LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On page 26 of the game notes for the University of Louisville's football game Saturday at Boston College, the Cards' media relations department outlined the program records that quarterback Malik Cunningham is chasing.
It's a lengthy list, one that features names like former U of L greats Lamar Jackson, Dave Ragone, Chris Redman and Walter Peacock.
Career touchdown passes. Career completions. Total yards. Seven categories in all.
This is the record that has my attention: career rushing yards.
In four games this season, Cunningham has crackled for 395 yards. That pushed him sixth to third on the Cards' all-time rushing list. He has overtaken Howard Stevens, Lenny Lyles and Nathan Poole, three running backs.
Cunningham sits 190 yards behind Walter Peacock (another halfback) for second place, a position he is on target to take during the Cards' next two road games with BC and Virginia.
He is 1,028 yards behind Jackson, a guy Cunningham will overtake if he averages 114.3 yards per game over the next eight regular-season games as well as a bowl game.
Could that happen?
Let the record show that Cunningham has rushed for an average of 120.3 yards in the Cardinals' last three games against Central Florida, Florida State and South Florida.
Unlikely. But possible.
Cunningham ranks second in the Atlantic Coast Conference is rushing. With 395 yards, he is 84 behind Israel Abanikanda of Pittsburgh. But the Pitt halfback has 27 more carries.
For a quarterback, running the football carries risks, especially for a guy like Cunningham who enjoys confounding tacklers.
On Tuesday, I asked U of L Offensive Coordinator Lance Taylor how many carries the coaching staff is comfortable letting Cunningham handle.
"As many as it takes to win the game," Taylor said, with a smile. "I think that's his mentality too."
The last three games gave Cunningham six games with at least 100 yards rushing in Louisville's last 11 games, a streak that began when he rambled for 133 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over Boston College last season.
Syracuse and the U of L coaching staff limited Cunningham to 34 yards on the ground in the Cards' season-opening 31-7 loss to the Orange. After that game, Cunningham told Taylor and head coach Scott Satterfield that the freedom to run had to be a featured part of the U of L offensive package.
"As a playmaker and as a competitor and leader of our offense, I think that's his mentality," Taylor said.
"After the first game, we all came back as coaches and he came to us as well and said, 'Coach, I need to be more involved in the run game.'
"I think as a coach, you want to protect your franchise quarterback by limiting the number of hits or runs that he has.
"But I think that's one of the things that makes him who he is and makes him special. I think that we learned after the first game, we have to be able to use that ability to help our offense and it has helped us tremendously. ...
"... So the answer to that is we're going to use him as much and as often as we need and, obviously, not put him in harm's way, you know, excessively, but as much as much as need be."
Cunningham's 56 carries ranks fifth in the ACC, second among quarterbacks. The number is also 11 more than Tiyon Evans, the Cards' top halfback.
Is the Cardinals' sideline one extended held breath when Cunningham takes off around the edge and keeps the ball, taking on linebackers, cornerbacks and safeties?
Taylor said the answer was, "No."
"He's one of those guys that he knows how to not take big hits," Taylor said. "He is great. He's very slippery (which is what) I call it when tacklers or defenders are close to him. He knows how to avoid tackles."
Ben Perry is a redshirt freshman who is emerging as one of Louisville's top linebackers. One of his jobs is dealing with Cunningham's ability to change directions and accelerate during practice. I asked him what made Cunningham such a persistent threat.
Perry said that early in his career he tried to approach every player on the team as "just another human," including Cunningham.
Perry said Cunningham forced him to revise that outlook.
"Malik is so different," Perry said. "I was going to chase him one time, but he'd take an angle and then he'd take another angle so quick and it would hard to change directions.
"Like I said, I fell on my face one time trying to tackle him. It was bad."
It's been bad across the ACC, too. Cunningham's rise through the U of football record book is proof of that.
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