Looking to get back on track, Louisville knew this was a must win game if they wanted to make the ACC championship game against what looks like for now, Florida State.

The Cardinals are coming off their first loss of the season two weeks ago against a Pitt team that was 1-5 coming into the game. Louisville was without their star running back Jawhar Jordan, who suffered a hamstring injury earlier in the game and you could tell his absence was felt immediately.

With two weeks to prepare, Jeff Brohm wanted his team to focus on the task at hand, and that was beating Duke today. His team came out with a great start on both sides of the ball and they responded well after a bad performance in their last contest. Duke is coming in off a tough loss a week ago against top-5 ranked Florida State team, but they looked solid all game and even went into halftime with a 20-17 lead over the Seminoles.

However, that didn’t matter today, because this Louisville defense played stingy all night, which meant smooth sailing for an offense that just got their best player back.

From the opening drive, Louisville’s defense set the tone early with good tackling and relentless pressure from their front seven. Duke’s quarterback Riley Leonard has had success all year against quality teams, but he had trouble moving the ball against this team all afternoon. Leonard only had a couple of decent runs off scrambling, but outside of that he was uncomfortable all night with no ability to sustain a drive.

On the other side of the ball, Jeff Brohm was ecstatic to have his main weapon “Jaws” return to the lineup and he got him going on the first drive. Louisville’s first two drives couldn’t have gone any better, as they established their run game against one of the best defenses in the country coming into today. If Jawhar Jordan isn’t the nations top running back, then there isn’t one, he’s that good on the ground. Jaws finished with 162 yards on 20 carries (8.1 ypa) to go along with two big touchdowns that put the Cardinals up 14-0 and in full command of the game. Louisville is simply a much better team with his presence and he made it easy for the rest of his teammates.

Jack Plummer’s role was limited today, after a forgettable performance against Pitt, but he didn’t have to make any big time throws this afternoon, he just needed to take care of the football and he did exactly that. Jeff Brohm took a rather conservative approach on offense, because he didn’t want to even attempt to put the ball in harms way. The Blue Devils still couldn’t figure out how to move the ball and they had no answer for the Cardinals pass rush that has been a force all season.

Louisville had the momentum from start to finish and they looked like a team coming off a bye week with their elite execution. Not too much to analyze from Duke when they couldn’t even get off a field goal attempt, let alone score zero points in 60 minutes. The Cardinals are rolling in 2023 and their 7-1 start has them on a collision course with the ACC championship if they can continue to be consistent week in and week out.

Next week, Louisville will look to move to 8-1 when they take on Virginia Tech at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium (3:30 ET).