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HOUSTON -- Louisville coach Bobby Petrino was blunt.We blew it, he said.Duke Catalon scored three touchdowns and Houston hurried and harassed Heisman favorite Lamar Jackson all night to propel the Cougars to a stunning 36-10 victory over the Cardinals on Thursday night that dashed the third-ranked teams playoff hopes.Louisville (9-2) entered the game ranked fifth in the College Football Playoff rankings, but was outdone by a Houston team that saw its own playoff hopes foiled by two losses to unranked teams after a 5-0 start.We lost, Jackson said. Cant do nothing about it.The Cardinals were unhappy they werent ranked higher in this weeks CFP rankings after losses by several top teams last week, and some players thought they let that angst affect their play on Thursday.I think we let that get to us too much. I think we paid too much attention to the rankings instead of playing our game, safety Dee Smith said. We were just trying to do too much.Things went wrong quickly for the mistake-prone Cardinals when they fumbled the opening kickoff to Houston (9-2). Greg Ward threw his first touchdown pass on the next play to make it 7-0. Brandon Radcliff lost a fumble later in the first and Houston added a field goal on the ensuing drive to make it 10-0.Jackson threw for 211 yards and a touchdown, but it didnt come until the second half.Houston then scored touchdowns on three straight possessions in the second quarter to push the lead to 31-0 at halftime. Catalon caught a touchdown pass, ran for another score and Houston got the third score in that span on a 50-yard pass by receiver Linell Bonner after a lateral.We were banged up. We were beat up. We were tired. We were exhausted in the month of October, Houston coach Tom Herman said. Thats not an excuse. Thats reality. And our guys fought through it and they fought through that adversity and they never wavered ... and when you get the band back together and you get everybody healthy and everybody fresh and everybody doing their job ... we can play with anybody in the country. And we proved that again tonight.The Cougars were in Jacksons face constantly, sacking him a season-high 11 times and keeping him from hurting them with his feet. He ran for a season-low 33 yards after piling up 338 yards rushing combined in the last two games.After Jackson was sacked for the 10th time he threw up his hands and two of his lineman looked to be yelling at each other about who was to blame for his latest takedown.But the Cougars werent done getting after him just yet. On the next possession he threw the ball away while under heavy pressure from Tyus Bowser and was flagged for intentional grounding, giving the Cougars a safety.Petrino said he saw frustration build in Jackson as the sacks piled up.Oh yeah, there was frustration there, he said. There was frustration on the protection and frustration on himself -- missing a few throws. Thats one of the things on the sideline there definitely was frustration and it grew.Ward threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns to help the Cougars to the victory that left Cougar fans storming the field to celebrate.---=THE TAKEAWAY=LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals may not have made the playoff even if they didnt lose on Thursday night, but the opportunity was theirs for the taking. Now they only have themselves to blame for being on the outside looking in.HOUSTON: The Cougars looked like the team that knocked off then-No. 3 Oklahoma in their opener instead of the underperforming one that lost at Navy and SMU to fall out of the top 25 weeks ago. The victory, which was their fourth straight over a top-10 team, will go a long way toward put a positive spin on what had turned into a disappointing season.---=KEY NUMBERS=The Cardinals set a season-high with 15 penalties, punted a season-high six times by halftime and the 11 sacks they allowed were more than double their previous season-high. Its the fewest points theyve scored since a loss at North Carolina in 2011.---=HEISMAN HOPES=Jackson entered the game as such an overwhelming favorite to win the Heisman that the loss shouldnt put that big of a dent in his chances. However Jackson insists that he isnt concerned about that.Im not even focused on that, he said. Im focused on winning.---=POLL IMPLICATIONS=LOUISVILLE: This loss will send the Cardinals tumbling down in the poll and in the playoff rankings. Theyll likely drop out of the top-10 but could stay in depending on how the teams above them fare this weekend.HOUSTON: The Cougars are likely to re-enter the poll after being unranked since the week after their loss to SMU on Oct. 22. They had the most points of any team not ranked last week so it wouldnt be surprising for them to move up to No. 20 or so after the big win.---=UP NEXT=LOUISVILLE : The Cardinals wrap up the regular season with a rivalry game against Kentucky next Saturday.HOUSTON : The Cougars travel to Memphis on Friday for their regular-season finale. Marcus Allen Chiefs Jersey . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. 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Hazard cut in from the left and scored with a swerving right-footed shot for ninth goal of the season, which proved to be enough for the victory despite Chelseas forwards again lacking a cutting edge up front. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Dance parties. Dark chocolate. Calls to mom.All are helping Missy Franklin cope with an Olympics gone wrong.A huge star at the London Games four years ago, Franklin has been one of the biggest U.S. disappointments in Rio de Janeiro -- an inexplicable fall shes at a loss to explain.I really wish I could tell you, Franklin said Thursday after another lackluster swim. In my mind, I made the hardest sacrifices Ive ever had to make this year. Ive poured myself into this every single day for the whole year and the three years leading up to that. For whatever reason, its just not happening at this meet.As a high school senior-to-be in 2012, Franklin competed in a staggering seven events, winning four gold medals and a bronze. She became only the second American woman, after Amy Van Dyken, to capture four golds at a single Olympics.But following two years swimming collegiately at California and then turning pro last summer, Franklin hasnt been able to recapture the form that made her one of the most-hyped -- and heavily sponsored -- U.S. athletes heading into the Rio Olympics.She struggled at the U.S. trials, qualifying for the team in only two individual events, both with runner-up finishes.In Rio, she failed to even qualify for the final of the 200-meter freestyle. After that showing, the coaches only picked her to swim the preliminary of the 4x200 free relay, a decision that would have seemed unfathomable just a few months ago but didnt meet with any protest from Franklin.I was absolutely fine with it, Franklin said. They 100 percent made the right decision.The 21-year-old still earned a gold medal -- the fifth of her career -- when a Katie Ledecky-led squad swam to victory in the relay final Wednesday night.That did little to ease the sting for Franklin. Shes ready to go home to Colorado.Being totally honest, Im doing better because its almost over, she said. The closer we get, its just good reminders that this is a disappointing swim meet for me. Its a disappointing race, its a disappointing swim meet. Life goes on. This is just one phase of my life that I worked so hard for and made so many sacrifices for and for whatever reason it didnt go my way. It doesnt mean Im anywhere close to being done with the sport, that I dont feel like I have anything left, because I do.Franklin has coped with her struggles by leaning heavily on her religious faith.My faith in God is really getting me through, she said.dddddddddddd. I know that hes going to make something beautiful out of this, hes going to transform me and my life into doing something from all of this. I have no clue what that is. I wish I could ask him what hes going to do.Her teammates are doing all they can to help.I just throw a couple of random dance parties. I take some really, really horrendous Snapchats of her, Cierra Runge said. Whatever I can do to make her laugh.Those Dove chocolate candies with the inspirational message on the wrapper help, too.One of the verses really stuck with Franklin.Every day is an opportunity to change things for the better, she recounted. That was a good reminder that regardless of how things have been going, how Ive been feeling, every day is a new opportunity.And, of course, she can always turn to her family.Youre never too old to call your mom and cry and ask her for advice, Franklin said. She just told me that its going to be OK, and thats all I needed to hear. Yeah, its hard right now. Its probably the hardest thing Ive had to go through. But its going to be OK. Im loved. Im supported. When you put things in perspective, if a disappointing meet is the worst thing that happens in my life, then I have a pretty damn good life.Franklin was competing Thursday in her final event of the Games, the 200 backstroke, an event she won at London. She gave little indication of turning things around in the preliminaries, managing only the 11th-best time at 2 minutes, 9.36 seconds. And it didnt get any better in the semifinals, where she finished 14th in 2:09.74.?Franklin will return to Cal in the fall to resume her studies, but she made clear that her swimming career isnt over.If theres a bright side, Franklin has learned just how much shes really loved.Yeah, its a disappointment. But the support Ive received has shown me so much more than I ever couldve expected, she said. Youre so much more than the number of medals you have, youre so much more than the time you spend in the pool, your value goes so beyond all of that. I dont think I ever wouldve come to that realization without going through something like this.Information from The Associated Press and ESPN.coms Bonnie D. Ford was used in this report. ' ' '