Murray State Racers (1-3, 0-1 OVC)
at #17 Louisville Cardinals (3-1, 1-1 ACC)
Saturday, September 30 • 2:30 p.m. CT
Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium (55,000) • Louisville, Ky.
TV:...................................................... FOX Sports South
Live Stats:. http://www.sidearmstats.com/louisville/football/
Series Record:.................................. Louisville leads 13-6
Last Meeting:........................ Louisville won 66-21 (9/6/14)
Mitch Stewart at Murray State:....................... 8-18 (3 yrs.)
Mitch Stewart Overall:.............................................. same
Bobby Petrino at Louisville:.......................... 70-23 (8 yrs.)
Bobby Petrino Overall:............................. 112-44 (13 yrs.)
Murray State Last Week:............... L, 27-7 vs. Austin Peay
Louisville Last Week:...................... W, 42-3 vs. Kent State
GAME NOTES: Murray State steps out of Conference play for the final time this
season when it makes the short trip to play nationally-ranked Football Bowl
Subdivision (FBS) foe Louisville. It will be the 20th all-time meeting between
the schools and first since the 2014 season. The Racers are 3-27-1 all-time
against FBS opponents; its last win came against Louisville (26-23) during the
1984 season. During the 2014 game, the No. 25 ranked Cardinals had 603 yards of
total offense on its way to a 66-21 victory. UofL rushed for 325 yards, 126 by
freshman LJ Scott (who is now a member of the Eastern Kentucky football team).
The Racers were limited to 41 rushing yards, but quarterback KD Humphries passed
for 158 yards and a pair of scores. Travis Taylor had a game-high 12 tackles in
the loss. Louisville is 24-6 under head coach Bobby Petrino during the month of
September.
SCOUTING MURRAY STATE: Murray State was limited to just five total yards of
offense in the first half (and 88 for the game) as the team opened Conference
play with a 27-7 loss to rival Austin Peay. Freshman quarterback Corey Newble
completed 18-of-29 passes and a touchdown while rushing for a team-high 44 yards
on 13 carries. Newble’s touchdown went to D.J. Penick midway through the third
quarter. On the defensive side of the ball, Lamont Crittendon had a game-high 11
tackles and a fumble recovery, while Marico Paige had seven tackles, a
tackle-for-loss and a pass breakup. Kenney Wooten picked up his fifth sack of
the season in the game, to go along with five tackles and a quarterback hurry,
while Dylan Boone picked off his second pass of the year. As a team, Murray
State has eight interceptions, which ranks third nationally. The team also ranks
first in the OVC and 15th nationally in red zone offense (90.9%).
SCOUTING LOUISVILLE: Louisville is off to a 3-1 start this season, with its lone
loss coming to defending national champion Clemson. The Cardinals enter the week
ranked seventh nationally in passing offense (365.5 yards/game) and eighth in
total offense (550.3 yards/game). Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson
has completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,387 yards and 10 touchdowns while
also rushing for 337 yards and four additional scores. He ranks second
nationally in total offense (431.0 yards/game), fourth in passing yards, fifth
in points responsible for (84) and sixth in passing yards/game (346.8). Jackson
played three quarters in his team’s win over Kent State last Saturday; in that
time he had 333 yards of total offense, including going 18-of-22 through the air
for 299 yards. In the process Jackson broke the UofL record for career touchdown
responsibility (88). Ten different UofL receivers caught passes in the game with
Seth Dawkins leading the way with 75 yards and four catches. The UofL defense
held Kent State to just 11 yards passing, the fewest against the Cardinals since
1989. The defense also tallied 14 tackles for loss, with nine different players
recording at least one stop for negative yards.