No. 18 Louisville races past Pitt 45-35

After watching his 18th-ranked team slog through an unremarkable opening half against Pittsburgh on Saturday, Strong reiterated the point. And just like the first time around, he got the desired results.

Teddy Bridgewater hit DeVante Parker for a 75-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half to give Louisville the lead and the Cardinals pulled away for a 45-35 victory to continue their best start since 2006.

"There were some very choice words, but you have to get them going and sometime that's the only way," Strong said.

Senorise Perry rushed for 101 yards and a career-high four touchdowns for Louisville (6-0, 1-0 Big East), which ended a four-game losing streak to Pitt. Bridgewater finished with 304 yards passing while Parker had four receptions for 153 yards, most of them coming after Strong's blistering pep talk.

Parker's score came in the middle of a 24-point burst by Louisville spanning the second and third quarters that turned a seven-point deficit into a 38-21 lead.

"Opening up the Big East schedule with a win is a big confidence boost for us," Bridgewater said. "Hopefully it will send a message to the rest of the Big East."

Tino Sunseri passed for 287 yards and two touchdowns but Pitt (2-4, 0-3) couldn't complete a late rally.

Trailing by 10 with 5 minutes to play, the Panthers faced fourth-and-8 at the Louisville 22. Instead of attempting a 39-yard field goal to draw within a touchdown, the Panthers went for it and Sunseri's pass for Cam Saddler fell incomplete.

Pitt coach Paul Chryst offered no excuses for the decision.

"I felt like we could get it," he said. "I wanted to put it in the players' hands ... I felt good putting the play call in. We didn't execute it."

Perry then raced 59 yards down the sideline for his final touchdown to seal it. He is the first Louisville running back to score four times in a single game since Michael Bush accomplished the feat during a triple-overtime loss to West Virginia in 2005.

"He is an interesting kid," Louisville center Mario Benavides said. "He works his butt off. Whatever the coaches ask him to do, whether it is special teams or anything, he does."

The Cardinals began the season as the overwhelming Big East favorite but some of the shine was stripped away by sluggish road wins at overmatched Florida International and Southern Mississippi coupled with the impressive starts by No. 20 Rutgers and No. 21 Cincinnati.