UofL Football Recap: Cards Squeak By Hoosiers

Pregame Notes:

Good night Card Nation. Coach Jeff Brohm and the Louisville Cardinals make the short 2 hour drive up for a business trip vs the Indiana Hoosiers. Word broke earlier in the week of Indiana buying out the rest of what was suppose to be a 3-game series, so this will be the only matchup between the teams for the foreseeable future. Coach Brohm has had great success against the Hoosiers during his stint at Purdue. The Cards are 2-0 on the young season and look to improve to 3-0 behind a quarterback who is becoming more and more comfortable with his weapons and a defense that continues to fly around and be physical. 

1st Quarter:

The Louisville defense came out and got the opening drive stop, but a great punt by IU pinned Louisville inside the 10 for the Cards opening drive. Louisville and Plummer moved the ball well, but stalled right outside of the redzone with a missed Travelstead kick from 38 yards out. Indiana was moving the ball, but a Cam’ron Kelly interception ended that drive at the Cards 15. Two plays, or should I say one 85-yard pass play later, the Cards were on the board. Plummer’s 85-yard touchdown pass to Thrash (9th-longest in school history) gave the Cards a 7-0 lead. The Louisville defense continued to play aggressive and took a 7-0 lead into the 2nd quarter.

2nd Quarter:

The Cards started the quarter with a very time-consuming and methodical drive as they went 78-yards on 13 plays and took 6 minutes and 26 seconds off the clock. A 2-yard touchdown run by Turner capped off the drive and gave Louisville a 14-0 lead. On Louisville’s next possession, they only needed 2 minutes and 26 seconds to go 69 yards in 7 plays, with a 25-yard touchdown run by Jawhar Jordan to close out the drive and give Louisville a 21-0 lead heading into intermission.

Halftime Stats:

T.O.P:  13:51

Passing Yards: 202

Rushing Yards: 100

Sacks:

T.Os: 1 (INT)

3rd Quarter:

UofL was scheduled to receive the ball first out of the half, but IU used an unexpected onside kick to steal momentum from the Cards. Jackson found his favorite target Lucas in the middle of the end zone on a 30-yard pass to trim the Cards lead from 21 points to 14. Louisville’s offense moved backwards on their first actual possession. The Louisville defense then came up a with a huge 4th down stop to give their offense the ball back in position to get some points. Plummer threw an interception at the 5 yard line to give the ball and momentum back to IU. The Hoosiers then marched 97 yards on 13 plays and took 7:27 off the clock, scoring their 2nd touchdown of the game. Louisville took a 21-14 lead into the final quarter of regulation. 

4th Quarter:

On a drive Louisville needed to produce some points, the offense came up empty. The Louisville defense took a workman-like approach and was able to avoid any further damage and get Plummer and the offense back on the field. The abysmal 2nd half for Louisville continued and Louisville wasn’t able to give their defense any relief, giving the ball back to the Hoosiers. IU then marched all the way down the field, and came within 18 inches of tying up the game at 21, but the defense had a huge goal line stand to keep IU out of the end zone.  Plummer’s naked bootleg got the Cards out of the shadow of their own end zone. Another big Plummer run and then a Jordan one got the Cards in position to come away with a victory. UofL beat IU 21-14.

Post Game Notes:

The Cards move to 3-0 on the season. Louisville had a really, really good first half. If it ended right there, we’d be a happy fanbase. Jamari Thrash had 159 receiving yards in the first half, the FIRST HALF. Thrash finished the game with 159 receiving yards and 1 drop. The defense had some lapse in coverage and a few missed tackles and assignments, but it’s football and no team is perfect. Although the defense spent the majority of the 2nd half on the field, they made the big plays when it mattered the most. The second half offense for the Cards was just about non-existent. There is a lot for Coach Brohm and his staff to work on before the face another conference foe next week. The Cards take on Boston College September 23rd in L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium at 3:30 pm.