4. Teddy Bridgewater, QB - 2013
Stat Line: 23-28, 355 Passing Yards, 5 Touchdowns
True Cardinal fans had to know Teddy Bridgewater’s name would grace this list at some point. The current Tampa Bay Buccaneers backup started his junior (and final) season with the Cardinals off with a bang.
Sure, the opponent was no longer the hated Wildcats from across I-64, but this was a significant performance nonetheless. Louisville was coming off a highly successful 2012 season, which ended with a massive Sugar Bowl win against the Florida Gators.
It also cemented Bridgewater’s status as one of the top quarterbacks in college football at the time. This performance was a sign of more to come for the 2013 season. With only one loss in 2013 against the Central Florida Knights and Blake Bortles, Louisville rolled through the 2013 season and showed that they were ready to move on to bigger and better conferences.
Louisville was primed to make the move to the ACC the following season and further expand the brand of Louisville football. The Cardinals capped off the season with the best “hello” to the ACC, a 36-9 throttling of now conference foe Miami Hurricanes in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Related: Amid coaching scandal, a Louisville legend is coming out of retirement