Week three of college football is underway and Louisville is looking to be 3-0 for the first time since 2016. Seven years ago it was a one man show with Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, but this year they’re looking like a well-rounded and balanced team.

Coming off a 56-0 win against Murray State last Thursday, the Cardinals take momentum into Lucas Oil Stadium and they couldn’t have started the game any better.

Louisville’s defense was dialed in for 30 straight minutes to open this game, not allowing Indiana to get into any type of rhythm in the first half. The Hoosiers only accumulated 107 yards of offense and they didn’t have any scoring drives. Louisville’s offense, on the other hand, looked great in all faucets, piling up 300 yards of offense in just two quarters.

Jack Plummer looks decisive and comfortable this afternoon, which a great sign for the Cardinals and Jeff Brohm. After having some accuracy issues in the first two games, Plummer was delivering the ball anywhere on the field and was able to find his receiver Jamari Thrash for a 43-yard bomb and a 85-yard house call on the next drive. Thrash is looking like every bit of an NFL wideout and after seeing him showcase his talent, he has the ability to go in the first two rounds. It seems like everytime you look up, somehow he’s wide open.

Jawhar Jordan was able to run for a 25-yard touchdown and Maurice Turner capped a nice drive off with a 2-yard touchdown run after great play calling from the Cardinals.

What a half for Jeff Brohm and Louisville, who mounted a 21-0 lead over the Hoosiers.

The first half was nearly perfect for Louisville, but that was short lived as they had a terrible third quarter on all three levels. Firstly, they allowed Indiana to start the third quarter off by recovering a surprise onside kick that the Cardinals simply weren’t prepared for. The Hoosiers were able to capitalize off that drive and score a touchdown to get on the board and cut Louisville’s lead to 14 points. Indiana’s quarterback Tayven Jackson is making his first career start today, and Louisville allowed him to get comfortable after shutting him down in the first half. Jackson drove the Hoosiers down the field again to finish the drive off with a touchdown run from his running back, which made Louisville’s lead just 21-14 with a quarter to go.

The Cardinals offense went stagnant, not being able to put up any points on a drive. They were able to score on an off script play from Jack Plummer, but it was called back due to holding and that drive ended up going nowhere. Plummer then threw a deep pass to Kevin Coleman on the next drive, who dropped the ball and Indiana was able to intercept it near the end zone. Louisville has to be more disciplined when playing ahead, there’s no other way to put it. Putting up a performance like that in any half is just inexcusable.

The fourth quarter was the same result for Louisville, a lot of shooting themselves in the foot with bad execution and untimely penalties. The Cardinals went away from the Plummer to Thrash connection that worked so well in the first half and the offense looked rattled for the entire second half. The only thing they needed to do was make sure they didn’t allow Indiana to score another touchdown.

The defense did bend, but it didn’t break. The Hoosiers got all the way to the one yard line to attempt to tie the game on fourth and goal. The defense got a huge stop at the line, meeting the rusher right at the line of scrimmage to maintain their seven point lead and swing momentum back in their favor. The Cardinals were able to control the game from that point on and play keep away from Indiana, as they converted on third downs that eventually ran the clock out.

Even after a dreadful second half, Louisville was able to sustain their lead and come out of Lucas Oil Stadium with a win on the road to start the Jeff Brohm era of 3-0. It wasn’t pretty in the slightest, but like always, a win is better than a loss.

That’s three wins to start this season off as I predicted, and next week Louisville will be looking for another one against Boston College.

The Cardinals will host Boston College next Saturday at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium at 3:30 P.M. (ET)