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MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- No. 22 Louisville put the finishing touches on the most successful season in school history as Dave Ragone passed for three touchdowns in a 28-10 victory over 17th-ranked Brigham Young in the Liberty Bowl. The Cardinals set a school record with their 11th win, surpassing the 1990 team that went 10-1-1 under Howard Schnellenberger and defeated Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl. "What I've always said about this team is we might not have the most talent, but we have the most heart and we play together," Ragone said. "You guys (in the media) better take a picture now because this is one of the best Louisville teams to come through in here." Louisville (11-2) held BYU to its lowest point total of the season. The Cougars struggled without Doak Walker Award winner Luke Staley and dropped to 0-6 in bowl games east of the Mississippi River. "They didn't have all their weapons here, but we felt we had to prepare for them like they did," Louisville coach John L. Smith said. "Our defense came out and played extremely well. It wasn't one of those high-scoring affairs everybody thought it was going to be, and it worked to our benefit." Staley, who rushed for a school-record 1,582 yards and 24 touchdowns despite missing two games, suffered a broken left leg in BYU's win over Mississippi State on December 1. Last week, he announced he will forgo his senior year to enter the NFL draft. After campaigning hard for a berth in the Bowl Championship Series, BYU (12-2) dropped its final two games. The Cougars were routed by Hawaii, 72-45, in their regular-season finale. "(Not having Staley) makes a big difference," BYU coach Gary Crowton said. "He's a very good player. He's very explosive. That was 28 TDs this year. We missed Luke, but we've got to move forward because he won't be here next year." The turning point of the game may have come late in the first half, when Crowton's decision to fake a punt at the BYU 40 backfired. The Cougars failed to convert the first down and Louisville took advantage, grabbing a 14-7 lead on Ragone's one-yard toss to Chip Mattingly with 14 seconds left in the second quarter. "The faked punt probably gave them some momentum going into the half because there was only about two minutes left," Crowton said. "At that time, I felt like they wouldn't be expecting it, but we didn't execute it well. I was hoping to get a big play with that so we would have momentum, but it didn't work." BYU took the second-half kickoff and held the ball for more than seven minutes before settling for Matt Payne's 29-yard field goal with 7:58 left in the third quarter. BYU was held to 276 total yards, less than half its season average. "Our defense has carried us all year against some great competition," Ragone said. "They stepped up when they had to and they did today. They stopped a great offense." Louisville reached the end zone of its first possession of the second half, taking a 21-10 lead on Ragone's 34-yard TD pass to Deion Branch with 4:15 left in the period. BYU again drove into Louisville territory on its next possession, only to have Brian Doman throw an interception. "I wish I could go back and play that game (again) because I think we just had a couple miscues," Doman said. "The receivers and I just weren't on the same page. I look back at the game. It's not how I wanted to finish my senior year of college football." Ragone, who led Conference USA with more than 3,000 yards and 23 touchdown passes, was 19-of-28 for 228 yards. He put away the contest with a 49-yard TD strike to Ronnie Gant 49 seconds into the final quarter. Louisville rebounded from last season's 22-17 loss to Colorado State in the Liberty Bowl and restored some pride for Conference USA, which had been 0-3 in bowl games this season. East Carolina, Texas Christian and Cincinnati all dropped bowl games. Doman passed for more than 3,500 yards and 33 touchdowns during the season but was held to 192 yards against the nation's 10th-best scoring defense. He completed just 18-of-37 passes and threw two interceptions. Without Staley, BYU's running game was ineffective. Paul Peterson paced the Cougars on the ground with 73 yards. "I'm proud of this team even though we lost this game," Crowton said. "It would have been nice to get this game, but I give Louisville a lot of credit. They played hard and made plays when they needed to make them." Branch gave the Cardinals an early spark, returning the opening kickoff 70 yards to set up Henry Miller's one-yard TD run. "I thought that was a big lift to start the game off right," Branch said. "We got the score early and got our confidence up." The Cougars got their only touchdown when offensive tackle Dustin Rykert took a lateral behind the line and rumbled 10 yards to tie it with 7:56 left in the first quarter. |
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