CardinalSports.com - Game Day: Cards say good-bye to 21 seniors

November 26, 2009

Matt Willinger
CardinalSports.com Football Analyst

Rutgers (7-3, 2-3) at Louisville (4-7, 1-5)
Friday, November 27, 2009
11:00 a.m.
Louisville, KY
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (42,00)
TV: ESPN2
Radio: WHAS (840 AM)

2009 Senior Class

The Cardinals have 21 players in the 2009 senior class and have complied a 27-21 record during their four-year playing career.

Here are the 2009 Cardinals who are playing their final season: Mozell Axzon, (LB), Chris Campa (LB), Maurice Clark (WR), Daniel Covington (S), Jon Dempsey (LB), Stephen Garr (LB), Cory Goettsche (P), Trent Guy (WR), Tyler Jessen (DT), Abdul Kuyateh (OG), Scott Long (WR), Justin Mathews (S), Josh McDonald (LB), Ryan Payne (K), Richard Raglin (S), Marcus Roberts (FB), Andrew Robinson (CB), L.D. Scott (DT), Chaz Thompson (S/CB), Joe Tronzo, (FB) L.T. Walker (DT).

Setting the Stage
The University of Louisville football team will close out the 2009 season under head coach Steve Kragthorpe when the Cardinals host Rutgers on Friday, November 27 at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The game, which kicks off at 11:00 a.m., will be televised nationally by ESPN2 as Eric Collins (play-by-play) and Brock Huard will have the call. The Cardinals dropped its ninth straight road game dating back to last season, falling 34-22 to South Florida last Saturday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. to fall to 4-7 overall and 1-5 in the BIG EAST Conference.

The Cardinals totaled 22 points, which was the most since a 38-25 loss at Connecticut, but only recorded 313 yards of total off ense and had one key interception. Junior Adam Froman made his second straight start at quarterback, completing 20-of-35 passes for 232 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Scott Long, who tied his career-high for receptions with six for 96 yards.

Senior Trent Guy registered his fifth career special teams touchdown and the third punt return of his career when he raced a career best 60 yards for a touchdown to give the Cardinals a brief 16-14 lead. The Bulls would take the lead for good as time expired in the second quarter with a 22-yard field goal by Eric Schwartz. Louisville got within 27-22 when red-shirt freshman Darius Ashley went around the end and scored from 17 yards out. However, Daniels iced the game when he directed the Bulls on 75 yard, 10-play drive, which was capped off by a one-yard run by Daniels.

The Scarlet Knights and Cardinals will meet for just the ninth time in the series with Rutgers leading 6-2. Under head coach Steve Kragthorpe, the Cardinals are 1-1 against Rutgers, including the Scarlet Knights' 63-14 win over the Cardinals at Rutgers Stadium last season.

Series History

This will be the ninth meeting between the two schools and the fourth as members of the BIG EAST Conference.

Rutgers leads the overall series 6-2 and have split the last four meetings since the two teams joined the BIG EAST Conference.

The series began in 1976 with a 34-0 win for Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J..

Louisville's fi rst win in the series came in 2005 with a 55-5 win at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

This will be the third straight season the Cardinals and Scarlet Knights will close out the regular season. The teams have split those last two decisions.

Demspey Matches Junior Total

Senior linebacker Jon Dempsey is having a stellar senior season at linebacker for the Cardinals. The 6-0 senior recorded nine tackles in the loss to South Florida last Saturday and is leading the team with 107 tackles, which surpasses his entire 12-game 2008 total and with just one game to play.

Dempsey has six double-digit tackle games and has recorded seven in his 23 career contests .Dempsey is tied for 18th nationally in stops and is second in the BIG EAST in tackles at 9.73 per game.

In two seasons, Dempsey, who has started 23 straight games, has recorded 187 tackles during his career at Louisville.

Rutgers Offense Quick Notes
Rutgers leads the entire country in turnover margin at 1.90 per game... The Scarlet Knights have turned the football over just 10 times all season... Rutgers is averaging 27.5 points per game, but are averaging just 324.2 yards of total off ense... Freshman Tom Savage has thrown for 1,601 yards and 10 touchdowns this season, but is completing just 54.0 percent of his throws... Wide receiver Tim Brown is closing in on a 1,000-yard receiving season, leading the Scarlet Knights with 44 receptions for 927 yards and seven scores... Brown ranks 14th in the country in receiving yards... Joe Martinek leads Rutgers in rushing with 784 yard and eight scores.

Rutgers Defense Quick Notes
Once again, Rutgers is making its mark on the defensive side of the football... The Scarlet Knights have pitched two shutouts and have held six opponents to 15 points or less... utgers ranks 22nd in the nation in total defense (316.60 ypg), 23rd in rushing defense (109.70 ypg) and 45th in pass defense (206.90 ypg)... Rutgers is ranked fourth in the country in tackles for loss per game at 8.30 and are 15th in sacks at 2.90 per game... Jonanthan Freeny is tied for 24th nationally in sacks at .75 per game... The Scarlet Knights are yielding just 17.1 points per game, which is second in the BIG EAST... Rutgers has forced 29 turnovers on defense, 13 interceptions and 16 fumbles... 11 diff erent players have interceptions for Rutgers with David Rowe and Khaseem Greene tied with two apiece.

Last Meeting vs. Rutgers
Quarterback Mike Teel celebrated Senior Night by throwing for a BIG EAST record-tying seven touchdowns to lead Rutgers to a 63- 14 defeat of Louisville at Rutgers Stadium. A national television audience on ESPN watched the Scarlet Knights accumulate a season-high 671 total yards and post a school-record 49 first half points, as RU achieved its highest point total ever in a BIG EAST game. Teel capped his Piscataway career by setting a school single game record with 447 yards through the air, the eight-most in a game in BIG EAST history. Tim Brown was on the receiving end of 173 of those yards, marking a career-high for Brown and tying for the 11th-most in a game in RU history. Five different players caught touchdowns for the Scarlet Knights, including two by Brown and two by senior Tiquan Underwood.

Campa All Over the Field

Senior Chris Campa continues to put together an All-Conference caliber season for the
Cardinals through 11games of the 2009 season. Campa, who has been in the starting lineup due to the injuries at linebacker, is second on the team in tackles with 87. He is seventh in the BIG EAST Conference in tackles.

In the loss to South Florida, Campa recorded eight tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, forced and recovered a fumble. He has had at least one tackle for loss in nine straight games and has eight in the last four contests. He also leads the team with 6.0 sacks.

He recorded a career-high 15 tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks in the 10-9 in over Syracuse. Campa has had at least seven or more tackles in seven of the 10 games this season. In his last two games, Campa has recorded 24 total tackles.

Campa recorded 37 tackles in 11 games last year.

With his two sacks last Saturday against Syracuse, Campa is tied with William Savoy for the overall team lead.

Froman Makes Sixth Start at USF

Junior Adam Froman, returned to the starting lineup against Syracuse and became the first quarterback to win two games as the starter. His record fell 2-4 as a starter following the 34-22 loss at South Florida.

He was the starter for the Cardinals in a win over Southern Mississippi and Nov. 14 versus Syracuse.

In six games as a starter, Froman is 91-for-150 for 1,100 yards and a team-high five touchdown passes. He is also completing a team-best 60.7 percent of his throws and owns a team-best 126.60 passing efficiency rating.

In his two wins this season, Froman has completed 23-of-44 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions. He is completing just 52.3 percent of his throws.

While in the four losses, he has actually put up better numbers, going 68-of-106 for 735 yards and three touchdowns and three interceptions. He is completing 64.2 percent of his passes in those four losses as a starter.

Offensive Analysis

Breaking down the Louisville offensive numbers for the season, the Cardinals have run a total of 727 plays (66.1 per game), 397 on the ground and 330 through the air. The rushing game has totaled 1,454 yards, an average of 3.7 yards per carry and 14 touchdowns. The passing attack has totaled 2,253 yards, eight touchdowns and an average of 12.2 yards a completion.

Combine the two and the Cardinals have turned in 3,707 yards of total offense and just 22 offensive touchdowns for an average of 5.1 yards per play, and just 18.5 points per game.

Louisville has gained 87 first downs by rushing, 95 by the pass and 18 by penalty. On average, Louisville averages 132.2 yards on the ground, 204.8 through the air and 337.0yards of total offense.

Beaumont Nearing 100

Junior wide receiver Doug Beaumont has played in 35 career games and has caught 97 passes for 1,190 yards, but has yet to reach the end zone. This season, Beaumont is second on the team with 35 receptions for 440 yards after catching 62 passes for 750 yards in 2008.

That streak almost came to an end in the fourth quarter against West Virginia on Nov. 7. Trailing 17-6 in the fourth quarter, Beaumont caught a 10-yard touchdown pass, but the play was wiped out to a holding penalty. The Cardinals had to settle for a 29-yard fi eld goal.

Beaumont extended his streak for consecutive starts to 23 and has also caught a pass in a team-high 23 consecutive games.

The junior from Male High School has caught at least three or more passes in eight of the 11 games this season. He caught a season-high fi ve passes against Indiana State and Arkansas State. His 87 yards receiving against Utah was a seasons-best.

He caught a career-high nine for 119 yards in a win over Kansas state in 2008.

Sacks Killing the Cardinals

The Cardinals off ense is getting pounded by the opposition with sacks, having given up 35 sacks for 194 yards in losses. Louisville is tied for 113th in the country in sacks allowed at 3.27 per game.

The Cardinals were sacked three times against South Florida, which marked theseventh time this year that Louisville has allowed three or more sacks in a game.

Pittsburgh sacked the Cardinals seven times in a 35-10 loss to the Panthers on Oct. 2

Third Down

Louisville was pretty eff ective on third down against South Florida, going 7-of-14. Louisville converted 4-of-5 attempts in the second quarter against USF when the Cardinals scored a season-best 16 points.

The Cardinals were just 1-of-12 on third down in the win over Syracuse, including just 0-of-6 in the second half.

Louisville is just 24-of-77 on third down in the third and fourth quarter, including just 11-of-40 in the fourth. The Cardinals are converting 54.0 percent in the second quarter.

The Cardinals ranks 80th in the nation in third down conversions, converting 60-of-159 attempts. That's an average of 14.5 third down attempts per game. Louisville is also 8-of-17 on fourth down this year.

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