Countdown to Kickoff
September 07, 2018 | Football
The Cardinals and Sycamores kick off on Saturday at 7 p.m.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville continues its 100th season of football, when it welcomes Indiana State on Saturday in the Cardinals' home opener at 7 p.m.
The Cardinals are 6-3-1 all-time against the Sycamores, with this serving as only the second meeting since the turn of the millennium. Louisville posted a 30-10 victory last time out, a home win on Sept. 5, 2009. Victor Anderson rushed for 93 yards and two scores in the victory.
Louisville is taking the field at home in Cardinal Stadium for the first time since the venue received a major renovation in the north end zone. The $63.25-million project that closed off the stadium added 6,000 seats, including 12 field suites and more than 800 modern club seats, and significantly enhanced the Howard Schnellenberger Football Complex.
The Cardinals have won five of their last seven home openers.
ACC Network Extra (Jim Barbar and John Gregory) will televise the game, while Louisville Sports Properties radio coverage begins at 5:30 p.m., featuring Paul Rogers, Alex Kupper, and Jody Demling.
Now that you have the details, it's time to start the Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – Jaylen Smith needs 56 receiving yards to move into TENTH on the school's career list for receiving yards. The senior enters the game with 1,977 yards, only trailing James Quick (2013-16, 2,032 yards) to crack the top 10.
9 – P.J. Mbanasor racked up a team-leading NINE tackles in his UofL debut. The redshirt junior played in 10 games at Oklahoma before transferring and sat out in 2016 and 2017.
8 – Quarterback Jawon Pass threw for 252 yards last week against defending College Football Playoff champion Alabama, the EIGHTH-best total for a UofL signal-caller making his debut.
7 – SEVEN true freshmen made their collegiate debuts in the season opener against Alabama (TuTu Atwell, Dejmi Dumervil-Jean, Hassan Hall, Jatavious Harris, Robert Hicks, Jarrett Jackson, and Chandler Jones).
6 – With his next point after, Blanton Creque becomes the SIXTH kicker in school history to boot at least 100 through the uprights after a touchdown. The junior is 99 of 101 on points after in his career for a 98.0 percent clip.
5 – Following his performance against Alabama, Mason King ranks FIFTH among FBS active career leaders with a 43.8 punting average. In his three years, he has totaled 4,646 yards on 106 punts.
4 – Louisville has played FOUR teams currently in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (Indiana State, Missouri State, South Dakota State, and Southern Illinois). The Cardinals are a combined 15-6-1 against members of the league.
3 – Louisville has won THREE-consecutive games when playing on Sept. 8, beating Murray State, Western Carolina, and Missouri State by a combined 134-14.
2 – Kemari Averett doubled his scoring production from a year ago in just one game, catching TWO touchdowns against the Crimson Tide in the season opener. He became the first tight end to catch a pair of scores since Cole Hikutini in 2016.
1 – Saturday marks the FIRST game in the 60,000-seat expanded Cardinal Stadium.
Enjoy the game and return to GoCards.com afterward for complete postgame coverage.
