By Dalton Ray

After Dominique Brown led the Cardinals to their first ACC conference win last week freshman LJ Scott stole the show against Murray State. Rushing for 126 yards and a touchdown on his 11 carries Scott electrified the crowd early with his 68 yard run in the first quarter. The Cards would score on nine straight possessions cruising to a 66-21 win over the visiting Racers.

“We took care of our business, we did what we were supposed to do. We had a real short week… we showed maturity because sometimes these games are hard to play especially coming off a game like Miami where we had so much time to prepare and it’s so intense,” head coach Bobby Petrino said.

Along with showing maturity and taking care of business Petrino was also pleased with getting a lot of guys playing time. Including the homegrown freshman quarterback Reggie Bonnafon. The former Trinity grad showed why he is a dangerous quarterback prospect as he threw a 27-yard touchdown over two defenders and ran another paid of touchdowns in.

Bonnafon would credit his stellar collegiate start to preparation.

“I think I’ve prepared myself so well with camp and the coaches pushing us so hard… there really wasn’t any pressure it was just about going out there and having fun,” He would finish 8-11, 112 yards passing and 22 yards rushing on his five attempts.

Starting quarterback Will Gardner, who threw for two touchdowns in just over a quarter of game time, definitely appreciates the depth of talent at the running back position.

“We have five guys who can play anywhere in the country, they come in and show their skill set and ran the ball well tonight.” The five running backs carried the ball 43 times for 304 yards and four touchdowns.

After the first half the Cardinals were up 45-7, a lone 57-yard screenplay in the first quarter was the only touchdown the visiting Racers would score in the first half. Charles Gaines had an early interception on the Racers second drive of the game, set the tone early for the Cardinals’ defense. The defensive run game was stout only allowing 42 yards rushing, an average of 2.2 per carry, and no first downs on any run-play.

As well as controlling the line of scrimmage the Cardinal defense played tight coverage in the secondary, making it very difficult to move the ball down the field. Petrino has been pleased with his defense in the first two weeks of the season and gives them a lot of credit.

“They play extremely fast, they know what the game plan is, they know what they’re doing so they don’t hesitate and they’re communicating very well. That’s what I was looking to see was communicating with this fast pace no huddle offense,” Petrino said.

After two weeks Bobby Petrino’s offense has put up 97 points and shown how many different weapons he has to choose from. Nine different Cardinals have scored on offense; Petrino and staff haven’t missed a beat and are continuing to expand their high-powered offense.

Next on the slate for Louisville will be Virginia on September 13th. The 12:30 game played at Scott Stadium will be the team’s first road game of the year and the university’s first ACC road game.