Louisville football: Malik Cunningham saves the day on the way to a win

Louisville football looked to finally show its true self after two games full of excuses. Without Alabama or a monsoon to blame, the Cardinals failed to show any resemblance of hope.

This game started as each game has thus far – the offense coming out flat and inexplicably incapable of moving the chains. This was supposed to be the game for Louisville football that showed some crispness on offense. It started with a three and out.

The rest of the first quarter never really got better. Averett dropped a pass that was picked off, Colin Wilson and Jeremy Smith fumbled the ball, and with the exception of the Avery pick the defense got worked.

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Petrino made the decision to put in Cunningham to start the second quarter. That was maybe the only good decision he made in the game. The play calling was mind boggling at times. After going more than a quarter with only 12 yards of offense, Bobby Petrino made the call to go for it on 4th and 3 at their own 32 yard line. It didn’t work and two plays later Louisville found itself down 14-0.

Then on the best drive of the half, Louisville gets in to the red zone and once the offense was rolling Bobby decided not to go for it on 4th and 2 and settled for a field goal to go in to halftime 14-3. Lets take a step back and look at this from the big picture. Western Kentucky is a bad team. This isn’t the offensive powerhouse from a couple years ago, this is an 0-2 team that lost last week to FCS Maine!

The second half defense stepped up and made the stops that should have happened all game. Malik Cunningham kept plays alive with his legs and ended up with 129 yards on 21 carries. Dae Williams threw his name in the hat for the starter going forward finishing with only 9 carries but 58 yards and 2 TDs.

In the end, WKU had a chance to tie it up after a stupid penalty on a punt with 25 seconds to go. They got the ball close enough to have a FG shot from 51 yards out to tie the game with 1 second left. It had enough leg but luckily it was wide right and Louisville escaped with a win.

The good: The defensive line and special teams stepped up in big situations. With WKU right by the goal line, the line came up with two big sacks to hold them to a FG. The special teams then blocked the FG which ended up saving us from overtime.

The bad: The receivers dropped passes all day long. 2 out of the 3 passes that Puma attempted could have been caught. It didn’t stop once Cunningham was in the game either.

LVP: Jaylen Smith dropped multiple balls all night. It wasn’t just him but if we can’t rely on out senior WR to catch wide open balls that hits him in his hands, it is going to be a long year.

MVP: Malik Cunningham once again came it and immediately started to move the offense. He doesn’t throw the best ball and he missed seeing some open receivers but his play making ability with his legs is the only reason this game wasn’t a loss.

Stat of the night: Jawon Pass 0/3 with 1 interception. Look it wasn’t all his fault, I feel like we are starting to say this each week, but he isn’t the answer.

Tweet of the night:

There is a lot of game to go, etc...but this is
Kragthorpe-esque football. And it's flirting with Ron Cooper.
Pains me to say, but true...
— Bob Valvano (@espnVshow) September 16, 2018

Game grades

Offense

louisville. BOBBY PETRINO. F. A fish rots at the head and the head coach is starting to smell a bit. After 5 years in the Bobby 2.0 era, this isn’t what the pay off is supposed to be. The team looks almost disinterested for the second year in a row. His offensive play calling “strength” has now turned in to a weakness. In my mind, his coaching the rest of this season to save his job.. HC

B. His number was called for the second week in a row and once again he came though. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but when he is in the game the offense is more productive. He missed some open receivers and he made some bad passes. He made some good ones too, including his best throw the went straight through Smith’s hands. He bring enough to the table that I think it’s his job now going into conference play.. QB. louisville. MALIK CUNNINGHAM

A. I don’t think Dae was 100% healthy week 1. I think this is the Dae Williams I’ve been looking for since he showed spurts last season. He only got 9 carries. Why? Who knows, but he ran effectively including chuck plays and 2 TDs. I want to see a healthy dose of Williams next week.. RB. louisville. DAE WILLIAMS

Defense

DEFENSIVE LINE. B -. It wasn’t all great. This is the second straight game we have given up over 100 yards rushing in the first half to terrible teams. But in the second half, the line stepped up to clog up the running lanes. And on the biggest drive of the game, Robinson and Peterson came up with two big sacks to keep it from getting out of hand.. DL. louisville

There is no way to sugar coat this game. Sure we got the W but there was no elite Alabama team or hurricane like rains to blame this on. This is the team we have and unless some unexpected lights come on, there is no way to win like this in the ACC.

Fan Experience Paying Dividends. dark. Next

My expectations continue to change for how this season is going to turn out and they are going in the wrong direction. Bobby Petrino has work to do the rest of the season before that seat gets hot enough to warrant a change.

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