2013 Louisville Cardinals football team

The 2013 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cardinals were led by fourth-year head coach Charlie Strong. The Cardinals played their home games at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. They were in their last year as a member of the American Athletic Conference (formerly known as the Big East) until they moved to the Atlantic Coast Conference starting on July 1, 2014. They finished the season 12–1, 7–1 in American Athletic play to finish in second place. They were invited to the Russell Athletic Bowl where they defeated Miami (FL).

2013 Louisville Cardinals football
Russell Athletic Bowl champion
Russell Athletic Bowl, W 36–9 vs. Miami (FL)
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 15
AP	No. 15
2013 record	12–1 (7–1 The American)
Head coach	Charlie Strong (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Shawn Watson (3rd season)
Offensive scheme	Pro-style
Defensive coordinator	Vance Bedford (4th season)
Base defense	4–3
Home stadium	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium (Capacity: 55,000)

2013 American Athletic Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 10 UCF $		8	–	0					12	–	1
No. 15 Louisville		7	–	1					12	–	1
Cincinnati		6	–	2					9	–	4
Houston		5	–	3					8	–	5
SMU		4	–	4					5	–	7
Rutgers		3	–	5					6	–	7
UConn		3	–	5					3	–	9
South Florida		2	–	6					2	–	10
Memphis		1	–	7					3	–	9
Temple		1	–	7					2	–	10
$ – BCS representative as conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Cardinals finished the 2012 season 11–2, 5–2 in Big East play to finish in a four-way tie for the Big East championship. As the highest rated of the four Big East champions in the final BCS poll, the Cardinals received the conference's automatic bid into a BCS game. It marked also the first time the Cardinals won back-to-back BIG EAST titles. Louisville finished a remarkable season by defeating third-ranked Florida 33–23 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, giving the Cardinals their 11th win for just the fourth time in school history.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 1	3:30 p.m.	Ohio*	No. 9	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ESPN	W 49–7	55,332
September 7	12:00 p.m.	Eastern Kentucky*	No. 8	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ESPN3	W 44–7	53,647
September 14	12:00 p.m.	at Kentucky*	No. 7	Commonwealth Stadium Lexington, KY (Battle for the Governor's Cup)	ESPN	W 27–13	65,445
September 21	12:00 p.m.	FIU*	No. 7	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	WHAS	W 72–0	51,586
October 5	12:00 p.m.	at Temple	No. 7	Lincoln Financial Field Philadelphia, PA	AAN	W 30–7	21,709
October 10	7:30 p.m.	Rutgers	No. 8	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ESPN	W 24–10	55,168
October 18	8:00 p.m.	UCF	No. 8	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ESPN	L 35–38	55,215
October 26	12:00 p.m.	at South Florida	No. 18	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL	ESPN2	W 34–3	35,782
November 8	8:30 p.m.	at UConn	No. 20	Rentschler Field East Hartford, CT	ESPN2	W 31–10	27,104
November 16	7:00 p.m.	Houston	No. 19	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ESPNU	W 20–13	53,027
November 23	12:00 p.m.	Memphis	No. 21	Papa John's Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY (rivalry)	AAN	W 24–17	46,421
December 5	7:30 p.m.	at Cincinnati	No. 19	Nippert Stadium Cincinnati, OH (Battle for the Keg of Nails)	ESPN	W 31–24 ^OT	35,097
December 28	6:45 p.m.	vs. Miami (FL)*	No. 18	Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium Orlando, FL (Russell Athletic Bowl)	ESPN	W 36–9	51,098
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	9	8	7	7	7	7	8	8	18	20	20	19	21	21	19	18	15
Coaches	9	8	7	6	7	7	8	6	16	17	16	13	15	16	16	16	15
Harris	Not released							6	16	16	16	14	16	18	17	16	Not released
BCS	Not released								20	19	20	20	21	20	19	18	Not released

Roster

2013 Louisville Cardinals football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 2 Michaelee Harris Jr WR 3 Robert Clark Jr QB 5 Teddy Bridgewater Jr WR 7 Damian Copeland Sr WR 9 DeVante Parker Jr RB 10 Dominique Brown Jr QB 11 Will Gardner Fr QB 12 Brett Nelson Jr TE 15 Hunter Bowles Fr WR 17 DeMarcus Topp Sr RB 20 Corvin Lamb So RB 23 Brandon Radcliff Fr WR 29 Stephen Goodwin Sr WR 30 Diaz Bolden Fr WR 31 DeQuan West Fr RB 32 Senorise Perry Sr FB 36 Luke Brohm So WR 37 Martin Williams Fr FB 42 Tyler Sharp So FB 44 B. J. Butler Sr OL 53 Jake Smith Jr OL 54 Mike Romano So OL 60 Joe Manley Fr OL 62 T. C. Klusman Fr OL 63 Josh Stearns So OL 64 David Noltemeyer Jr OL 68 Kamran Joyner Sr OL 69 Chris Walker Sr OL 70 John Miller Jr OL 71 Chris Acosta Jr OL 73 Henry Vincent Fr OL 74 Ryan Mack So OL 75 Sid Anvoots Fr OL 76 Chase Petersen So OL 77 Abraham Garcia So OL 78 Aaron Epps So OL 79 Jamon Brown Jr TE 80 Zeke Pike Fr WR 82 Eli Rogers Jr TE 83 Ryan Hubbell Jr WR 86 Matt Milton Jr WR 87 Kai Dominguez Jr WR 88 Jarrett Davis Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 1 Keith Brown So LB 2 Preston Brown Sr CB 3 Charles Gaines So S 8 Gerod Holliman Fr DE 11 B. J. Dubose Jr DB 12 Stephan Robinson Jr LB 13 James Burgess So CB 15 Andrew Johnson Jr DL 97 DeAngelo Brown So DL 98 Sheldon Rankins So DL 99 Jamaine Brooks Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 8 Ryan Johnson Jr LS 33 Grant Donovan Sr K 35 Anthony George Fr K 40 Joshua Appleby So K 41 Matthew Nakatani Jr P 45 John Wallace So	Head coach Charlie Strong Coordinators/assistant coaches Vance Bedford Defensive Coordinator Dave Borbely Offensive Line Kenny Carter Running Backs/Special Teams Coordinator Ron Dugans Wide Receivers Clint Hurtt Defensive Line Brian Jean-Mary Linebackers Sherrone Moore Tight Ends Pat Moorer Strength and Conditioning Tommy Restivo Secondary Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster Last update: April 4, 2013

References