PHILADELPHIA — PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Temple coach Matt Rhule saw his players start to trudge off the field and told them to hold up. There were a few dozen fans that stuck around to the end of the Owls' latest loss and they deserved a reward for being true fans.
So Rhule asked the Owls to thank the students.
"The ones who stayed until the end of the game, I wanted to make sure our players recognized them, and recognized the fact that they
didn't leave, that they sat there and they supported them and they cheered for them all the way until the end of the game," Rhule said.
With Teddy Bridgewater playing like a future No. 1 pick, there was little for Temple fans to cheer.
Bridgewater again made the game look easy, throwing for 348 yards and two touchdowns to keep No. 7 Louisville undefeated with a 30-7 victory over winless Temple on Saturday.
He looked comfortable playing at the home of the Philadelphia Eagles, one of the many teams on hand scouting the junior who could be the top pick in next year's draft.
Yes, it's been easy for most quarterbacks to pick apart the Owls, but Bridgewater was particularly on point. He found the open receivers, hit them in double coverage, and scrambled when he needed to make throws on the run."It was a great outing," he said. "I probably left a few completions out on the field."
Not many.
Bridgewater dominated against the overwhelmed Owls (0-5, 0-2 American Athletic Conference). He threw for 228 yards in the first half to help the Cardinals roll to a 24-0 lead.
He also was used a teaching point by Rhule.
"That's the team we're going to be some day," he said. "That's what I told our team. That Louisville team, that's the team we're going to be some day. Teddy Bridgewater, he was a freshman quarterback at one point."
The Cardinals (5-0, 1-0) lost a bid for their second straight shutout when Temple scored with 38 seconds left.
The defense held the Owls to 255 yards — and gave Bridgewater plenty of shots on offense.
"I feel like he's the Peyton Manning of college football," Louisville defensive end Marcus Smith said.
Louisville receiver DeVante Parker, who has six touchdown catches this season, left in the first half with an injured right shoulder. Without one of his favorite targets, Bridgewater was still impressive, completing 25 of 35 passes. He threw a TD pass for the 17th straight game.
He completed 15 of his first 17 attempts, and the Owls had no way to stop him.
"I'm the eye of the hurricane," he said. "The eye of the hurricane is the calmest part of the storm. That's something I try to compare myself to."
Hurricane Teddy wrecked the Owls, who remained winless in program history against top-10 teams.
Bridgewater wasted no time giving the Owls a taste of the 60 minutes of trouble ahead. On the opening drive, he hit Ryan Hubbell for a 36-yard reception that put the Cardinals on the 5. He made the Owls bite on a fake rush, then rolled to his right and hit an open Gerald Christian for the 1-yard touchdown.
Bridgewater was 7 of 9 for 133 yards and a TD in the quarter, and John Wallace added a 22-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead.
Parker, who had two catches for 44 yards, left in the quarter holding his shoulder. He'll have an MRI on Sunday.
It was more of the same for Louisville in the second quarter. Dominique Brown had a 2-yard TD run and Bridgewater found Eli Wallace for a 15-yard score to send the Cardinals into halftime with 325 yards of total offense and a 24-0 lead.
The only surprise may have been that the final score wasn't worse. After all, the last time Louisville played Temple (2006) at Lincoln Financial Field, the Cardinals won 62-0. Bridgewater tied a career high with five touchdown passes last season in a 45-17 win over the Owls.
The Owls had already lost this season to Fordham and Idaho, so there was little reason for optimism they'd pull off the shocker of the season.
Temple has only two wins against 87 ranked opponents in program history.
Rhule benched junior QB Connor Reilly in the second quarter after he started 3 of 7 for 25 yards. Freshman P.J. Walker gave the offense an instant jolt with a 58-yard pass to Robby Anderson that put the Owls on the 12.
The Owls had a 23-yard field goal attempt blocked.
Walker forced a throw into double coverage in the third quarter and had his pass intercepted in the end zone. He threw a 9-yard TD pass to Jalen Fitzpatrick with 38 seconds left in the game.
"It was decent, but it wasn't good enough," Walker said. "I could have done a lot better. I made a few mistakes and I should have played a lot better."
Wallace added field goals of 20 and 25 yards in the second half.
