23 Louisville to a 35-7 win over Missouri State on Saturday.
"He is a really great football player," Louisville coach Charlie Strong said of his quarterback. "He has been able to get better week by week. He is placing the ball in the right spots and the receivers are catching the ball."
Senorise Perry carried the ball 19 times for 72 yards and a touchdown and Nate Nord caught four balls for 59 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinals (2-0), who will host North Carolina on Sept. 15.
Ashton Glaser went 14-for-23 through the air for 125 yards and a touchdown and Cadarrius Dotson caught four balls for 50 yards and a touchdown for the Bears (0-2), who are just 1-28 all-time against FBS programs.
"We have some things to work on," Glaser admitted. "We are starting to get better, but we had some foolish penalties. We had some missed throws and we had some dropped passes, just some things that we have to get better at."
Louisville got on the board on its second possession when Matthew Nakatani sent one through the uprights from 19-yards out, capping a 9-play, 75-yard drive.
Perry capped a 12-play, 70-yard drive with a 3-yard plunge and Will Stein found Marcus Smith in the end zone for the two-point conversion and the Cardinals went up 11-0. Bridgewater found Andrell Smith for 21 yards to put the ball on Missouri State's 4-yard line and after getting stood up on the following play, Perry was able to punch it in.
Bridgewater found Nord for a 14-yard score on Louisville's first drive in the second quarter to go up 18-0. Bridgewater orchestrated a 13-play, 83-yard drive that lasted just over six minutes.
Glaser connected with Dotson for a 6-yard touchdown pass to put Missouri State on the board. Glaser completed passes for 21, 22, and 10 yards before finding Dotson.
After fumbling the opening kickoff in the second half, the Cardinals went 75 yards in 11 plays to stretch the score to 25-7, capped off with a 2-yard touchdown reception from Ryan Hubbell. Bridgewater was 4-for-4 for 51 yards on the drive, including a 23-yard completion to Nord to put Louisville on the Bears' 11-yard line.
Nakatani nailed a 45-yarder in the fourth quarter to put Louisville up 28-7.
The Cardinals added one more touchdown with 1:27 to play when Corvin Lamb broke the goal line for a 1-yard score. Jordon Paschal recovered a Missouri State fumble, but was tackled on the 1-yard line. Lamb punched it in on the very next play.
Game Notes
This was the first meeting between the two schools ... Louisville's defense held Missouri State to just 222 total yards ... The Bears have allowed just one sack in their two games this season.
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