Pregame Notes:
Good afternoon Card Nation. Coach Brohm and the Cards take on a ranked SMU today in L & N Stadium. This is a huge game for Louisville. They have yet to beat any of the new teams (SMU, Cal, & Stanford) since they joined the ACC. The Cards look to change that today. Louisville will need to make SMU QB Kevin Jennings uncomfortable, and force him to make a few mistakes. Louisville needs to win the turnover battle to have a chance today. They also need to find a way to get either Keyjuan or Isaac Brown going on the ground, not only for the team’s confidence but to keep Jennings off the field. Louisville also needs to stay discipline and limit the amount of penalties they commit today.
1st Quarter:
Louisville won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. SMU ran right up the middle on their first drive, on their way to taking a 7-0 lead. SMU’s first play was right up the middle for 40 yards. They also had runs for 8, 5, and capped the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. They all went right up the middle of Louisville’s defense. On Louisville’s first possession, it was predominantly run heavy (8 rushing, 4 passing attempts). Just like SMU, Louisville scored a touchdown on their first possession, tying the game at 7 with 5:19 remaining. Not only did Louisville force a 4th down-and-2 on SMU’s next drive, but they forced a 3-yard loss on a pass play,. Unfortunately, Louisville committed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play. Louisville capitalized on the short field with a Kienholz to McCoy 33-yard touchdown pass. The Cards led 14-7 heading into the 2nd quarter.
2nd Quarter:
SMU tied the game at 14 on a play where Jennings backpedaled to avoid the sack, while two players ran into each other, leaving Knight wide open for the TD. On Louisville’s next possession, they went 3-and-out. SMU came out in their super fast offense, and moved the ball right down the field before Beasley ended the drive with an interception. Unfortunately for Louisville, another unsportsmanlike penalty forced Louisville to start the possession deep on their side of the field. All Louisville did was have back-to-back negative plays, forcing a punt back to SMU. The Louisville defense held and forced SMU to punt. Louisville would have to drive the length of the field to get some points, but punted the ball back to SMU after just 3 plays. SMU capitalized on the possession and added a field goal to their total before halftime. SMU took a 17-14 lead heading into the half.
Hatime Stats:
T.O.P: 14:08
Passing Yards: 63
Rushing Yards: 96
Sacks:
T.Os: 1 (INT)
3rd Quarter:
Louisville needed only two plays to go 75 yards. A Keyjuan Brown 58-yard TD run gave the Cards a 21-17 lead early in the quarter. On defense, Louisville forced a 3-and-out and a good punt return gave Louisville the ball near midfield. Louisville got a first down due to a defensive holding call, but didn’t do anything else with the ball and had to punt it back to SMU. SMU, as they did on their first drive of the game, just ran the ball right at Louisville all the way down the field and regained the lead at 24-21. Louisville, didn’t go away, however. They answered SMU’s touchdown drive with one of their own. Kienholz connected with Jaleel Skinner from 4 yards out, and gave the Cards a 28-24 lead. The defense came up big to end the quarter, and forced a punt to give the Louisville offense the ball before the quarter ended. Louisville led 28-24 heading into the final quarter.
4th Quarter:
SMU regained the lead (31-28) thanks to some undisciplined play Louisville again. Like the Cards have done before, they answered SMU’s scoring drive with one of their own. Keyjuan Brown went 53 yards for his 2nd touchdown run of the day. The Cards had a 35-31 lead. SMU had one big pass play, but was ultimately stopped on 4th down and 2. The Cards got the ball back, but a holding penalty on 1st down, pushed them back to 1st-and-20. Kienholz connected with Tre Richardson on a 44-yard dime to put the Cards in field goal range. Isaac Brown broke loose for 27 yards and helped pushed the lead to 41-31 (extra point was missed) with 5:32 remaining in the game. SMU drove down the field, but just as Jennings was about to cross into the endzone, Scott forced a fumble and Beasley recovered the ball for Louisville in the end zone for a touchback. Louisville inexplicably dialed up a pass play, that was incomplete. Louisville punted the ball back to SMU up 10 with just over 2 minutes remaining. A sack by the Louisville defense on second down, and then a Kaleb Beasley incredible interception sealed the game for the Cards. Louisville beat SMU 41-31.
Final Stats:
Passing Yards: 177 (2 TDs)
Rushing Yards: 265 (4 TDs)
Post Game Notes:
The Cards improve to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the ACC with a huge win over ranked SMU. Huge shoutout to Card Nation for showing up and being loud, even in the extreme heat. Lincoln Kienholz is one heck of a player, not just a quarterback. Kienholz added 3 touchdowns to his season total, 2 passing and 1 rushing. Moving forward, Louisville needs to clean up the penalties on both side, especially the unsportsmanlike penalties. Even with the amount of penalties and the costliness of those penalties, Louisville found away to beat a ranked team. Louisville will stay at home for their next conference game, as they take on Wake Forest at noon on September 12th.
