Recap: Louisville shuts out EKU
Louisville football defeated Eastern Kentucky (EKU) 42-0 Sept. 7 at Cardinal Stadium, Scott Satterfield’s first win as the Cardinals’ head coach.
Jawon Pass completed 12 of 19 throws for 196 yards and four touchdowns. Javian Hawkins rushed for 123 yards on 11 carries for Louisville.
Louisville finished the game with 542 yards of total offense, rushing for 322 yards. The Cardinals held EKU to 176 yards of offense.
After Yasir Abdullah had a sack to end EKU’s opening drive, Louisville quickly struck first. The Cardinals went 79 yards in two plays to take a 7-0 lead with 12:34 left in the first quarter.
Jawon Pass rushed for 24 yards on a quarterback keeper. One play later, Pass pitched the ball forward to Tutu Atwell, who took the ball 50 yards for score.
While the Cardinals offense struggled on its next two drives, Louisville’s defense held firm forcing two stops. After an EKU three-and-out, Atwell returned a punt 33 yards to the 15-yard line.
Two plays later, Pass tossed a 5-yard touchdown to Marshon Ford for a 14-0 lead with 2:17 left in the first quarter.
Eastern Kentucky answered with its most sustained drive to that point, driving to the Louisville 25-yard line on 12 plays by gaining 39 yards. Russ Yeast broke up a pass on third down while Jared Goldwire had a sack for a 7-yard loss on fourth-and-5.
The Cardinals couldn’t take advantage of the turnover on downs. Seth Dawkins bobbled a throw on a fourth-and-7 from the 40-yard line, which was intercepted by Josh Hayes.
Louisville used another big play to spark a scoring drive in the second half. Javian Hawkins took the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter 66 yards to bring Louisville inside the 10-yard line. One play later, Pass threw another 5-yard touchdown pass to Ford for a 21-0 lead 24 seconds into the second half.
Hawkins had another long run on Louisville’s best drive of the night. The Cardinals went 12 plays, 93 yards in 6:47 that was capped by a touchdown catch by Dez Fitzpatrick on fourth-and-goal from the 5-yard line. Hawkins had the drive’s longest play, a 50-yard carry that brought the ball inside the 10-yard line.
Louisville had another scoring drive on its next possession. Justin Marshall hauled in a 36-yard pass from Pass to put the ball at midfield. Devante Peete had a 26-yard reception as well. Hassan Hall capped the eight-play, 85-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give Louisville a 35-0 lead with 12:05 left.
Malik Cunningham led a touchdown drive in his first series. Cunningham completed a 24-yard pass to Marshall and later scored from 38 yards on an option-keeper.
Cunningham added a 32-yard carry on the Cardinals’ final drive.
