Lamar Jackson leads Louisville in 45-3 rout of Samford

RICHMOND, Ky. (AP) – Bennie Coney completed 28 of 35 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown and Ethan Thomas ran for two touchdowns to lead Eastern Kentucky to a 51-13 win over Austin Peay in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams Saturday night.

“He’s real explosive”, Petrino said.

Same score, same quarter, Jackson runs 73 yards to the Samford 2. He had four catches for 28 yards in the Auburn game until his injury.

Samford is led by first-year Head Coach Chris Hatcher, who is familiar with Louisville after holding the head coaching position at Murray State from 2010 to 2014.

Samford quarterback Michael Eubank (2) is sacked by Louisville nose tackle Deangelo Brown, bottom, and cornerback Jaire Alexander during the first half of their NCAA college football game Saturday, September 26, 2015, in Louisville, Ky.

Louisville had started a different quarterback in each of its first three games, the only team in the country to do so. “You find yourself (down) 14-0 before the game hardly even starts and that’s a hard mountain to climb”. Samford’s only score came in the second on a 32-yard field goal, and the Cardinals roared the rest of the way scoring 24 unanswered points. 3. In the process Jackson broke the Cards single game rushing record for a quarterback with over 165 yards. Backup quarterback Kyle Romano completed 3 of 4 passes and a touchdown. Bonnafon also threw an interception, passing for 62 yards in six attempts that were interspersed with Jackson. Jackson hit James Quick for a 36-yard touchdown; L.J. Scott added a two-yard touchdown run with 12:56 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 45-3.

Samford running back Denzel Williams (25) has his helmet pulled off… “When they’re on the field together, we’re a faster football team”.

Louisville totaled 562 yards of offense, to 201 yards for Samford.

The Cardinals extended their nation-leading streak to 17 games with an interception.