By Derek DeBurger

The No. 18 Louisville Cardinals take one step closer to the ACC title game with a resounding victory against the No. 20 Duke Blue Devils.

Total domination from start to finish

Louisville won this game in the trenches, dominating on both the offensive and defensive lines. Runningback Jawhar Jordan had one of the best games of his career behind a great performance from the O-line.

From the very first offensive possession, the Cards picked up chunk-yards at will against the best scoring defense in the ACC. The Cards capped off a ten-play, 72-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown run by Jordan — his first of two for the day.

Louisville then marched right down the field on their next drive and scored off of a 21-yard touchdown from Jordan to take a 14-0 lead. Jordan would finish the game with a career-high 163 yards and two touchdowns.

On defense, Louisville took advantage of injuries on the Blue Devils offense. Starting left tackle Graham Barton was out with an injury, and starting guard Jacob Monk — the most experienced player on Duke’s offense — got knocked out of the game early with an injury. Star quarterback Riley Leonard did play this game after being considered questionable all week, but the high ankle sprain was still a factor.

The entire day Louisville was successfully able to get into the backfield and disrupt the Blue Devil’s rhythm. Coupled with an early double-digit deficit, Duke was never able to do what they wanted both in play calling and execution. The Cards finished with four total sacks, two quarterback hits, and several holding calls against Duke’s O-line on what would have been sacks.

Duke’s running backs were never able to get going either, as the Louisville front seven did a great job diagnosing plays and filling up running lanes. Duke finished the game with just 51 team rushing yards.

Kicker Brock Travelstead had another great game under his belt going three-for-three on field goals, including one right before the half to give the Cards a 17-0 lead.

Coming out of the half the Cards remained focused. Upon receiving the second-half kickoff, quarterback Jack Plummer helped march the Cards on a 14-play seven-minute 28-second drive that ended in a made Travelstead field goal to go up 20-0.

On the very next Duke possession, Leonard threw what became the only turnover of the game to linebacker Gilbert Frierson. This led to another field goal, ballooning the lead to 23-0. After that, Duke lost almost all drive and Louisville went conservative to wrap the game up.

The final score would be 23-0 Cards.

Homecoming Queen Paighton Brooks and King Prince Chenou (Center), posed at halftime with last year’s king and queen (right), President Kim Schatzel, and Dean of Students Michael Mardis Photo Courtesy // U of L Athletics

Staying in the Top 25

Louisville bounced back from their lone loss of the season in a big way, burying an in-conference opponent in a crucial matchup for the race to the ACC title game.

Louisville reminded everyone exactly why they were ranked 18 in the AP Top 25, and what is still to come this season. Jeff Brohm-coached teams are known for high-flying offenses, but the Cards defense put on the show today. This marks the second shutout of the season for the Cards and the first against an FBS opponent.

The Cards have another massively important ACC matchup against Virginia Tech up next, but for now, they’ve got to be enjoying sitting at 7-1 and 4-1 in the ACC in Brohm’s first season as coach.

Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, U of L Athletics