Not since the University of Louisville launched a football program in 1912 – Game 1, Year 1 – had four first-time Cardinals scored touchdowns during their debut. Not in a century and then some. Not until Saturday afternoon.
This was a day for overindulgence, with a noon start to a new season and a 62-0 blowout to put spectators in a celebratory mood. Only a small portion of the announced crowd of 47,067 were still in their seats by the end of the ritual sacrifice of Austin Peay, and only the most optimistic or delusional among them would attach much significance to a game bookmakers had assessed as a 36 ½-point mismatch.
Yet it was still possible to come away from the carnage encouraged by the quarterback play of Tyler Shough and impressed by the various weapons at his disposal. It was difficult to watch U of L’s defense tally seven quarterback sacks and 14 tackles for loss while forcing 11 punts without appreciating its push-’em-back, push-’em-back, waaaay-back potential.
As a litmus test, it was inconclusive. But as a preview of coming attractions, it was intriguing. Shough threw four touchdown passes and just six incompletions among 24 attempts. Freshman running back Isaac Brown carried five times for 123 yards, including a 77-yard touchdown run. Alabama transfer Ja’Corey Brooks caught seven of the eight passes for which he was targeted. Jadon Thompson caught two touchdown passes and said, “I feel like our receiver room is very dynamic.”
“You practice for a long time through the spring, summer and fall camp,” U of L coach Jeff Brohm said. “You try to get through fall camp with as few injuries as possible, but you don’t have as many live reps, so to get on the game field and execute pretty well, not only in the first half but the second half with some backups, was good to see. I thought we played hard to the end. We limited penalties as much as we could, we got some turnovers and didn’t turn the ball over as well, so a lot of things to build on.”
Matching Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools against those from the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) does not always produce the anticipated result (See Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32, 2007), but though these games are usually devoid of drama, they do serve a purpose. Several purposes, actually.
Scheduling an overmatched opponent for a virtually guaranteed victory tends to pad the records of schools with many millions invested in their football programs, fueling fan interest and helping coaches collect their contractual performance bonuses. Furthermore, FBS schools are allowed to count as many as two victories over FCS schools toward the minimum total of wins required for bowl eligibility.
For FCS schools, taking lumps can be lucrative. The University of Idaho made $2.5 million in guarantees for its 2021 and 2022 losses at Indiana. Austin Peay pocketed $435,000 for Saturday’s slaughter. Though Western Kentucky is an FBS school, the Hilltoppers were plainly out of their league in Saturday's 63-0 loss at Alabama, and earned $1.9 million for taking that masochistic trip.
Whatever physical and emotional toll is taken by their athletes, athletic administrators rationalize the risk of subjecting students to a presumed blowout by looking to their ledgers and a better-balanced budget.
Upsets are infrequent. FBS athletes are invariably bigger, stronger and faster than their FCS counterparts, and the scholarship limits of the two levels only exacerbates the disparity. FBS schools can grant as many as 85 football scholarships; FCS only 63. If a game between FBS and FCS schools is still in doubt in the fourth quarter, the depth of bigger schools can be decisive.
More often than not, outcomes are obvious well before halftime. Arkansas scored a touchdown on all 10 of its possessions in a 70-0 beatdown of Arkansas-Pine Bluff Thursday night (with Bobby Petrino as its offensive coordinator) and the Razorbacks were so dominant the competing coaches agreed to trim the third and fourth quarters to 10 minutes.
U of L coach Jeff Brohm said no discussions concerning an abbreviated game took place Saturday. Indeed, he said he was unaware that was even an option.
“I am all for playing the best teams every single week, but you have to play who is on your schedule and Austin Peay had a good year last year,” Brohm said. “Unfortunately, they had a coaching change and some players leave and it will take them a while to get used to it, but I am sure they will be competitive once they start in their conference.”
Better clues to how well Louisville can compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference will be provided by Georgia Tech’s Sept. 21 visit to L&N Stadium. Clues to the Cardinals’ abilities and ambitions allowed for some guarded giddiness Saturday.
“You just really have to keep your foot on the pedal,” said senior defensive end Ramon Puryear, who scored Louisville’s seventh touchdown by returning a fumble. “It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. We could go up against a top-ten team in the country, and we would have the same mentality, so that’s what it’s all about. If you take your foot off the pedal, that’s when they start coming back, so we just wanted to keep that mentality going and finish the game off strong.”
To finish this game any stronger would have been overkill.
