Louisville Football Wins, Chaos Ensues -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Dominates BC 52-7

After ending his streak of 10 straight games with a rushing and passing touchdown last week (oh no! He only threw for 4 TDs), Lamar Jackson started a new streak yesterday with a vengeance. LJ8 had his third game of the season with 7 touchdowns responsible for, throwing four and walking in for the other three. I say walking because he was all alone. As of the end of that game, no one else in the country had three 7 TD games this season. Jackson didn't play in the complete game in any of those three games. His 45 touchdowns on the season are still on pace to break Colt Brennan's FBS record of 63. Assuming 4 more games (three regular season and a bowl game), Lamar Jackson needs to average 4.5 touchdowns per game to tie the record. He also completed 12 of 17 passes (70.5%) for 231 yards. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for Lamar yesterday, though. He was sacked once, fumbled on his own volition, and threw a questionable ball that turned into an interception (although I think there should have been pass interference called). It is important to remember that for all of the excitement and talent that Lamar Jackson brings to the field, he is only a true sophomore and is learning every single moment. He is a wonderful student of the game and has plenty still to learn from Bobby Petrino.

It is easy to say that Lamar was doing all of this against Boston College. However, for the Lamar detractors, it might be harder to admit that BC had a top ten defense coming into yesterday's game. Before yesterday, BC only gave up 298 yards per game, even after getting trounced by Clemson. Louisville had picked up half of that yardage in its first 8 plays. Unfortunately, Lamar was doing most of the work himself. Brandon Radcliff was demolishing teams early, helping to keep them honest so Lamar Jackson could work wonders. Yesterday, excluding Kyle Bolin's sack for a loss of 9 yards, members of the Louisville team not named Lamar gained a total of 24 yards on the ground. Jackson's ability to throw and run keeps the offense from being statistically one dimensional. However, when your entire team is riding on the back of one player, you could be in for a bad time in future games against really good competition.

Quick made up for last week's drops with 2 TDs

I've got another helmet sticker to give to the defense after yesterday's performance. The team met an old foe at quarterback for the Golden Eagles in one Patrick Towles of UK fame (infamy?). They greeted him in a familiar way. The Cards sacked Towles three times and allowed him to complete only 13 of 21 passes for 147 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Overall, the defense gave up a total of 207 yards, only the one touchdown, and held BC to 4 of 16 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth down. They had the aforementioned interception and recovered two fumbles. Devonte Fields returned to the field with three solo tackles, one for a loss of seven yards. It was a good all around team showing.

Special shoutout to Mason King, who didn't let me down after I praised him on the radio yesterday morning. King punted four times with a 44.8 yard average. He forced three fair catches and had no touchbacks. The fourth was unreturnable and rolled to a stop before being downed by the Louisville coverage team. He was also the holder for 7 PATs and 2 field goals, of which only one of the field goals was missed. Keep it up, Mason!

Our other best friend, Chaos, was hard at work yesterday. Texas A&M took their number four ranking and promptly lost to Mississippi State. Arkansas took Florida to task and Alabama beat LSU in Death Valley. I'm focusing so much on the SEC because the conference has essentially played itself out of the chance to get a second team in the playoff. So long as Alabama beats Auburn, Louisville should stay planted firmly ahead of the rest of the SEC. Unfortunately, Chaos couldn't come through on the West Coast, as Washington dismantled another Pac12 foe in Cal. Fortunately, Washington State has looked fantastic, could very well beat Washington in the Apple Cup, and I don't think would jump Louisville with two losses, even if they did win the Pac12.

The Big 12 continued to be awful yesterday and has essentially no hope at a playoff appearance. The B1G also took a hit when Ohio State demolished Nebraska and LSU fell to Alabama. Nebraska is not good, and they were greatly overrated. Wisconsin's wins over Nebraska and LSU now lose some weight, which means that any team beating Wisconsin (ahem, Michigan and OSU) lose some credibility. Meanwhile, the ACC continues to be weird, and I continue to not know who to root for in our own conference. On some other planet, Charlotte beat Southern Miss. If you aren't sure why I included that, just take a trip back to week one and take a look at both of those team's season openers.

So Louisville stands to gain a spot in Tuesday's CFP rankings, which apparently matter more than anyone thought, since ESPN is using them instead of the AP Poll to show teams rankings during games. Of course, anything could happen because this committee is strange. What may turn out to be Louisville's biggest remaining game (gag) is on the horizon as Wake Forest comes to town Saturday night. All Louisville can do is just go out and keep beating up on fools.

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Water Sports make a Splash

I'm sorry... I couldn't help myself. Anyway, yesterday the Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving teams wrapped up a two day sweep of North Carolina. Both UNC teams were ranked 20th and this meet marks the first time that the UofL women have defeated the UNC women. Coach Arthur Albiero said that he was pleased with the team's performance from beginning to end, including that they continued 

to perform well after the meet was decided. He says the team is preparing for a championship season.

The rowing team had a great day at the Head of the Hooch meet in Chattanooga yesterday, finishing with 5 top five finishes overall throughout the day, including first and second in the Championship 8 meet and second in the Championship 4. The Cards took third, fourth, and sixth in Doubles and finished 10th out of 40 in the Novice 8 meet.

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Big Games Upcoming!

So the games that the Men's and Women's basketball teams are playing may not have a huge impact at the end of the year, but those games are big because they're the season openers! Both teams open their season on Friday with the men hosting Evansville and the women travelling to UT Martin. Both teams have one exhibition game remaining with the men hosting Bellarmine tomorrow night and the women taking on Lindsay Wilson College today at 2PM. The women's game today is free and the men's game tomorrow is probably cheaper than a regular season matchup. I'll have more on men's basketball in next week's article after we've played a "real" game.

The last game I'm going to mention is actually a big game. College soccer rankings are all over the place, so I'll leave them out here, but Louisville men are playing host to Virginia in an ACC quarterfinal today at 1PM in Lynn Stadium. The men have played well all year and will be playing for a national seed based on their performance in the ACC tournament. If you've got the time, go ahead and check them out. If memory serves, tickets should be relatively cheap at the gate, despite the ACC tournament status.

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The Part Where I Stop Talking About Sports

Yesterday, we had a full house in the Crescent Hill Radio studio. Worldwide, Paulie, and I were joined by Paige Sherrard and had a good time going over the time limit. You can listen to yesterday's broadcast here:

LINK: THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 11/5/16

November is Donation Drive Month

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Until next time, Go Cards! 
-CH-