Before rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater made his NFL debut, he received a quick word from quarterbacks coach Scott Turner.

"This is your time," Bridgewater said Turner told him. "Take advantage of it. This is the opportunity you've been waiting for. Just relax, have fun and play football."

Bridgewater went 12 of 20 for 150 yards and six rushing attempts for 27 yards replacing Matt Cassel, who suffered a foot injury during the second quarter. Head coach Mike Zimmer said the team will prepare now with Bridgewater at quarterback after Cassel fractured several bones in his foot.

"I think I did pretty good for the most part," Bridgewater said. "Missed a couple of throws, couple easy throws, but overall I thought it was a good performance. I've got some areas to improve on."

It's a similar situation that gave Bridgewater his first opportunity at Louisville as a freshman. He replaced Will Stein during the third game of the season against Kentucky. Bridgewater went on to start during the rest of his freshman season and throughout his sophomore and junior years.

When asked if he was nervous, Bridgewater immediately replied, "Not at all. No, I wasn't nervous because this is where I always wanted to be. Unfortunately the way that it happened wasn't the way that I expected it to, but I was just able to go out there, relax; the guys put their trust in and me and said, 'Hey, nothing changes. The game plan isn't going to change. We're just going to go out there and continue playing football."

Zimmer said once Bridgewater did enter the game, the playbook was altered a bit to fit the rookie's strengths, such as a 30-yard catch by wide receiver Greg Jennings on a play action, rollout pass.

"I thought he was very composed with everything," Zimmer said. "There were some issues with the headsets on both sides of the ball today, but he handled it well. I believe that he's going to be very good."