QB Thomas Castellanos runs 39 yards for a touchdown against Louisville.

It’s somewhat difficult to refer to the BC unit that played against Louisville’s offense yesterday as a “defense.” The Cardinals had the ball six times in the first half. They scored six touchdowns.

Louisville also continued a BC 2023 football season tradition by becoming the fourth opponent in succession to score after receiving the second half kickoff. They didn’t waste any time, either. On the first play after a fair catch put the ball on the 25, running back Jawhar Jordon took a short pass from QB Jack Plummer and ran 75 yards for the Birds’ seventh touchdown in seven possessions.

The Eagles showed signs of offense occasionally. With less than six minutes left in the second quarter, Louisville held a 28-0 lead. BC then scored on a 39-yard run by QB Thomas Castellanos and on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Castellanos to Ryan O’Keefe. After each touchdown, however, the Eagles had to give the ball back to the Cardinals, who also scored two touchdowns. No closing of the scoring gap.

Each team scored two touchdowns and two PATs — 28 points in total — in the last 5:47 of the first half. The last, by Louisville, was especially embarrassing for the Eagles. With the ball on the 25 because of a touchback and only 32 seconds on the clock, Louisville lined up in a formation that implied they would run out the clock with a kneel-down.

They didn’t kneel down. Jordan ran for 42 yards to the BC 33. After a one-yard run, Cardinal QB Plummer threw a 42-yard touchdown pass. BC got the ball back at their 37 on the kickoff with two seconds left. They did the kneel-down.

Louisville led 42-14. The Cardinals gained 371 yards in the half, compared to 199 yards for BC.

As noted, the Cardinals jumped out to a 49-14 lead on their first play of the third quarter. After that, BC won the quarter statistically. They had the ball for nine minutes, 13 seconds, and ran 25 plays compared to eight for Louisville. The Cardinals actually had to punt twice, with their first punt coming 4:58 into the second half.

Louisville, however, scored two touchdowns in the third quarter and BC scored one, on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Castellanos to Lewis Bond. The Cardinals extended their lead to 56-21.

The Eagles opened the final quarter with a touchdown in the first minute, with Castellano passing 11 yards to Bond in the endzone. BC had the ball for only two minutes, 32 seconds, in the quarter and the game ended with a 56-28 Louisville win.

The Cardinals gained 582 yards total offense, 388 yards through the air. They averaged 9.4 yards per play. BC gained 427 yards total, 295 passing. For the first time this year, the Eagles’s penalties were in the single-digit category, but they still committed seven, three more than Louisville.

Louisville quarterback Plummer had a good game. He was 18 of 21 passing for 388 yards and five touchdowns, no interceptions. BC’s Castellanos again led the team in rushing as well as passing, running 10 times for a net 49 yards and going 17 of 33 for 265 yards and three touchdowns.

The Cardinals advanced to 4-0 for the season, 2-0 in conference play. BC fell to 1-3, 0-2 in the ACC. The Eagles have the same conference record as Clemson. :)

The headline in The Boston Globe was “Boston College takes big step backward with embarrassing blowout loss to Louisville.” In the article, beleaguered BC coach Jeff Hafley said, “I haven’t seen us play like that since we’ve been here. I wish I had an answer. Clearly, I’ve got to find one, but I do not have a great one right now.”

Highlights (7:13)

BC plays Virginia next Saturday. Kickoff at 11 am PT.