Teddy Bridgewater has three touchdown passes, and a game that looked like it could have featured an upset bid is starting to get out of hand, as the No. 10 Louisville Cardinals are now up a pair of scores on the Temple Owls, 31-17.
Montel Harris has been great for the Owls with 111 yards on 13 carries, but Bridgewater is tearing the Owls apart with his arm. The score was tied 14-14 after the first quarter, and it was tied again after a field goal for each team, but two unanswered Louisville touchdowns aren't good for Temple's hopes of handing the Cardinals their first loss of the season.
The Cardinals boomed a 36-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter. Temple's next drive featured several nice runs, with Harris and quarterback Chris Coyer each busting out long gainers, but stalled in Louisville territory as Brandon McManus tied the game up again with a 34-yarder.
DeVante Parker caught a 27-yard jump ball in double coverage to get the Cardinals into Temple territory, and Bridgewater tossed a 22-yard strike to Andrell Smith near the pylon, but Jeremy Wright is the one who punched in a three-yard run to put Louisville up 24-17.
Harris had more big runs and bounced off a tackle to pick up a fourth-and-1 conversion on Temple's next drive, but true freshman Kyle Friend -- starting his first game at center -- pushed a snap well over Coyer's head, forcing the quarterback to sprint to fall on the ball for a loss of about 20 yards. Coyer had earlier fumbled on the exchange to give Louisville short field position, so the Owls' adjustment to a new inexperienced center is really hurting them.
Following the punt, Louisville had three minutes to extend the lead and all three timeouts. Senorise Perry picked up 23 on the ground on the first play to open the field for a play action pass and quarterback scramble, both of which got first downs. A few plays later, Bridgewater finished the drive off with an easy 14-yard toss to Andrell Smith in single coverage on a post route to put the Cardinals up two scores. Temple couldn't put together a drive on its last possession of the half and eventually kneeled.