Louisville Postgame Notes

Louisville 27, Texas A&M 21
Nissan Stadium | Nashville, Tenn.

SERIES

Louisville recorded its first win against Texas A&M, earning a victory in the Music City Bowl. Louisville was 0-3 versus the Aggies entering the game.
Louisville's Bobby Petrino improved to 4-0 all-time against Texas A&M, this being his first win against the Aggies as head coach of the Cardinals.

TEAM

Louisville's captains for the Music City Bowl were seniors James Burgess, Aaron Epps and Sheldon Rankins and juniors Keith Kelsey and Brandon Radcliff.
Texas A&M won the pregame coin toss and chose to receive the opening kickoff.
The Cardinals improve to 10-9-1 all-time in bowl games, winning three of their last four.
Head coach Bobby Petrino moves to 5-4 all-time in bowl games, 3-3 as the coach of the Cardinals.
The win marked the 100th career collegiate victory for Petrino.

OFFENSE

Louisville has started a freshman quarterback in three of the last five bowls games after Lamar Jackson got the nod in the Music City Bowl against Texas A&M.
The 226 rushing yards by Lamar Jackson are the second most by a quarterback in a bowl game in FBS history behind Johnny Manziel's 229 in 2012.
Lamar Jackson is the third player to throw and rush for at least 200 yards in a bowl game in FBS history (Vince Young, 2005; Johnny Manziel, 2012).
With the six-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Lamar Jackson set a school record for career rushing yards by a quarterback, passing Stefan LeFors, who had 756 yards rushing from 2002-04.
Jackson tied a Louisville career mark for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback after his second quarter score. He is tied with Benny Russell who rushed for 11 touchdowns from 1964-66.
Jackson exploded for a 61-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, the second longest in Louisville bowl history. The run put Jackson over the 100-yard plateau for the fifth time this season.
The six-yard run by Jackson in the second quarter broke the Louisville bowl record for most rushing yards in a game. He finished with 22 rushes for a career-high 226 yards and two touchdowns.
The 17-yard pass from Jackson to Towbridge in the third quarter gave Jackson his first career multi-touchdown game on the ground and in the air.
Jackson had 453 all-purpose yards (227 passing and 226 rushing) which is the most in a game by a freshman in school history, the previous record was held by Jackson when he recorded 396 yards earlier this season against Samford.
Jackson's 226 rushing yards is the most since Bilal Powell totaled 209 yards against Cincinnati on Oct. 15, 2010.
The 226 yards rushing by Lamar Jackson is good for seventh most in a game in Louisville history, and set a Music City Bowl record for most rushing yards a game.
Louisville set a Music City Bowl record for most rushing yards in a game with 307.
Junior Cole Hikutini hauled in a career-long 56 yard reception in the first quarter. He finished with three receptions for a career-high 103 yards, and his first career 100-yard game.
Micky Crum's 1-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter was his first catch since the Samford game on Sept. 26.
James Quick totaled 73 yards receiving on four receptions, his seventh game this season with four or more.
Louisville's 534 yards of total offense on Saturday are the third highest total of the season.

DEFENSE

Devonte' Fields set a season high in sacks with three, tied a season high in tackles with eight and recorded three tackles for loss. He finishes the season first on the team in sacks and tackles for loss with 11.5 and 22.5.
The 11.5 sacks by Fields are the most by a Cardinal since Marcus Smith had 14.5 in 2013.
Sophomore linebacker Stacy Thomas had a breakout game filling in for James Burgess after he was ejected. Thomas finished with a career-high 11 tackles for his first double-digit tackle game of his career.
Freshman cornerback Jaire Alexander had a career-best 10 tackles with six of them coming before halftime.
Josh Harvey-Clemons forced his first fumble as a Cardinal in the third quarter which lead to the first career fumble recovery by James Hearns.
Harvey-Clemons intercepted a Jake Hubenak pass in the third quarter, his first interception since he had two in season opener against Auburn.
The Cardinals were credited with at least one sack for the 12th consecutive game this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Jaire Alexander returned a punt in the first quarter for 32 yards which is a career high and the longest punt return by a Cardinal this season.
The 32-yard punt return is the longest in bowl history for the Cardinals, the previous record was 26 yards by Montrell Jones in the 2006 Gator Bowl against Virginia Tech.

University of Louisville Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Jaire Alexander

James Burgess

Micky Crum

Aaron Epps

Josh Harvey-Clemons

James Hearns

Cole Hikutini

Lamar Jackson

Keith Kelsey

James Quick

Brandon Radcliff

Sheldon Rankins

Stacy Thomas

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