NEW ORLEANS -- Louisville safety Calvin Pryor predicted the Cardinals would "shock the world" against Florida in the Sugar Bowl. Brave words that he and his teammates backed up from start to finish against an SEC power. Terell Floyd returned an interception 38 yards for a touchdown on the first play, dual-threat quarterback Teddy Bridgewater directed a handful of scoring drives and No. 22 Louisville stunned the fourth-ranked Gators 33-23 in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday night. By the end, the chant, "Charlie, Charlie!" echoed from sections of the Superdome occupied by red-clad Cardinals fans. It their way of serenading third-year Louisville coach Charlie Strong, the former defensive co-ordinator for the Gators, who has elevated Cardinals football to new heights and recently turned down a chance to leave behind what hes built for the top job at Tennessee. "They kind of thought we were going to come in and lay down and give them the game," Floyd said. "But Coach Strong always preaches that were better than any team in the nation if we come out and play hard. Coach Strong believed in us and our coaching staff believed in us and we came in and believed in ourselves Shaking off an early hit that flattened him and knocked off his helmet, Bridgewater was 20 of 32 passing for 266 yards and two touchdowns against the heavily favoured Gators. Among his throws was a pinpoint, 15-yard timing toss that DeVante Parker acrobatically grabbed as he touched one foot down in the corner of the end zone. "I looked at what did and didnt work for quarterbacks during the regular season," said Bridgewater, picked as the games top player. "They faced guys forcing throws ... and coach tells me, No capes on your back or S on your chest, take what the defence give you. Thats what I took. Film study was vital." His other scoring strike went to Damian Copeland from 19 yards one play after a surprise onside kick by the Gators backfired badly. Jeremy Wright had short touchdown run which gave the two-touchdown underdogs from the Big East a 14-0 lead from which the Gators never recovered. Florida never trailed by more than 10 points this season, and the Southeastern Conference team had lost only once going into this game. The defeat dropped SEC teams to 3-3 this bowl season, with Alabama, Texas A&M and Mississippi still left to play. "We got outcoached and outplayed," Florida coach Will Muschamp said. "Thats what I told the football team. Thats the bottom line." Louisville and Florida each finished at 11-2. Gators quarterback Jeff Driskel, who had thrown only three interceptions all season, turned the ball over three times on two interceptions -- both tipped passes -- and a fumble. He finished 16 of 29 for 175 yards. "I look at this performance tonight, and I sometimes wonder, Why didnt we do this the whole season," Strong said. "We said this at the beginning: We just take care of our job and do what were supposed to do, dont worry about who were playing." Down 33-10 midway through the fourth period, Florida tried to rally. Andre Debose scored on a 100-yard kickoff return and Driskel threw a TD pass to tight end Kent Taylor with 2:13 left. But when Louisville defenders piled on Driskel to thwart the 2-point try, the game was essentially over. Florida didnt score until Caleb Sturgiss 33-yard field goal early in the second quarter. The Gators finally got in the end zone with a trick play in the closing seconds of the half. They changed personnel as if to kick a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 1, but lined up in a bizarre combination of swinging-gate and shotgun formations and handed off to Matt Jones. Jones met only minimal resistance as he crashed into the end zone to cap an 11-play, 74-yard drive that included four straight completions and four straight runs by Driskel. The Gators tried to keep the momentum with a surprise onside kick to open the third quarter, but not only did Louisville recover, Floridas Chris Johnson was called for a personal foul and ejected for jabbing at Louisvilles Zed Evans. That gave Louisville the ball on the Florida 19, from where Bridgewater needed one play to find Copeland for his score. "We game-planned it and felt good about it," Muschamp said of the onside kick attempt. "We wanted to steal a possession at the start of the second half." On the following kickoff, Evans cut down kick returner Loucheiz Purifoy with a vicious low, high-speed hit that shook Purifoy up. Soon after, Driskel was sacked hard from behind and stripped by Pryor. "Just coming up to this point, we had the right attitude, had the right mindset that we would go out and beat this team," Pryor said. Louisvilles Lorenzo Mauldin recovered on the Florida 4, but the Gators defence drove the Cardinals backward and forced a missed field goal, but that was one of few morale victories for the frustrated Gators. After Louisville native Muhammad Ali was on the field for the coin toss, the Cardinals quickly stung the Gators. Floyd, one of nearly three dozen Louisville players from the state of Florida, made the play. Driskel was looking for seldom-targeted Debose, whod had only two catches all season. "I threw it behind him, (he) tried to make a play on it, tipped it right to the guy," Driskel said. "Unfortunate to start the game like that." It made for an easy catch and score for Floyd only 15 seconds into the game. "That play kind of set the tone," Floyd said. "It kind of gave us momentum and we kept it." Oddly, Louisville had only 10 defenders on the field until only moments before the snap, when safety Jermaine Reve darted out from the sideline and immediately found a Florida receiver to cover. When Louisvilles offence got the ball later in the quarter, the Florida defence, ranked among the best in the nation this season, sought to intimidate the Cardinals with one heavy hit after another. One blow by Jon Bostic knocked Bridgewaters helmet off moments after hed floated an incomplete pass down the right sideline. Bostic was called for a personal foul, however, which seemed to get the Cardinals opening drive rolling. Later, Wright lost his helmet during a 3-yard gain and took another heavy hit before he went down. Louisville kept coming, though. B.J. Butler turned a short catch into a 23-yard gain down to the Florida 1. Then Wright punched it in to give the Cardinals an early two-TD lead over a team that finished third in the BCS standings, one spot too low to play for a national title in Miami. Louisville won the Big East berth to this game. They beat Rutgers in late November to virtually lock up the conference title, sealing that win on a late interception by Floyd. .Y. -- James Southerland enjoys shooting the basketball. [url=http://www.argentinasoccerteamshop.com/world-cup-agustin-orion-argentina-je... Orion Jersey . He took it out on the Chicago Cubs. Greinke extended his home winning streak to 15 straight decisions at Miller Park, and the Milwaukee Brewers rediscovered their offence, beating the Chicago Cubs 8-0 on Wednesday night. . -- Marc Trestman had it all mapped out, right up to the Chicago Bears championship parade. [url=http://www.argentinasoccerteamshop.com/world-cup-diego-maradona-argentina-j... Maradona World Cup Jersey . Bodishbaugh, 27, is currently third in the American Association in saves with 17. He also has a 6-4 record and 4.13 ERA. The Walnut Creek, California product is no stranger to playing in Canada, having played the 2009 and 2010 seasons with the Victoria Seals and 2011 with the Calgary Vipers of the independent North American Baseball League. NEWARK, N.J. -- New Jersey agreed with Petr Sykora to terms of a one-year deal on Wednesday, completing the former Devils bid to return to the NHL after an 18-month absence. The 34-year-old forward last played in the NHL for the Minnesota Wild in 2009-10 and came into New Jerseys camp on a tryout basis. "I went in with very small expectations for him," new Devils coach Peter DeBoer said. "He came in as a late addition to camp, but I knew that he had a history with the club. I didnt think much of it." Sykora, who was drafted by the Devils in 1995 and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2000, didnt give himself much of a chance, either. "It didnt matter that I didnt have a contract," said Sykora, who was released by the Wild after playing in only 14 games. "For me, it was just important to get a chance to get back to the NHL." DeBoer believes Sykora, who has 302 goals and 375 assists in 935 NHL games, can give the Devils some scoring punch. "Its no secret that we were the lowest-scoring team in the league last year," DeBoer said. "Petr can score. Hes managed to create offence and create it consistently through training camp. ... He has definitely surprised us, but he did what he had to do to win the job." The Devils made salary cap room for Sykora on Tuesday by trading centre David Steckel to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a fourth-round draft pick in 2012. But no one gave Sykora any guarantees about a contract until he arrived for practice Wednesday morning. "Im really emotionally drained by all of this. I didnt get much sleep last night," said Sykora, who played last year in the Czech League (13 games with HC Pizen) and the Kontinental Hockey League in Russiia (28 games with HC Dynamo Minsk) and was set to go back to Russia before the Devils offered the tryout.dddddddddddd "When you dont have the offer, its a crazy situation with the salary cap and all and you never know whats going to happen. But Im very happy the way it worked out." Rejoining the team where he started his NHL career makes it even better. "I have a lot of support here in New Jersey. This is home for me," Sykora said. "Every year, Id come back to New Jersey. I have so many friends here." There is a chance that Sykora might be the right-wing on the front line with Ilya Kovalchuk on the left and Patrik Elias at centre. The Devils also announced that Zach Parise had been selected as the team captain, with Kovalchuk and Elias serving as alternates. "I was surprised, because I didnt know it was coming," said Parise, who signed a one-year deal with the Devils in the off-season as a restricted free agent. "Im excited for it and its a big honour. I have to just keep doing the same thing, keep leading by example." Parise missed most of the 2010-11 season due to a knee injury, limiting him to 13 games. The 27-year-old Parise has been with the Devils for the last seven seasons. DeBoer said a lot went into the decision to choose Parise as the captain. The Devils had been playing without a captain since trading Jamie Langenbrunner midway through last season. "We have the luxury of having a lot of leadership candidates, a lot of good options," DeBoer said. "When you look at Zach, he plays the right way and carries himself the right way. There arent a lot of flaws in his character. He fits the character needed to be a captain." ' ' '