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Bridgewater, No. 8 Louisville down Rutgers

Oct 11, 2013 - 6:42 AM Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Teddy Bridgewater completed 21-of-31 passes for 310 yards and two touchdowns to lead eighth-ranked Louisville to a 24-10 win over Rutgers on Thursday.

Bridgewater threw one interception and fumbled once, but was able to overcome the miscues to lead the Cardinals (6-0, 2-0 AAC) to victory.

"It was a decent performance," Bridgewater said. "I left a couple of throws on the field. I battled adversity, but it was a decent performance. It was a great team effort, the guys laid it all on the line."

Senorise Perry carried the ball 13 times for 104 yards and a touchdown and Kai De La Cruz and Eli Rogers each had a touchdown reception for Louisville, which has won eight straight games dating back to last season.

The Cards were without top receiver DeVante Parker, who injured his shoulder in last week's 30-7 win over Temple.

Gary Nova completed 19-of-35 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown but threw four interceptions, including a pair of picks late in the fourth quarter for the Scarlet Knights (4-2, 1-1), who had won four straight games entering the contest.

"There are certain things you have to do in games like this because your margin of error is so small," Rutgers coach Kyle Flood said. "We didn't do those things this evening.

The Cardinals came away with points on three of their first four drives.

After leading the Cardinals down to the Rutgers' seven, Bridgewater's pass to De La Cruz fell incomplete, and Louisville settled for a 24-yard John Wallace field goal.

Louisville punted on its next touch, but the Cardinals got the ball right back as James Burgess picked off Nova and returned it to the Rutgers' 35. Two plays later, and less than a minute into the second quarter, Bridgewater connected with De La Cruz for a 34-yard touchdown.

Perry's 1-yard TD plunge capped a 7-play, 80-yard drive to give Louisville a 17-0 lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half.

Nova got the Knights on the board with his 1-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft to make it 17-7 at the break.

Kyle Federico drilled a 36-yard field goal early in the fourth to pull Rutgers within a touchdown.

Bridgewater drove deep into Rutgers' territory on the ensuing drive, but was sacked and fumbled on the 5-yard line, and the Scarlet Knights took over.

Nova, though, threw an interception four plays later.

Louisville looked to make it a 10-point game, but Wallace missed a 45-yarder with just under six minutes left to keep Rutgers' hopes alive.

Those hopes were quickly erased as Nova was picked off once again. Bridgewater then connected with Rogers for a 6-yard touchdown to seal the win.

Game Notes

Thursday marked the last conference meeting between the two schools. Rutgers will become a member of the ACC next season. Damian Copeland caught eight passes for 115 yards for Louisville ... De La Cruz left the game in the third quarter with an apparent leg injury ... Rutgers holds a narrow 7-6 advantage in the all-time series ... Nova has eight interceptions this season.