The Louisville Cardinals meet the Eastern Kentucky Colonels Saturday in week 2 college football action at Cardinal Stadium. The Eastern Kentucky Colonels look for another win after beating Western Carolina in their season opener. The Louisville Cardinals look for a bounce back showing after losing their opener to Ole Miss.
The Eastern Kentucky Colonels have split their last eight games overall. Parker McKinney is completing 71.4 percent of his passes for 238 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Mo Edwards Jr. and Matt Wilcox Jr. have combined for 154 receiving yards and one touchdown while Jaden Smith has four receptions. The Eastern Kentucky Colonels ground game is averaging 123 yards per contest, and Da’Joun Hewitt leads the way with 78 yards and three touchdowns. Defensively, Eastern Kentucky is allowing 28 points and 501 yards per game. Matthew Jackson leads the Eastern Kentucky Colonels with 11 tackles, Ubong Udom has one sack and Roy Baker has one interception.
The Louisville Cardinals look to avoid their first 0-2 start since the 2015 CFB season. Malik Cunningham is completing 59.5 percent of his passes for 191 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Marshon Ford and Josh Johnson have combined for 90 receiving yards on 10 catches while Jordan Watkins has four receptions. The Louisville Cardinals ground game is averaging 155 yards per contest, and Cunningham leads the way with 79 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Louisville is allowing 43 points and 569 yards per game. Kenderick Duncan leads the Louisville Cardinals with 11 tackles, Yasir Abdullah has one sack and C.J. Avery has two pass deflections.
The Eastern Kentucky Colonels didn’t have the toughest opening game in the world, but they looked solid offensively and comfortable in a shootout. The Louisville Cardinals are on a quick turnaround after playing Monday night and they were rough defensively. This is also a bit of a lookahead spot for Louisville with UCF on deck. I’m not comfortable laying big numbers with Louisville with a shaky at best defense and a quarterback in Cunningham who struggles with accuracy.
Give me the Colonels and the points.