Stefan LeFors completed his first 13 passes, threw for one touchdown and ran for another in Louisville's 41-9 victory over South Florida on Friday night.
LeFors finished 21-of-26 for 242 yards for the 15th-ranked Cardinals (5-1, 3-0 Conference USA), who bounced back from last week's 41-38 loss to No. 4 Miami.
Louisville, third in the nation in total offense, racked up 517 yards and reached 40 points for the eighth time in 19 games under second-year coach Bobby Petrino.
The sputtering Bulls (2-4, 1-3) finished with 203 yards and 13 first downs.
LeFors, completing 75.6 percent of his passes coming into the game, lost his perfect game when J.R. Russell missed a diving attempt with 1:03 left in the first half. Art Carmody salvaged the drive with a 34-yard field goal that gave the Cardinals a 27-3 halftime lead.
Russell finished with eight catches for 111 yards.
The Bulls gained only 40 yards on 27 plays in the first half. Sophomore quarterback Pat Julmiste misfired on 12 of 13 passes before halftime, with many of his incompletions coming on drops by receivers.
The Cardinals glided into South Florida territory on their first three possessions. Senior tight end Adam McCauley caught three passes on Louisville's first scoring march, including his first career TD reception with 5:21 left in the opening quarter.
The Bulls went three-and-out from inside their own 10-yard line and Montrell Jones returned a short punt to the South Florida 26. Three plays later, Michael Bush ran into the corner of the end zone on a sweep for a 14-0 lead.
RSS