Louisville football vs Boston College live thread

Louisville football looks to pick up their first ACC win of the Scott Satterfield era against Boston College.

Louisville football heads into a matchup with Boston College looking for the first win in the ACC under Scott Satterfield.

Coming off of their first bye week of the season, Louisville will be looking to bounce back strong against a formidable team after dropping their last matchup to Florida State in devastating fashion.

In that game we saw Louisville show a lot of fight in the second half after slipping behind 21-0 early on, scoring 24 unanswered points behind solid play from starting quarterback Malik Cunningham.

This week, under a new name, Cunningham returns from an ankle injury he suffered on the last play of the game against FSU getting the start against a very vulnerable Boston College defense.

Giving up nearly 185 yards per game, Louisville will have every opportunity to play their type of game by establishing a strong run game with Javian Hawkins and Hassan Hall. Cunningham’s running will provide a bigger boost (if he’s not slowed by the ankle) but the Cards will need him to make plays with his arm above all.

Heading into a three week stretch that includes three ranked teams, Louisville needs to walk out of a Cardinal Stadium with a victory if they want to stay above water when it comes to being bowl eligible.

12:43 PM: Louisville gives up a long drive that included a big play by AJ Dillon through the air but somehow manages to pull out a huge stop on the goal line by forcing a fumble. Linebacker Monty Montgomery was able to not only force the fumble but recover as well, before going into the endzone for a touchback.

12:47 PM: Well that was quick. After forcing the fumble Louisville goes six plays for 80 yards for a Micale Cunningham touchdown. The drive included a 47 yard run from Javian Hawkins. Louisville did a great job taking advantage of Boston College’s achilles heel, stopping the run. As long as Louisville can hold strong defensively, they should be in a good spot to control the total time of possession and ultimately the outcome of the game.

12:53: We have ourselves a little shoot out here. After a big stop the previous drive, Louisville’s defense continued to show issues in coverage, allowing Boston College’s lead receiver (TE) Hunter Long to score on a 72-yard pass from Anthony Brown.

The secondary gave up a ton of big plays against Florida State, and on two drives we’ve already seen it continue at a devastating pace.

Louisville can’t give up long plays. Just can’t

12:58: I guess you can give up big plays as long as you get them back on the offensive side of the ball. 4 plays, 75 yards for Louisville with a beautiful touchdown pass from Cunningham to Seth Dawkins (nice to see ya again Seth).

Don’t blink now but Micale Cunningham is off to an incredible start. He’s 3-3 for 95 yards and a touchdown and has another seven yards and a touchdown running the football.

We’ve said it all week, Louisville HAD to see some improved passing from whoever the starting quarterback was and so far Cunningham has put the doubts we had to bed.

1:07 PM: Louisville’s offense has been on full display through the first quarter. On Three drives they have the following plays:

47 yard run by Javian Hawkins

23 yard pass from Micale Cunningham to Dez Fitzpatrick

59 yard touchdown pass from Micale Cunningham to Seth Dawkins

14 yard pass from Micale Cunningham to Tutu Atwell

End of the first quarter: Great start for Louisville offensively, but defensively they need to step it up. After forcing a fumble on the first drive, Louisville gave up multiple big plays down the field, including the 72 yard touchdown to Hunter Long.

The end of the quarter saw the run defense step up a bit, but it will need to continue if Louisville’s going to win this game.

If BC falls behind 21-7, it’ll completely change their game plan moving forward as they’ll have to shift to a heavy passing attack.

1:23 PM: If you’re a Louisville fan you’ve got to be really frustrated right about now, and you have every right to be. Louisville had a week off to get prepared in the backend of their defense and so far they look putrid.

I’m not sure whether there’s communication issues, botched coverage, or they just simply aren’t very good but whatever it is they’ve got to get it figured out quick.

Even after a knee injury (it looked pretty bad on instant replays) to Boston College starting quarterback Anthony Brown, backup Dennis Grossel stepped right in and threw a 10 yard touchdown to wide open Korab Idrizi who walked into the endzone.

Cards will need the offense to help stop the bleeding defensively.

1:30 PM: Freshman quarterback Evan Conley took the field and there was no sight of Micale Cunningham on the sideline.

Louisville’s offense didn’t miss a beat as they drove the ball down the field with ease behind big plays from Tutu Atwell and Javian Hawkins (that spin move though…). The drive was capped off by a three yard rushing touchdown from the redshirt freshman.

Through just a quarter and a half, Hawkins has already hit the 100-yard mark on just 11 carries.

1:49 PM: With Micale Cunningham back at quarterback, Louisville’s offense continued to be electric. While one drive ended in a punt after a perfectly thrown would-be touchdown pass was dropped by Tutu Atwell, the second with Cunningham back ended in a 3 play, 80-yard touchdown drive. Cunningham continued his big day in the air throwing a BOMB to Seth Dawkins for 77 yards, putting the big receiver over 100-yards for the first time since North Carolina State in 2017.

Louisville currently leads 28-14 with a little over a minute before half time.

1:58 PM: If you had Louisville and Boston College combining for 50 first half points raise your hand?

What about Boston College backup Dennis Grossel throwing two touchdowns and a two point conversion on a botched snap?

Look there’s no other way to address what is happening with the secondary than being frank.  They stink.

It’s like 2017 and 2018 all over again. While they are fighting hard, they’ve given up 268 passing yards and three touchdowns.

Half time couldn’t come at a better time for Bryan Brown’s defense.

2:05 PM: Another beautifully executed offensive drive by Micale Cunningham that included multiple beautiful 2-minute offense-ish throws, Louisville bailed Boston College out with a Blanton Creque missed field goal sending the game to half time at 28-22.

First Half Reaction: 

Raise your hand if you had Louisville and Boston College combining for 766 yards of total offense and 50 points at halftime.

Okay, put your hand down, liar.

An action-packed first half saw Louisville take a big-time strides in the passing game but their defense continues to regress, keeping Boston College in the action going into the second half.

The Eagles are without their starting quarterback, Anthony Brown, but back-up Dennis Grosel has found a rhythm leading BC on a late first half touchdown drive.

Louisville has looked solid on short and intermediate downs, but have given up a ton of big plays- particularly to the talented tight ends for Boston College across the middle. If Louisville wants to put this one away, they must limit the air attack from BC.

The Cards will look to stay hot with Cunningham at the helm. He is having his way against BC’s secondary, passing for 227 yards on only nine attempts.

2:33 PM: After throwing for 227 yards in the first half, you think Louisville would come out and continue to push the ball with Micale Cunningham. Nope.

Instead, Louisville runs the ball three times for seven yards before punting back to Boston College.

2:35 PM: Boston College goes for it on fourth and one at the Louisville 34 and gets it, but did so after a controversial fumble which was ultimately given back to BC with a fresh set of downs.

2:39 PM: Boston College’s backup quarterback Dennis Grosel has thrown for three touchdown passes against the Louisville defense today. Let that sink in.

What a horrible showing thus far for the secondary. I get they are young, but to get diced up like this against Boston College is pretty embarrassing.

2:4 PM: Thank the lord for the emergence of Micale Cunningham as a passer because if it wasn’t for him, Louisville would be dead and out of this one.

On Louisville’s second drive of the second half, Cunningham came up big through the air connecting with Dez Fitzpatrick on a 44-yard pass that put them in scoring position. A couple of running plays put Louisville down on the five yard line before two penalties, a holding and personal foul call after the play, sent Louisville way back to the 30 where they ultimately had to settle for a field goal.

Scott Satterfield said before the season he can’t stand and won’t stand for sloppy play. Two penalties on a crucial play eliminated the chance of scoring a much needed touchdown and after the field goal by Creque only gave Louisville a two point cushion.

The defense is going to have to make some plays or else Boston College is likely going to end up taking this game.

End of third quarter: Well tell me if you’ve heard this before. Louisville’s quarterback is injured and the backup is in.

Micale Cunningham took a shot to the legs after the end of a play when a Boston College defender ran into him and it forced Evan Conley to come back into the game for Scott Satterfield.

Check back for live updates throughout the game.