Louisville Obliterates Murray State in Jeff Brohm's First Home Game
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program's first game under Jeff Brohm last week might have been a little more dramatic than expected, but the first home game under their new head coach was won in a much more decisive fashion.
Playing in their first home game of the 2023 season, the Cardinals dominated in-state FCS foe Murray State from start to finish, capturing a 56-0 shutout win over the Racers Thursday night at L&N Stadium.
The victory marks the first time since 2017 that Louisville (2-0. 1-0 ACC) has won their first two games in a season. It also extends their winning streak over Murray State (1-1, 0-0 MVC) to seven in a row. Louisville has not lost to an FCS team since Oct. 10, 1987 in a 34-31 decision against Marshall, and has not lost to the Racers since a 26-23 loss on Sept. 1, 1984.
Louisville set the tone early on both sides of the ball, resulting in nothing short of a complete and total domination over Murray State. The Cardinals out-gained the Racers 690 to 166 in terms of total yardage, and averaged 8.8 yards per play to 3.1 by their visitors.
While he still wasn't perfect, starting quarterback Jack Plummer looked much more comfortable, going 16-for-22 for 247 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Like in the season opener, he found wide receiver Jamari Thrash early, who logged three receptions for a game-high 82 yards and a touchdown.
By the time the game ended, all nine quarterbacks on the roster entered the game and 12 receivers caught a pass. Four quarterbacks attempted a pass, with walk-on Harrison Bailey also throwing a touchdown to tight end Joey Gatewood. Thrash and Gatewood had the only two receiving scores of the game.
Louisville's offensive attack was spearheaded by a prolific ground game, with the Cardinals piling up 344 rushing yard and six rushing touchdowns. Running back Jawhar Jordan continued on his white-hot start to the season, collecting 135 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries.
Isaac Guerendo and Keyjuan Brown each toted the rock 11 times, rushing for 63 and 65 yards, respectively, while each finding the endzone once. Thrash and Ahmari Huggins-Bruce also ran for touchdowns on wide receivers end-arounds.
Defensively, Louisville was just as efficient as their offensive counterparts, holding Murray State to just 166 total yards of offense and 94 rushing yards. Racers quarterback D.J. Williams went just 7-for-16 for 68 yards, the Cardinals capitalized on three turnovers, while the defense as a whole logged five tackles for loss and two pass breakups.
Linebacker T.J. Quinn led the defense with six tackles, defensive end Ashton Gillotte logged his first sack of the season, safety Devin Neal both recovered a fumble and snagged an interception, while linebacker Stanquan Clark also forced a fumble.
Over the first quarter-and-half, Louisville's offense was surprisingly hit-or miss. Two of their first four drives of the game ended in touchdowns, with Thrash scoring on a 12-yard end-around and Guerendo punching it in from the one-yard line. However, the two other drives during this stretch were a three-and-out and an interception on a very offline pass from Plummer.
After that, Louisville followed that up with back-to-back two-play scoring drive. Plummer hit Thrash in stride through a small window on a slant for a 73-yard touchdown, while Jordan turned on the burners in the open field for a 72-yard score.
On the other side of the line of scrimmage, Louisville's defense was flat out dominant. While Williams did have a couple good throws and runs to move the chains, all seven of Murray State's first half drives ended in punts and they were held to just 100 yards. Four of their first half drives were three-and-outs, and only two got past midfield.
In fact, Louisville found time to try and practice the two-minute offense for their seventh and final drive of the half. However, a pair of false starts and an interception from Plummer put a pin to the drive.
The Cardinals punted on their first drive of the second half, but then promptly followed that up with four straight trips to the endzone. Jordan notched his second touchdown of the game from one yard out, Huggins-Bruce had a six-yard end-around score of his own, Brown had a four-yard touchdown for his first collegiate score, then Bailey connected with Gatewood for a catch-and-run 34-yard touchdown.
Meanwhile, the defensive domination from Louisville was kicked up a notch after halftime. Murray State turned the ball over on their first three drives of the second half: an unforced fumble recovered by Neal, an interception by Neal as well, plus a forced fumble by Clark. The Racers' next three drives after these were all three-and-outs.
Next up, Louisville will head up I-65 for a neutral site matchup with Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. Kickoff against the Hoosiers is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 16 at 12:00 p.m. EST.
(Photo of Jamari Thrash: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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