Louisville, Ky. ? Even when he disagreed with his coach, Louisville quarterback Stefan LeFors made the right play.

The senior left-hander completed his first 13 passes, threw for one touchdown and ran for another in No. 15 Louisville’s 41-9 victory over South Florida on Friday night.

He finished 21-of-26 for 242 yards, helping the Cardinals (5-1, 3-0 Conference USA) bounce back from a 41-38 loss to No. 4 Miami last week.

“It was just one of those nights out there, throwing the ball and not worrying about anything else,” said LeFors, who ranks second in the nation in pass efficiency.

Early in the game, LeFors read South Florida’s defense and changed a few plays coach Bobby Petrino called from the sideline. It worked every time, as the Cardinals marched to a 14-0 lead before the Bulls made their initial first down.

“Stefan did an exceptional job,” Petrino said. “He used his experience to get us out of what would’ve been some negative plays and into some positive plays. He’s been really effective.”

LeFors, completing 75.6 percent of his passes coming into the game, lost his perfect game when J.R. Russell missed on a diving try with 1:03 left in the first half. Art Carmody salvaged the drive with a 34-yard field goal that gave the Cardinals a 27-3 halftime lead.

LeFors sensed the Bulls’ defense never had a feel for what the Cardinals were doing.

“Defenses don’t know what’s coming,” LeFors said. “We can do so many things, throw so many things at them.”

Louisville quarterback stefan lefors unleashes a pass between teammate Eric Shelton, right, and South Florida's Devon Davis. Louisville won, 41-9, Friday night in Louisville, Ky.

Russell finished with eight catches for 111 yards, his eighth career 100-yard receiving game. All of them have come with LeFors at quarterback.

“People have told him all his life he’s too short and doesn’t have a strong enough arm,” Russell said. “But he’s going to make plays, regardless.”

Louisville, third in the nation in total offense, racked up 517 yards and reached 40 points for the eighth time in 19 games under Petrino, midway through his second year.

The sputtering Bulls (2-4, 1-3) finished with 203 yards and 13 first downs — with most of the production coming too late to matter.

Louisville has held four opponents below 250 yards of offense.