PHILADELPHIA -- Louisville's three-headed monster at
tailback made things quite frightening for Temple.
The Cardinals used a rotating tailback approach to cover for the
sidelined Michael Bush as they rolled to a 62-0 victory over
hapless Temple, which has lost 14 straight games.
George Stripling ran for two touchdowns and Kolby Smith and
Sergio Spencer also found the end zone in a huge first half for
Louisville (2-0), which scored on 10 straight possessions into
the third period as it tuned up for next week's showdown with
Miami.
"It was a good win for us," Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said.
"I thought our players did a good job of the short week in
preparation and getting ready for the game.
"Miami's a great football team. It will certainly be a great
challenge for us. I don't know if (this game) helps, but
anytime you play, it helps. We got a lot of guys in."
Bush, a senior, ran for 128 yards and three TDs in last week's
rout of Kentucky but was lost for the season when he broke his
right leg in the third quarter. He didn't figure to be missed
much this week, and he wasn't.
Filling in were Stripling, Smith and Spencer, who combined for
230 yards and five TDs. They ran roughshod over the Owls and
helped the Cardinals build a 42-0 halftime lead that had the
sparse crowd at Lincoln Financial Field headed for the exits.
"We all have different styles of running," said Spencer, who
helped Louisville hold a 312-16 advantage in rushing yards. "We
all have our own strengths.
"We're going to rotate them in there, keep them fresh," Petrino
said. "They all do some good things and will get the carries
according to how well they perform."
Smith, who had 86 yards on just seven carries before leaving
with a minor wrist injury, began the onslaught with a three-yard
TD run midway through the first quarter.
"He's doing good," Petrino said. "We just held him out in the
second half. His wrist is fine."
Spencer, who had 72 yards on 10 carries, had a one-yard TD with
nine seconds left in the first half to cap the explosion.
"The team feeds off my energy that I bring," Spencer said. "I
talked to Michael (Bush) every day and he said, 'Keep on doing
what you're doing.'"
Stripling scored twice in between. He had 72 yards on nine
carries and added 82 yards on three receptions.
"George made some big runs and then also caught the ball and
made some good runs after the catch," Petrino said.
In the first half, Louisville outgained Temple, 443-87,
including 165-11 on the ground.
Spencer also finished off Louisville's first possession of the
second half with a four-yard touchdown.
The first half was a perfect example of why Louisville is
considered the school that can topple West Virginia from its
perch atop the Big East Conference - and why Temple is no longer
in the Big East.
"We were just outmatched and outmanned," Temple coach Al Golden
said. "They really knocked the heck out of us."
Coming off a 9-3 overtime loss to Buffalo, Temple (0-2) again
did not get into the end zone. In the third quarter, Adam
DiMichele hooked up with Jason Harper for 67 yards to the 2 but
fumbled on the next play.
"The moment was too big for us. That's the reality of it,"
Golden said. "We tried to fight through it early, (but) I could
see it in our eyes. The moment was just too big for a lot of our
guys. We're just going to keep plugging away."
The Owls have not won since a 34-24 victory over Syracuse on
November 13, 2004.
The Cardinals made it 14-0 with 4:20 left in the first quarter
when Brian Brohm threw a swing pass to Mario Urrutia, who sped
up the left sideline, got a block and went 57 yards to the end
zone.
"It just started out with a little five-yard drag," Urrutia
said. "The whole field was open for me. The next thing was to
just outrun everybody."
Lineman Kurt Quarterman, used as a back in short-yardage
situations, had a one-yard TD run 2:43 into the second period.
Stripling added scoring jaunts of 17 and three yards less than
six minutes apart.
Brohm completed 16-of-29 passes for 307 yards and one TD,
sitting down early in the third quarter. Urrutia had five
catches for 110 yards.
"We knew that we could come out and score," Brohm said. " We
just had to go out and do it. We were basically stopping
ourselves (early). I did all right. We got the victory and
that's all that matters."
DiMichele was 9-of-17 for 165 yards and an interception.