LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Let’s not fool ourselves. Ten years from now, few of us will remember much about what happened on Saturday afternoon in No. 22 Louisville’s 49-14 victory over Jacksonville State – except for Chancellor and Rilley, a couple who got engaged in the end zone just before halftime.
And maybe tight end Duane Martin, a fourth-year senior whose first career rush yielded a 2-yard touchdown in the first half, and who later made a big fourth-down conversion catch in the third quarter to set up another Louisville score that put the Cardinals up 35-14.
The Cardinals needed a bit of a spark from somewhere, after giving up 14 second-quarter points to lead 28-14 at halftime.
The game was never in question. At no point did Louisville look uncomfortable in front of an L&N Stadium crowd of 48,575.
Chancellor and Reilly, a couple who got engaged just before halftime of Louisville's win over Jacksonville State in L&N Stadium on Sept. 7, 2024.
But a Jacksonville State offense led by relentless quarterback play from Tyler Huff and uptempo direction from coach Rich Rodriguez did find some open spaces against Louisville – to the tune of 286 yards in the game.
The Cardinals, however, finished with 611 yards, and turned in an emphatic second half, with a 331-91 edge in total offense.
QUOTABLE, JEFF BROHM
”Proud of our football team today. I thought they played hard for four quarters. We knew we'd be tested better in this game. This team just does a lot of different things, and have some nuances on offense that you've got to prepare for. You've got to be good at it. And they caught us on our heels a few times in the first half, and got some points. Offense was fairly efficient, which was good because we got a lead. And of course, in the second half we made some adjustments. We came out and played efficient football. We didn't give up any points on defense and played much better. Of course, when we're efficient on offense and increasing the lead, it makes them do somethings they don't want to do. So all of that played into it. But I do think we finished the game well and played hard to come out with a good victory."
HOW IT UNFOLDED:
Louisville scored first on a 9-play, 62 yard drive with Donald Chaney scoring on a 10-yard run to put the Cards on the board first. They would score again late in the quarter on a 22-yard run by Keyjuan Brown.
Then Jacksonville State drew some blood on the Louisville defense for the first time all season, driving 75 yards on 11 plays, scoring on an 11-yard pass from Huff to tight end Sean Brown.
Louisville responded with scoring drives of 70 and 80 yards, and touchdown runs of one yard from Maurice Turner, on a dive over the line, and two yards from Martin, to go up 28-7.
But Jacksonville answered, driving 75 yards before the half to a 15-yard TD run by Huff to pull within two touchdowns.
In the third quarter, Louisville’s defense stiffened, and its long passing game came alive. After Martin extended a drive with a fourth-down catch near midfield, Shough hit Chris Bell for a 48-yard TD pass.
Then Shough found Cautaurs Hicks for a beautiful 51-yard completion over the middle, leading to a 12-yard TD pass from Shough to tight end Mark Redman.
With 1:50 to play, freshman running back Duke Watson dashed in from 40 yards out for a superfluous yet not insignificant touchdown run to provide the final margin.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Shough again was efficient and accurate. He completed 64 percent of his passes and finished 21 of 33 for 349 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He hit a dozen different receivers, led by Ja’Corey Brooks, who caught 6 balls for 89 yards.
Louisville spread the ball out on the ground, with five different running backs averaging at least five yards per carry.
Defensively, linebacker Stanquon Clark was everywhere, with a team-high nine tackles. M.J. Griffin and T.J. Quinn also were active in the secondary, with five tackles each.
Quincy Riley snagged his first interception of the season and the 14th of his career in the first half. It was Riley’s seventh interception at Louisville, and he had seven in two prior seasons at Middle Tennessee State.
STAT OF THE GAME
Louisville held Jacksonville State scoreless on its opening drive – the 20th straight game it has kept an opponent out of the end zone on its opening drive.
PLAY OF THE GAME
It didn’t play into the outcome a great deal, but Tyler Shough dropped an absolute dime on wideout Hicks, hitting the redshirt freshman between defenders on a post route straight down the field for a 51-yard completion. It was Shough’s prettiest pass of the season and the difficult over-the shoulder catch was probably the catch of the season thus far for the Cardinals.
NEXT UP
The Cards get the week off, before beginning ACC play against Georgia Tech on Sept. 21. No game time has been set.
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