Louisvilles leading rusher out for the season

Louisville's leading rusher Senorise Perry was injured during Louisville's loss to Syracuse Saturday. On Monday, the Cardinals suffered another loss when Perry was declared out for the season.

Perry left the game in the first quarter. The replay showed his leg was twisted under linemen as he fell to the turf. On Monday, an MRI revealed the junior back had a torn ACL.

"He didn't take (the news) very well," Louisville coach Charlie Strong said. "He was having a great season, so he was disappointed."

Strong said his coaching staff will evaluate junior Dominique Brown, who has been sidelined while rehabbing from a knee injury.

Brown, Louisville's leading returning rusher, has not played this season. Louisville coaches had hoped to redshirt him for the season, but the Perry news may put that redshirt in jeopardy.

Strong confirmed that Brown has been practicing for weeks, but they were keeping his redshirt on in hopes they could survive the season with Perry and Jeremy Wright as the primary ball-carriers.

Without Perry, Louisville goes into the final two games of the season with Wright and sophomore Corvin Lamb.

"Well, we just gotta see how well we stack up at running back," Strong said. "You went with Senorise and Jeremy for so long, now you have Jeremy and Corvin Lamb, if we have to use Dominique we will.

"Well I think that we will be okay as a far as our running game goes. If you look, Senorise was a big part of our running game, but Jeremy is just going to have to carry a lot more of the running load. ... Your still sitting there with Dominque Brown. So we just have to wait and see what we are going to do."

Lamb had just one touch against Syracuse. He turned a quick screen pass into a 53 touchdown. Wright finished the Syracuse game with 10 carries for 29 yards.

"Lamb, you look at the screen we threw to him, he went down the field for a 53 yard touchdown," Strong said. "He is very talented player, but you miss Senorise just because he has played so much, now you gotta bring a guy who hasn't played much at all."

Perry finished the season with 714 yards. He will likely rehab throughout the end of the season and spring football before returning for a final season in 2013.