Sunday, September 08, 2002
Cardinals rebound from UK loss
Louisville 40, Duke 3
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. — Things were back to normal at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday night.
There was no wild celebration by the Duke fans, no tearing down of the goal posts, just John L. Smith greeting each of his Louisville players with a hug as the entered the locker room following a 40-3 victory over the Blue Devils.
Dave Ragone threw for 258 yards and Louisville's defense held Duke without a first down in the opening 28 minutes one week after the Blue Devils snapped the nation's longest losing streak at 23.
“We still have a long way to go because that should have been 70,” Smith said of the final point total. “But we did some good things.”
Louisville (1-1), the favorite to win Conference USA for a third straight season, dropped out of the top 25 after a surprising 22-17 home loss to Kentucky last Sunday.
But the Cardinals rebounded without much of a problem behind Ragone, a much improved offensive line and a stingy defense that recorded three sacks in the first quarter, including a safety.
Louisville hasn't had consecutive regular-season losses since October 1998.
“People are completely down on us and that's fine,” said Ragone, who finished 23-for-34. “We just want the people who have been with us the whole time. The bandwagon is now gone — it's unhitched. We weren't used to the focus and I'm glad we don't have it any more.”
Smith didn't sit still after the loss to the Wildcats, making some lineup changes and switching Ragone from the shotgun to under center.
The shake up worked as the Cardinals outgained Duke 452-175.
“Our philosophy has always been when you get in trouble get back to the '90s, get back to the three-step drop and get under center and throw it quick,” Smith said.
“We've got to continue to analyze ourselves, analyze our coaching, what the kids can do and what they can't do and give them things they can have success with. Maybe we were putting too much pressure on Dave putting him in the shotgun. I don't remember him dropping one tonight. We've reverted back to our comfort zone.”
Ragone was sacked three times and knocked down on 19 other occasions in the season opener. The senior had plenty of time to pass on this night, going 18-for-24 in the opening half as the Cardinals took a 26-3 lead.
“I'll be able to sleep, so that's an improvement,” Ragone said.
Duke (1-1) limited East Carolina to 155 total yards in a 23-16 win to open the season, but it went six straight series without a first down to fall into an early hole against the Cardinals.
After the early safety, Ragone hit his favorite target, tight end Ronnie Ghent, from 4 yards out with the first of his two first-half touchdown passes.
Ghent caught seven balls in the opening 30 minutes and finished with a career-high 10 catches, including his second TD with 1:38 left.
“This is how it was supposed to be the first time,” Ghent said of the Louisville offense. “We're ready now.”
Ragone had two TD passes called back by penalties two drives later and Louisville had to settle for a 20-yard field goal.
Duke had not approached midfield at this point and went for it on fourth-and-1 from its own 38 trailing 12-0. However, quarterback Chris Dapolito was stuffed for no gain on a keeper.
“At that time we needed to do something to keep our defense off the field,” Duke coach Carl Franks said. “They just kept going back out there and back out there.”
“As a coach you are kind of grasping at straws at that point because you're not having a lot of success,” Smith said. “I guess they felt like they had to do that.”
The risky move backfired.
Six seconds later, Ragone found Dontay Spillman in the end zone for a 19-point cushion 7:21 before the half.
“I was sick to my stomach last week,” Spillman said of the Kentucky loss. “We worked pretty hard this week. We were sharp and we showed it tonight.”
Things got worse for Duke less than five minutes after the Spillman play. Trey McDonald's punt was blocked by Brandon Johnson, who then picked the ball up and raced 26 yards untouched for another Louisville touchdown.
Duke's only score of the half came on a 48-yard field goal by Brent Garber, who made a 56-yarder last Saturday against the Pirates.
Alex Wade, a 261-pound tailback who carried much of the load for Duke last weekend with 109 yards, was held to 13 on four carries as the Blue Devils had to abandon the running game after falling behind.
“We didn't seem to have the same intensity level offensively as we did against East Carolina,” Franks said.
Sports Stories
Expect another big-time slugfest
Once again, Bengals fail to sell out season opener
Jones: Life as a Rookie
Keys to the game
The Edge
By the numbers
Isolation booth: Frerotte vs. McNeil
NFL notebook
Curnutte picks the NFL
Curnutte's NFL power ratings
Brewers 9, Reds 6
Reds Box, Runs
When is a start not a start?
Fay: Reds Q&A
Reds chatter
Reds notebook
Cinergy Moments
Astros 6, Dodgers 1
Cardinals 6, Cubs 5, 13 innings
Pirates 4, Marlins 1
Yankees' Wells attacked by man at New York diner
Baseball insider
Baseball power rankings
Soft-spoken QB earns teammates' trust
Dixie Heights 28, CovCath 0
Meadowdale 47, Taft 0
NewCath 35, Scott 14
Purcell Marian 28, Amelia 0
Groeschen: Taft-Goshen cancellation regrettable
Schmidt: New alignment to affect local rivalries
Off the Court with Grace Kammerer
Down a player, Milford holds on for 1-1 tie
Boys cross country results
Boys golf results
Boys soccer results
Field hockey results
Girls cross country results
Girls soccer results
Girls tennis results
Volleyball results
Cardinals rebound from UK loss
