Louisville takes another slugging

Pssst, Notre Dame . . . Syracuse can help you with your problems on offense.

They’ll tell you -- schedule Louisville.

It worked for the Orange, which entered its game against the Cardinals ranked No. 116 out of 119 in the nation in total offense, then piled up 465 yards against a Louisville team that two weeks ago was talking about winning a national title.

Last week, the Cardinals gave up 40 points and 460 yards against Kentucky, and it was forgiven because Kentucky is among the top 15 offenses in the nation.

But lowly Syracuse (1-3) -- a team that came in averaging 10.6 points and less than 200 yards a game -- exposed the Cardinals defense as a fraud and has the Redbirds of the Bluegrass State green with envy of any defense that can stop another team from advancing the ball.

“I’m very upset and disappointed that we’re not playing better than this right now,” Coach Steve Kragthorpe said. “We’ve got to find a way to get it done and get better.”

You know something is awry when quarterback Brian Brohm, a Heisman Trophy candidate, passes for a career-high 555 yards and it still isn’t enough.

“Yeah, it’s hard to believe,” Brohm said. “We’re just not playing great football right now.”

Defense wasn’t the only problem. The No. 18 Cardinals (2-2) had four turnovers and committed 12 penalties for 105 yards in losing consecutive games for the first time since 2003.

But defense was definitely the main culprit, and Syracuse exploited the weakness on its first play -- a 79-yard touchdown pass play from Andrew Robinson to Taj Smith. Robinson passed for 423 yards and four touchdowns.

The game wasn’t really as close as the final score. Syracuse opened a 17-point fourth-quarter lead, but two late turnovers helped Louisville make the score respectable.

“Two losses is not the end of the season, but at the same time, I can’t be sitting up here every week talking about how many mistakes we made,” Cardinals center Eric Wood said. “There is no way we should be sitting here at 2-2. Absolutely no way.”

It was a welcome victory for Syracuse, which had started 0-3 for the first time in 21 years.

Nervous travelers

Florida Coach Urban Meyer said last week he was nervous about taking his team on the road for the first time this season, and it turns out it was for good reason.

The No. 3 Gators needed a late Tony Joiner interception and a lengthy fourth-quarter drive to put away pesky Mississippi, 30-24. The defending national champion Gators, who had outscored opponents 167-54 in their first three games, had 18 true freshmen among 35 players making the first trip of their careers.

The Gators committed 14 penalties for 127 yards but managed to escape.

“I’m just anxious to get on the plane and get the hell out of here,” Meyer said after the Gators extended their winning streak to 11 games.

Up after dark

Harvard Stadium, built in 1904 and the oldest college football stadium in the nation, finally joined the prime-time age when the Crimson played its first on-campus night game in school history.

And there could be many more in the future based on how the first one turned out.

Harvard defeated Brown, 24-17.

South heading north

It’s the question that inquiring college football minds have been asking ever since the polls came out last week: Just what in the heck is South Florida and how is it the second Florida school in the top 25 when Florida State and Miami are on the outside looking in?

Well, to start with, the school is geographically challenged. It’s in Tampa, which really isn’t in South Florida.

But the school is not football-challenged. The No. 23 Bulls (3-0) defeated North Carolina, 37-10, two weeks after knocking off then-No. 17 Auburn. They have a five-game win streak that includes a victory over then-No. 7 West Virginia last November, and they came within two points of Rutgers last year.

So, with a Big East showdown with West Virginia coming Friday, South Florida could very well answer a lot of the questions about whether they belong.

“You don’t win games because you’re ranked. You’re ranked because you win games,” defensive end George Selvie said. “So we keep on winning, we go up in the rankings.”

Make no mistake

During his team’s victory over Arkansas, Kentucky’s Andre Woodson set a major-college record for consecutive passes without an interception, breaking the mark of 271 held by Fresno State’s Trent Dilfer.

Woodson broke the record in the second quarter with his 15th pass against Arkansas and extended it to 296 by the end of the game. Woodson, a senior, last had a pass intercepted against Georgia in early November of last year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

peter.yoon@latimes.com

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Even the yardage is bigger in Texas

Graham Harrell of Texas Tech passed for 646 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-45 loss to Oklahoma State. It was the fourth-most passing yards ever in a Division I game. The top five:

*--* YDS. PLAYER, SCHOOL OPPONENT DATE RESULT 716 David Klingler, Arizona State Dec. 2, 1990 W, 62-45 Houston 690 Matt Vogler, Texas Houston Nov. 3, 1990 L, 56-35 Christian 661 B.J. Symons, Texas Mississippi Sept. 27, 2003 W, 49-45 Tech 646 Graham Harrell, Texas Oklahoma State Sept. 22, 2007 L, 49-45 Tech 643 Cody Hodges, Texas Kansas State Oct. 15, 2005 W, 59-20 Tech *--*

Los Angeles Times