Louisville football: 5 players to watch against Boston College

Malik Cunningham – QB

We still aren’t sure who is going to play quarterback on Saturday, as Scott Satterfield made it seem like both could play or neither could play – which to me, isn’t a great sign. But if I had to guess at this point, my money is on Malik Cunningham to be the starter against Boston College.

What he does at the quarterback spot bodes well for Louisville, considering how bad Steve Adazzio’s team has been defensively stopping the run this season. As we’ve seen over the last two weeks, Cunningham is a lightning bolt who can make big plays happen with his arm and his legs.

After really struggling in the first half against Florida State, Cunningham looked like a completely different quarterback in the second half – especially throwing the ball down the field. In the first half, we saw tendencies of quick glances at receivers before feeling pressure and taking off out of the pocket more times than not for losses or small gains. That ultimately hurt the running game, as the big defensive line led by Marvin Wilson had a field day stuffing Javian Hawkins and Hassan Hall either in the backfield or after short gains.

After a beautiful touchdown throw to Tutu Atwell, we saw a completely different quarterback. Cunningham started slinging the ball around and suddenly the run game opened up and the Cards offensive looked dynamic again. He connected on several big throws including the 48-yard catch and run by Marshon Ford (see, good things happen) and the 74-yard bomb to Dez Fitzpatrick.

Against Boston College, Louisville will need the same Malik Cunningham that showed up in the last first half and into the second half against Florida State to be ready to play. As mentioned several times, the ability to run the football at a high level will be present against BC, but in order to do that Louisville needs Cunningham to be just as much of a passer as he is a runner.

Two weeks ago, Cunningham really impressed me the way he threw the football in the second half to the point of proving he was a much better passer than maybe we all thought.

The first half was frustrating and really had taken me to the place of “it may be time for a quarterback switch if Malik won’t throw the ball.” He ran often and each non-called run seemed quicker and quicker each play. But he proved himself capable. And now that we’ve seen it, we need more.

Louisville can’t win this game without Malik Cunningham having a big day through the air.