Jack Plummer, High-Flying Offense Lead Louisville to Victory Over Boston College
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After the events of last weekend, while the Louisville football program was not on full upset alert, they had every reason to take Boston College seriously. Following a lackluster first two games of the season, the Eagles came incredibly close to knocking off No. 3 Florida State, eventually falling 31-29.
It's very clear that the Cardinals got the message that this was very much a team to watch out for. From almost the jump of their matchup at L&N Stadium on Saturday, it was Louisville who was in control, coming out with a decisive 56-28 win over Boston College. The Cardinals are now 4-0 overall and 2-0 in ACC play for the first time since 2016.
"We knew Boston College was going to give us a challenge," head coach Jeff Brohm said. "They wake up our players when they almost beat Florida State at home last week. Because of that, we practiced well with the sense of urgency needed to come out and win."
As the final score would suggest, Louisville's efforts on the offensive side of the ball was the driving force behind the blowout victory. The Cardinals were fast and furious on offense, scoring touchdowns on their first seven drives of the matchup, and eight of their 12 drives for the game overall. By the time the clock hit double zeroes, Louisville had amassed 585 total yards of offense, their most so far this season against an FBS opponent.
“These guys work hard, I’m proud of that simple fact," head coach Jeff Brohm said following the win. "When there’s one ball and you’ve got multiple weapons, I can’t predict where the ball is going to throw, you’ve got to kind of gain the confidence of your quarterback. You’ve got to just stick with it. You never know when your number is going to be called. ... Some days you might get a lot of touches, other days maybe not as much, but you’ve got to continue to work, because that’s how you build a great football team and I like the effort that we’ve had to this point.”
The driving effort behind this offensive show-of-force was a fantastic performance from Jack Plummer. The graduate transfer quarterback from Cal had arguably the best outing of his collegiate career, completing 18 of his 21 passing attempts for 388 yards and five touchdowns, while also rushing for an additional touchdown. The passing touchdown mark set a new career-high for Plummer, and his six touchdowns accounted for was only the eighth time in Louisville history that a Cardinal was responsible for six or more touchdowns.
“I don’t know, I just feel like I was going out there and playing," Plummer said when asked why he felt so poised in the pocket against BC. "Our guys were getting open and I was able to sit back there and the line did a good job of blocking, so it was a combination of a lot of things. But I think it’s part of my game: when I get into a groove, I feel like I’m pretty dangerous.”
At one point, Plummer had completed 15 consecutive passing attempts, a streak that was good for fourth-best in program history. On top of that, it wasn't like Plummer was just settling for easy short throws and letting his wide receivers do all that work after the catch. Of his seven completions of more than 15 yards, five of them were long shots down the field, all of which were right on target.
Plus, it wasn't to the same receiver every time. Ahmari Huggins-Bruce had a pair of deep ball scores, Jamari Thrash had one to end the first, while Kevin Coleman Jr. and Chris Bell both had long non-scoring catches.
"I thought it was a great day for Jack," Brohm said. "He had a really good week of practice. I say all the time that this guy works at it. He puts in the time. He is committed. He wants to do well. Sometimes, he wants to do so well, I think he presses. So, we just worked on relaxing and trusting what you do in practice every day and throw with conviction and standing on balance and trusting their protection.
"In my opinion, not only did he play great, he made throws up the field. These were not little screens, these were vertical shots down the field, hitting them on the money. The receivers ran precise routes, and we had good protection. But I thought Jack was as sharp as he’s ever been.“
Of course, Plummer's efforts through the the air were complemented by another explosive showing on the ground by the running backs, and specifically Jawhar Jordan. Louisville totaled 197 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns, with 134 yards and two scores coming from Jordan.
The backs also had a role in the passing game. Jordan had 75-yard touchdown catch off a screen pass to open up the second half, Maurice Turner had three catches for 36 yards including a 27-yarder, while Isaac Guerendo had a pair of catches for 17 yards.
Even with how well the backs played, Jordan thinks they could have done a lot more.
“Honestly, we definitely left a lot of meat on the bone," he said. "We could’ve done a little bit better in my opinion, but that’s what we were prepared to do: explosive plays. And for the most part, we did that."
(Photo of Jack Plummer: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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