Game Day: Louisville vs. Austin Peay (2024)

LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (0-0) vs. AUSTIN PEAY GOVERNORS (0-0)

Game Time: Noon

Location: L&N Stadium: Louisville, Ky.

Television: ACC Network

Announcers: Jorge Sedano (play-by-play), Orlando Franklin (analyst) and Morgan Uber (sideline)

Favorite: Louisville by 36.5

Series History: First meeting

Statistics:

Louisville Uniforms:

Louisville Depth Chart:

Relevant Videos:

About Austin Peay:

via Keith Wynne

OFFENSE

Louisville Football scheduled a strong FCS program this year for it’s “buy game” but I’m not sure that game will actually happen. Austin Peay finished last season at 9-3 with a strong showing against Tennessee and a trip to the FCS playoffs. However, that success led to their coach being lured away by UTEP. With that move, the majority of the experienced talent hit the transfer portal leaving their new coach with the task of rebuilding the roster.

Jeff Faris was brought in from UCLA where he coached the tight ends. He quickly put together a small signing class with only a few transfers. He will be tasked this season with somehow winning games without a lot of talent and without a lot of experienced players to help him do it. The Colonels have about three returning players who were major contributors last season and the additions via the portal aren’t much to get excited about.

One of those transfers is Austin Smith from Eastern Michigan. He was the starter there last year and finished the season completing 57% of his passes while throwing 9 touchdown passes. He is the most experienced player that has been brought in and I imagine that he will be the starter at quarterback on Saturday.

The main competition for Smith is Mason Garcia who was a reserve at East Carolina for the last few years. Garcia has been on campus since the spring and I think he will see the field against the Cards. Garcia is a big quarterback and he ran for 227 yards last year. We could see him come in with a special running package and for short-yardage plays.

Former Kentucky running back La’Vell Wright is my best guess to be the starting running back. Wright couldn’t push through the depth chart at UK but he did get some time on the field. He scored a touchdown against UofL in 2021 and he put up 120 yards in 2022. He wasn’t a big contributor but he should do well at a lower level. If there is a player that I could see making some plays on Saturday, it would be Wright.

Jaden Barnes is the lone returning receiver with more than 15 catches on the year. He should take a step up the depth chart this year. He and Malik Bowen-Sims should be key targets in the passing game. Bowen-Sims transferred in from Duke after a career as a reserve there. We will have to wait to see who else on the roster will make an impact. This is a position that the staff didn’t really address in the offseason.

Offensive line is the lone position that has some returning players. Three offensive linemen who played in 11 or more games return, while a few others that saw action return as well. Chandler Kirton is a preseason All-American candidate after being All-Conference last season. Michael Treadwell is another returning starter who I expect to retain his position. Marcus Alexander spent time at Oklahoma in the past and could also be a starter. True Freshman, Malachi Harris is a guy to keep an eye on. He held offers from UofL, UK, and Mississippi State but passed on them to head to Austin Peay.

There’s not a lot to know about the offensive scheme for the Colonels. The coaching staff has a varied background but I think we could see a balanced spread attack with a good amount of RPOs. The staff took a hit when their co-offensive coordinator resigned after being arrested in a human trafficking sting a few weeks ago. That leaves them without an offensive line coach and an offensive coordinator that has spent time at Jackson State which is where I think the scheme will come from.

JSU had a nice passing attack while also doing well to run the football to balance things out. With Wright in the backfield, I expect them to run the ball early and often. Throw in the fact that they don’t have a chance to win and we may see more backups than starters throughout the game.

DEFENSE

Austin Peay lost their staff after a 9-3 season and the talent void that was created due to players entering the portal hit the defense harder than the offense. The Colonels had All-Conference players at all three levels of the defense but only one of those players return. The staff didn’t hit the transfer portal very hard this offseason so there aren’t a lot of talented players to fill the holes that have been left. This could be a long afternoon for this defense.

Hosea Knifeley is the top returning player on the defensive side of the ball after putting up 4 sacks last year. Knifeley who played his high school ball at Butler lines up at defensive end and comes off a season where he was able to make impact plays against the run and the pass. His 5 pass break ups and 7.5 tackles for loss are why he is a preseason All-American.

Davion Hood is the only other player with significant playing experience on the defensive line. He played 352 snaps at Temple last year after a very productive career at East Tennessee State. He and Jakari Patterson should see some time on the edge. Jaden McKinney is the only known commodity on the inside after putting up 8 tackles and a tackle for loss last season.

The Colonels lost two linebackers that combined for over 200 tackles last year which will be nearly impossible to replace. Dion Hunter from Cincinnati and Davion Blackwell from Nevada should get a shot to replace the starters after transferring in. Neither had great numbers last year but Hunter had a strong career at New Mexico before he transferred to Cincy. Blackwell missed nearly half of his tackle attempts last year, which is honestly hard to do.

The secondary will be full of newcomers as well after losing players to the portal. Sammy Anderson transferred in after missing his fourth season at Cincy with an injury. Two years ago he played 381 snaps and finished the year with 16 tackles and 1 pass break up. Kaleb Tuliau played very sparingly at UCLA but I expect both to start or be on the field this weekend.

Keith Gallmon, Jessie Johnson, and Dorian Davis are a few others I think we will see on Saturday. All have transferred in with Davis spending six seasons at South Alabama where he played over 2,000 snaps. Davis and Johnson come from FCS programs where they picked up experience.

The defensive scheme is up in the air with the new staff coming in from position coaching roles but their defensive coordinator spent time at ECU where they ran a 3-3-5-type scheme. I think they’ll try to take away the run game to give themselves a chance to force long third downs. I think the potential lack of a pass rush will end up being the biggest issue for them along with the pure lack of depth. UofL has a chance to have a big offensive game to start the season.

Motivational Tweets:

All we have is a Jacksonville State fan predicting his team is still going to beat Louisville next week despite losing to Coastal Carolina, 55-27, on Thursday night.

I guess we’ll see this one again next week too.

Excitement Level: 9.0

If the season-opener is less than a nine, something is wrong with the program. A lot of people dislike having the buy game as the season-opener, but I enjoy it. College football is the only major American sport where you don’t get a preseason or an exhibition or a spring training or a whatever.

With half of this year’s team being guys who will be wearing a Louisville uniform for the first time, I’m fine with easing into things.

Game Attire: Homefield Apparel Red Rage tee

Look, your boy has gained some weight over the last year, and while I wouldn’t say that a lot of the t-shirts we wore last season “don’t fit,” I would say they’re just a touch more snug than I’d prefer. Red Rage used to be too big on me, now it’s a go-to.

Diet starts immediately after we thrash the Governors.

Pregame Meal: Bagel, Trader Joe’s protein bar, coffee

I DON’T EVEN EAT THAT MUCH.

Bold Prediction: The defense scores a touchdown

I’ll get even bolder: The touchdown is a Quincy Riley pick six.

(But if it’s something else I still get credit for getting the bold prediction right)

Jeff Brohm Tick Play Alert Level: Jasper (very low)

If he wastes one in this game, I’m gonna be mad.

If we have to use one out of necessity in this game, I’m gonna be mad.

Predicted Star of the Game: Quincy Riley

Two interceptions. One pick six.

Notable:

—Louisville is 57-42-6 all-time in season openers. The Cards are looking to win back-to-back season openers for the first time since 2016-17.

—Austin Peay is 28-57-2 all-time in season-opening games.

—Austin Peay is the 160th different opponent that Louisville has faced in its program history.

—The Cards are 72-84-3 vs. first-time opponents, and have lost five of their last six (LSU, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Air Force, USC). They defeated first-time opponent James Madison in 2022.

—Louisville is 36-7 all-time against FCS opponents.

—U of L has won 24 consecutive games against FCS opponents, with their last loss against an FCS foe coming against Marshall in 1987.

—Austin Peay is 1-30 all-time against FBS opponents, with their lone win coming at Kansas State (26-22) in 1987. The Governors have lost 29 consecutive games against FBS teams.

—Head coach Jeff Faris is in his first year as head coach of the Governors. Faris spent two seasons as the tight ends coach for former head coach Chip Kelly at UCLA. Before his time in Los Angeles, he was on head coach David Cutcliffe’s coaching staff at Duke, where he was named the 2018 American Football Coaches Association’s FBS Assistant Coach of the Year.

—This will be Louisville’s earliest season-opener since a 27-2 loss to Kentucky on Aug. 31, 2008. That was also the last time the Cardinals played a game in the month of August.

—Louisville is 5-2 all-time in games played in the month of August.

—Louisville is 6-1 in home games under second-year head coach Jeff Brohm.

—For the first time in program history, Austin Peay won back-to-back conference championships with the 2023 United Athletic Conference and the 2022 ASUN Conference titles. When you add in the 2019 Ohio Valley Conference championship, the Govs have won three titles — in three conferences — since 2019.

—Dating back to 2017, Austin Peay’s 50 victories are the 10th most in the FCS and the seventh-most among current FCS programs.

—Louisville returns 11 players (not including specialists) who started at least five of the team’s 14 games last season (four on the offensive side of the ball and seven on defense). The four offensive players are wide receiver Chris Bell (10 starts) offensive linemen Michael Gonzalez (14 starts) and Renato Brown (six starts), Austin Collins (seven starts). The defensive players are linemen Ashton Gillotte (14 starts), Dez Tell (14), Ramon Puryear (five starts), linebackers T.J. Quinn and Ben Perry, and defensive backs Quincy Riley (14 starts) and Devin Neal (13 starts). The Cardinals also welcome back kicker Brock Travelstead, punter Brady Hodges and long snapper Shai Kochav.

—A pair of Austin Peay players both hail from the city of Louisville: Hosea Knifeley played for Butler High School, while La’Vell Wright attended North Hardin.

—Louisville is 119-46 (72.1) all-time in games played at L&N Cardinal Stadium.

—Austin Peay is a member of the United Athletic Conference, which enters its second season following a merger of the Atlantic Sun Conference and Western Athletic Conference. Louisville is 20-8-1 against current members of the UAC, with all 29 games coming against Eastern Kentucky.

—For the second-straight season, Austin Peay takes on four opponents for the first time with Louisville, West Georgia, Tarleton State, and Abilene Christian on the schedule this season. Last year, the Govs went 4-0 against first-time opponents.

—Austin Peay is 77-154-1 (.334) all-time against teams from Kentucky with 20 wins against both Morehead State and Murray State.

—The Govs are 24-88 all-time in games played in Kentucky with eight wins at Morehead State and seven at Murray State.

—Austin Peay is on a three-game winning streak against teams from Kentucky after beating Murray State in 2022 and Eastern Kentucky in 2022 and 2023.

—Louisville has held each of its last 17 opponents scoreless on their first offensive drive of the game. The Cards have scored on their opening drive 10 times in that span, nine times with a touchdown.

—Louisville is 19-2 over the past five seasons when shutting out its opponent in the first quarter.

—Austin Peay is 0-5 all-time in games played on Aug. 31.

—Louisville ranked No. 1 nationally in red zone defense a year ago, allowing opponents to score on just 23-of-34 attempts.

—Louisville has won 32 of its last 35 games when holding teams to less than 300 yards of offense.

—Louisville has won 14 straight games when holding its opponent scoreless in the first half.

—Since 2019, Louisville is 26-4 when winning the turnover battle, and just 4-22 when losing it. The Cardinals have lost the turnover battle five times last season and lost four of those games.

—Louisville is currently riding a consecutive game scoring streak that spans 301 games dating back to a 31-0 loss to Florida State during the 2000 season. The streak ranks as the second longest in the ACC behind only Virginia Tech, and the 10th-longest nationally.

—Louisville is 201-14 all-time when scoring 35 or more points in a game. The Cards are also 6-122 all-time when allowing opponents to score 40 or more points.

Quotable:

—“We’re excited to get this season started and I think everyone is ready for some football. I know our team is, they’ve practiced hard, they’ve worked hard, and they know what’s in front of us. It starts with game one here in front of our home crowd. It’ll be great to get back in L&N Stadium and play some football this Saturday and have a great day. I know this is what all of these guys have worked for, and now it’s gonna start.” —Jeff Brohm

—”On offense they’re going to create explosive plays with tremendous balance. They have a new quarterback; they’ve done a great job in the transfer portal. We need to be ready to defend explosive plays and their tremendous balance out of multiple personnel groups. On their defense, they do a phenomenal job, the strength of their defense is their defensive line. They can get after quarterbacks; their good cover guys and they play really-really hard. They’re going to make you work to beat them… This is what we can expect, we’ve got to play our best game.” —Austin Peay head coach Jeff Faris

—“We’ve studied the history and the past of the people that are supposedly calling the (Austin Peay) offense and defense, and what they’ve done in the past. Do we know for sure that’s what we’re going to do? No, we do not. The good thing is, we have prepared for a lot. When we go against ourselves, we go against a lot of different looks and things as well. You’re hopeful that you can just adjust to what you see along the way, and have at least maybe an idea.” —Jeff Brohm

—“Obviously, upsets happen every week, so you got to stay locked in. Doesn’t matter who the opponent is, doesn’t matter the ranking. Just got to come locked in.” —Ramon Puryear

—“We’ve stressed to our team that that’s how football works. As you look at the three main games that were played this past week, and I told them even before this weekend, if you don’t come ready to play in college football, you’re not going to win.” —Jeff Brohm

Card Chronicle Prediction: Louisville 49, Austin Peay 9