Two teams coming off opposite performances will meet on Saturday as Boston College hosts Louisville in an Atlantic Coast Conference clash at Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Louisville (2-2, 0-2) bounced back from a loss to now-No. 23 Florida State and dominated USF 41-3 on Saturday, never turning back after the Cardinals’ Malik Cunningham accounted for the first of his four touchdowns (three rushing) on the team’s second series.
The dynamic quarterback led the way in what coach Scott Satterfield described as Louisville’s most complete win this season.
“The thing that we did last week was play off each other … where the offense was feeding off the defense and vice versa,” Satterfield said.
Cunningham, who threw for 186 yards and rushed for 113 against the Bulls, became only the eighth quarterback in NCAA history to eclipse 8,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in a career.
“When he is dialed in, (our offense is) working, and he is as good as anyone in the country with the pressure that he can put on defenses,” Satterfield said.
Boston College (1-3, 0-2) will look to start much faster. The Eagles have been outscored by a 48-3 combined margin in the first half of two ACC games, at Virginia Tech and Florida State.
“Right now, we’re not good when we go down,” BC coach Jeff Hafley said. “I think it affects us, and we need to fix that.”
The trend continued as BC faced a 37-0 halftime deficit in last week’s 44-14 loss to the Seminoles before Phil Jurkovec and Emmett Morehead managed second-half touchdown passes to freshmen Alex Broome and Joe Griffin, respectively.
BC, which is 6-8 all-time against Louisville, has consecutive home wins in a series that resumed annually in 2014.
The Cardinals won 28-14 in last October’s meeting. Cunningham rushed for 133 yards and three touchdowns while throwing for 107 yards.
“You have to play with relentless effort against him,” Hafley said. “You have to play with your hair on fire like you never have before. … I think he’s one of the most dynamic players in all of college football.”
–Field Level Media
