By Hannah Walker —
On Sept. 17, Louisville football played their second home game of the season against the Central Florida Knights. At a game that head coach Scott Satterfield called “One of the best football games you’re ever going to see,” Louisville won with a final score of 42-35.
At the start of the game, Central Florida won the coin toss and decided to defer to the second half. Louisville received and struggled during the start of the game when UCF made their first touchdown with 12:22 on the clock. However, Louisville tied the game up at the end of the first quarter. Redshirt junior quarterback Malik Cunningham rushed to the left for a gain of seven yard; scoring Louisville their first touchdown.
At the start of the second quarter, UCF gained an edge on Louisville when they made another touchdown with 14:22 on the clock. Still, this didn’t stop Louisville. Louisville tied the game up again when redshirt freshman running back Jalen Mitchell rushed up the middle for a gain of two yards. This gave Louisville another touchdown.
Louisville continued to play strong throughout the final minutes of the second quarter, and they were able to take the lead before halftime. Cunningham made a complete pass for 1 yard to tight-end, redshirt sophomore Marshon Ford, and scored a touchdown with 22 seconds on the clock. Louisville went into halftime with a score of 21-14.
In the third quarter of the game, UCF tied the game with Louisville once again with 10:59 on the clock. However, with 4:57 on the clock, Louisville broke the tie. Cunningham rushed to left for a gain of one yard and scored U of L another touchdown.
By the fourth quarter, the fans felt as if it was a toss up on who would win the game that night. UCF made a touchdown at the beginning of the quarter, and Louisville made a touchdown as well. Sophomore wide-receiver Braden Smith made a pass for 45 yards. Freshman Trevion Cooley caught it and put both teams at another tie that night.
It wasn’t until the very end of the game, with 13 seconds left on the clock, that UCF’s pass was intercepted by freshman Jaylin Alderman. He returned for 66 yards and won the game for U of L.
“What a good performance by [UCF] as well as our guys,” said Satterfield during a post-game interview. “You know you don’t want to play three games in 12 days, but ESPN lives for games like that. You know, what a show we put on for everybody.”
Satterfield went on to compliment his team for their performance during the entirety of the game, as well as the coaches that helped to put all of the plays together that night.
Louisville football will play again on Saturday, Sept. 25 at the Doak Campbell Stadium against the Florida State Seminoles. Kickoff starts at 7: 30 p.m. ET.
Photo Courtesy of Jessica Abell// The Louisville Cardinal
