In their first three games this year, Louisville has averaged 65 points a game. The Division I college football record for season scoring average is 56, set by Army in 1944. As for the modern era, meaning the last 30 years, the scoring average record is is 53.5. Houston did that in 1989. Those first three games for Louisville have been a 70-14 win over Charlotte, 62-28 win over Syracuse, and a 63-20 win over Florida State, who was the #2 team in the country going into last weekends meeting (Florida State has since fallen to #10 in the coaches poll). The Florida State score will never stop looking remarkable. Early in the fourth quarter, Louisville led 63-10 before having mercy. The 43-point margin of victory tied for the third-largest ever over a top-two team. The biggest was Army beating Notre Dame by 48 points in 1945. Florida State allowed the most points in school history and suffered its fourth most lopsided loss ever.
If you looked at what they did over the first three games, there's nothing to really tell you that they can't do it again in game number four, when they take on the Thundering Heard in Marshall. Marshall has scored, on average, 50 points a game this season and given up only 32 points a game. Lets face facts, its not going to end well for Marshall on Saturday night. This leads one to wonder, how many schools last year scored 60 or more points in a game for four straight games last season? The answer is one........Baylor. Baylor put together five straight 60-point games, starting with the 2nd game of last season, when they hung 66 on Lamar. They followed that with 70 (Rice), 63 (Texas Tech), 66 (Kansas) and 62 (West Virginia). Baylor slumped after that, following up the West Virginia game with a 45-27 win over Iowa State. Oregon and Memphis were the only other FBS programs to deliver three 60-point games last season (WDRB.com).
Louisville has been a scoring machine this year. They have scored 27 touchdowns in its first three games, putting the Cards on a pace to finish with 108. They can't continue that pace, clearly, but they can slow down and still do great things. The school record for touchdowns in one season is 80. Louisville has been powered by their run game so far this year. The school record for rushing yards in a 3,005, set in 2004. The Cards are on pace for a 4,000-yard rushing season. Oh and Quarterback Lamar Jackson has put an early stamp on a possible Heisman Trophy. Lamar Jackson's 10 rushing touchdowns have him on a pace for 40 rushing TDs. The single season record for rushing TDs at Louisville is 23, which was set by Michael Bush in 2005. Oh yeah and Jackson has rushed for 464 yards in three games, which has him on track to finish with 1,856 yards. Just so you know, the Division I record for most rushing yards in a season is a quarterback is 1,881, set by Jordan Lynch of Northern Illinois in 2013. Yeah this guy is putting a stamp on his Heisman case early on this year.
You can look at all those stats, which are quite impressive, and you have to wonder, can anybody really stop the Cardinals this season? Based on the rest of the schedule, it really doesn't look like that's gonna happen. Five of Louisville's opponents over their final nine games do not rank among the top 50 teams nationally in scoring defense. Those five schools are Marshall, North Carolina State, Virginia, Boston College and Kentucky. In fact, three do not rank in the Top 90, those schools being Marshall (98th, 32.5 per game), Virginia (91st, 31.3 per game) and Kentucky (122, 43.7 per game). For the record, three future opponents, Clemson, Wake Forest and Houston, do rank in the top 15 nationally in scoring defense. So maybe there is a little bit of hope.
However you look at it, Louisville has been a dominating team this season. At this point, there's no signs that Louisville is going to be slowing down anytime soon. So to answer the question if anybody can stop Louisville, the answer right now is no.
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