Syracuse romps, tagging Louisville with first loss

SYRACUSE -- Ryan Nassib threw for 246 yards and three touchdowns in his final home game, and moved into second on the school's career passing list as Syracuse handed No. 9 Louisville its first loss of the season, 45-26, yesterday.

Nassib directed an offense that gained 524 total yards. He went 15-for-23 and passed Donovan McNabb on the Orange's passing yards into second place list behind Marvin Graves.

He also set a Big East record by pushing his career completions to 738 and established an Orange single-season record for total offense (3,114).

Jerome Smith ran for 144 yards for Syracuse and Prince-Tyson Gulley added 98 yards rushing and two touchdowns, one a 55-yard romp to put the Orange up by 21 with 2:13 left in the first half.

"We played mistake-free football, just tried to play our game and not do too much and had fun doing it," Nassib said. "Having success early on puts the pressure on the opposing team. It gets the momentum going and that's what happened today."

The Orange (5-5, 4-2 Big East) blew the game open with three touchdowns in the second quarter and Louisville (9-1, 4-1) allowed more points than it had in any game this season. Syracuse is a win away from bowl eligibility with road games against Missouri and Temple left.

Teddy Bridgewater was 36-for-49 for 426 yards and three touchdowns for Louisville, which fell into second place behind Rutgers in the Big East.

"This was the worst game we ever played. They came out and got us," Louisville defensive back Hakeem Smith said. "There's not a lot of talking [in the locker room] right now. We just have to push on. We're going to bounce back."

The Cardinals, who are off next Saturday, still play Connecticut and Rutgers.

"They played well today. You have to give them credit for playing so hard," Cardinals linebacker Preston Brown said of the Orange. "It's disappointing having all this [a perfect season] down the drain. But we can still win the Big East."-- AP