LOUISVILLE 31 MIAMI 7
Cardinals clobber ?Canes, lose QB
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Will Graves
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOUISVILLE, Ky. ? University of Miami players started the day by stomping on the Louisville Cardinal logo in the middle of field. That might be the last sign of swagger the Hurricanes show for a while.
Three hours later, it was the Louisville fans on the field after one of the biggest wins in school history.
No. 12 Louisville dominated No. 17 Miami 31-7 yesterday, gaining the signature win it has been searching for under coach Bobby Petrino even as the Cardinals (3-0) lost a Heisman Trophy hopeful to injury.
Quarterback Brian Brohm suffered a dislocated thumb on his right (throwing) hand in the third quarter and will miss three to six weeks. He threw for 181 yards and a touchdown before giving way to backup Hunter Cantwell, who finished off the Hurricanes with 113 yards and a touchdowns pass.
"I think it just shows how deep we are and how much talent we have," said Brohm, who expects to be back by the time the Cardinals play host to No. 5 West Virginia on Nov. 2. "Just to go out there on home field and put it to Miami like that, it felt good."
Miami (1-2) will probably find itself out of the rankings for the first time since 1999 when the polls come out today.
"Well it was pretty obvious today we were embarrassed," Miami coach Larry Coker said. "Our players are embarrassed, our coaches are embarrassed. We thoroughly got whipped."
The Cardinals had already lost one Heisman Trophy contender for the season when running back Michael Bush suffered a broken leg in the season opener.
Kolby Smith, one of a committee of backs used to replace Bush, ran for two touchdowns as Louisville beat a ranked opponent from a Bowl Championship Series conference for the first time since 2002.
"They?re always saying that we can?t win the big one," Smith said. "They?re saying that we?ve beat up on other teams and we haven?t beat a ranked team. ?To go out and win a game in that fashion, it says a lot about our team."
Miami quarterback Kyle Wright threw for 278 yards but spent most of the second half running from a fierce Louisville pass rush that sacked him four times.
The Cardinals rallied from an early deficit to take a 10-7 lead at the half on a 56-yard touchdown pass from Brohm to Mario Urrutia. They were marching again on their first drive of the third quarter when Brohm fell on his hand while scrambling.
He got up holding his hand and was replaced by Cantwell, who started two games for the Cardinals last season ? including a Gator Bowl loss to Virginia Tech.
Smith scored on a 4-yard run one play after Cantwell entered the game. On the next possession, Cantwell stepped up and threw a 45-yard strike to Harry Douglass to set up a 1-yard run by Smith that made it 24-7. "I guess emotions got the better of a lot of guys and we went out there and couldn?t back it up on the field," Miami offensive lineman Anthony Wollschlager said.