LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Louisville junior quarterback Stefan

LeFors compared the Cardinals' 66-45 win over Houston on Saturday

to a video game.

"It wasn't as easy, but it was just as fun," said LeFors.

The Cardinals (8-3, 4-3 Conference USA) piled up a school record

779 yards and topped 60 points for the first time since a 63-45 win

over East Carolina in 1998.

Louisville scored on 10 of 14 possessions and rushed for 445

yards, the fourth-highest total in school history.

It was the most points for Louisville since a 68-0 win over

Murray State in 1990.

"I knew we had to have this type of a day," said Louisville

coach Bobby Petrino. "We took the field with the attitude that we

had to score every time we got the ball."

Lionel Gates rushed for a career high 140 yards and four

touchdowns and freshman Michael Bush added a career-high 137 yards

as the Cardinals bounced back from a 37-7 loss to Memphis.

"We practiced all week with a chip on our shoulders because we

didn't perform last week like we were used to performing," Petrino

said.

Anthony Evans rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown for Houston

(6-5, 3-4), which allowed its highest point total since a 66-10

loss to UCLA in 1997.

Kevin Kolb went 21-of-27 for 224 yards and two touchdowns for

the Cougars.

Houston coach Art Briles thinks his team can still end a

seven-year bowl drought. The Cougars play UAB next weekend.

"We've got to get a lot better in a short time," Briles said.

"There's a little party out there we want to be invited to. We've

got an opportunity to go 7-5. I think that would get us in a bowl

game."

Gates and Bush had touchdown runs on Louisville's first two

possessions. The Cardinals had a combined 114 rushing yards on the

drives.

"We were able to do pretty much whatever we wanted out there,"

Petrino said.

Kolb finished two Houston drives with short touchdown runs to

tie the game at 14-14.

Gates' 1-yard touchdown run with 9:28 left in the first half

started a wild sequence of second-quarter scoring.

Ricky Wilson took the ensuing kickoff at the goal line, weaved

through Louisville's defense and sprinted down the sideline for a

touchdown. The 100-yard return was the second in Houston history.

Louisville started its next possession at the 36. On first down,

Robert Haskins took a pitch from Gates on a reverse and followed a

convoy of blockers for a score.

Three minutes later, Kolb lofted a 42-yard touchdown pass to

Brandon Middleton to tie the game at 28-28.

"We knew they could score points," said LeFors. "We knew we

had to get out there and do the same."

The Cardinals had 420 yards at halftime. They reached 40 points

for the fourth time this season on a 38-yard touchdown pass from

LeFors to J.R. Russell three minutes into the second half.

Louisville's Nate Smith had a 47-yard field goal with 8:56 left

in the third quarter. He booted the ensuing kickoff into a Cougar

and the ball ricocheted to Louisville linebacker Rod Day, setting

up Gates' third touchdown run.

Gates and Bush had fourth-quarter touchdown runs to push the

Cardinals past 60 points at home for the first time since a 63-34

win over Western Kentucky in 1998.

"It's really exciting when you put up a lot of points," said

Gates, starting for the second straight game in place of the

injured Eric Shelton. "When everybody comes back to the huddle,

everybody's happy."