BC in action to slow Jackson
The phrase “leads the nation in” is used routinely to emphasize the strengths of the Louisville football program.
Boston College will attempt to ground the Cardinals when the Eagles host fifth-ranked Louisville in an Atlantic Coast Conference game on Saturday at Alumni Stadium. Louisville (7-1, 5-1)
leads the nation in total offense at 603.3 yards per game. The Cardinals also
lead the nation in scoring offense at 50.0 points per game, and lead the nation
in red-zone touchdowns with 35.
Louisville is tied with Alabama, Ohio State and Michigan for the lead in rushing touchdowns allowed with three, and the Cardinals are within striking distance of breaking the NCAA record for points per game (56.0) in a season set by Army in 1944.
“What we have to do is we have to have to put a great game plan together and put our kids in position on both sides of the ball to be able to make the plays we have to make,” said BC coach Steve Addazio yesterday. “We have to slow this game down, obviously an understatement, and take advantage to the situations that present themselves.”
The Cardinals’ balanced attack is led by sophomore quarterback Lamar Jackson, a dualthreat phenom at the forefront of the Heisman Trophy debate. Jackson
leads the nation in rushing touchdowns (16) and has amassed 3,516 yards of total offense in eight games, just 530 yards shy of the school record set by Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.
Jackson has 22 passing touchdowns and is the only player in ACC history with more than 15 touchdowns both rushing and passing in a season. Jackson is second in the nation with 439.8 yards per game and likely will shatter the ACC record of 353.8 set by San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers at NC State in 2003.
With 996 rushing yards, Jackson likely will break the ACC record for rushing yards by a quarterback (1,184) set by BC’s Tyler Murphy in 2014.
“The guy is electric running the football and he has a tremendous arm with unbelievable weapons downfield,” said Addazio. “This guy is as good as anybody I’ve seen and I think I’ve seen some pretty good ones. We had Murph here and he was a really good runner. This guy is faster now and he’s got a rifle arm and he’s a sophomore. This is why they are putting up 50 on good defenses.”
The game marks the third time BC (4-4, 1-4) will host two top-five teams in the same season. The Eagles were beaten 56-10 by No. 3 Clemson on Oct. 7. Louisville’s lone loss (4236) was to reigning ACC champion Clemson on Oct. 1.
“We’re having two of them roll through here but that is the state of where the ACC is,” said Addazio. “The ACC right now is the elite conference in the country and we have elite teams in this conference now that happen to be on our side (Atlantic) of the division. I think it is a great challenge to our football team.”