ESPN College Football

Did Louisville's offense turn the corner on Saturday, or did the Cardinals' outburst stem merely from playing a weak opponent?

The truth won't really be known until Sept. 17, when Kansas State comes to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. But coach Steve Kragthorpe said today that he saw genuine signs of growth in his team's 51-10 victory over Tennessee Tech.

"The execution level of our offense was much better," Kragthorpe said. "The way we got in and out of the huddle. The way we attacked. Communication was much better. And so I think productivity is a byproduct of those things."

Louisville failed to score an offensive point in its 25-2 loss to Kentucky on Labor Day eve. It couldn't run the ball with any success that day, and quarterback Hunter Cantwell struggled mightily.

Against Tennessee Tech -- an FCS school which was picked to finish fifth in the Ohio Valley Conference this season -- the Cardinals rolled up 234 yards rushing, led by Victor Anderson's 114 yards on 12 carries. Cantwell went 15 of 23 for 203 yards and two touchdowns while sitting out the fourth quarter.

Kragthorpe was happiest to see his team march 84 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive.

"That was really big for us," he said. "I'm obviously much more pleased with our offense than I was the week before, but we've got a long way to go. We're certainly still a work in progress. But we made a lot of progress on Saturday."

Kansas State has scored 114 points in its first two games, but the Wildcats haven't proved much either by blowing out North Texas and Montana State.

Kragthorpe said he and his staff are now in "non-regular mode" because of the oddities of the schedule coming up. Next week's game was moved to Wednesday night to avoid conflicts with the Ryder Cup, which is being played at Valhalla in Louisville. The Cards then have nine days to prepare for Connecticut and two weeks off before playing Memphis. Both of those games are on Friday nights.