BOSTON (AP) - Forearm cramps and finger numbness threatened to do what Boston College’s defense couldn’t: derail Lamar Jackson’s Heisman Trophy run.
The Louisville quarterback left the game late in the second quarter after opening a five-touchdown lead, then he returned in the third quarter to run for another two touchdowns and lead the fifth-ranked Cardinals to a 52-7 victory over BC on Saturday.
“I think he should be good,” coach Bobby Petrino said after the Heisman favorite accounted for seven touchdowns - three running, four throwing - to give him 45 for the year. “He looked pretty good in the second half.”
Jackson ran for a 69-yard score on the game’s third play and added rushing TDs of 13 and 53 yards in the second half. The Heisman favorite also threw for TDs from 30, 44 and 10 yards out on drives of five, four and one play to give the Cardinals a 28-0 lead just two snaps into the second quarter.
THE TAKEAWAY
LOUISVILLE: Petrino talked to his team (8-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference No. 7 CFP) after the first College Football Playoff rankings came out on Tuesday and told them they couldn’t afford a repeat of last week’s 32-25 victory over rebuilding Virginia. Louisville’s only loss was to No. 2 Clemson.
“They said something about it before the game,” said receiver Jaylen Smith, who had six catches for 123 yards and a touchdown. “They said something about it almost every day this week in practice. So they made it known.”
The Cardinals should move up after Texas A&M (No. 7 AP, No. 4 CFP) lost to Mississippi State. Linebacker Stacy Thomas broke into a wide smile when he was informed of the result during his postgame media availability.
Said Jackson: “We fought all year and people still don’t give us credit for it, for performing the way we do.”
BOSTON COLLEGE: It’s one thing to beat North Carolina State like the Eagles did to snap an almost two-year ACC losing streak. But BC was reminded how far it has to go before it can be competitive among the top-tier teams in the conference.
SITTING DOWN
Jackson threw an interception with about five minutes left in the first half, then left with an arm problem. He sat out the last two possessions of the second quarter.
“I knew it going in before he threw the interception, but I didn’t know that’s what was causing it,” Petrino said. “He just said, ’Something is wrong with my fingers.’”
Jackson received intravenous fluids at halftime and returned at the start of the third quarter. He lost the ball while scrambling on the first possession, but then he led the Cardinals on an eight-play, 77-yard drive that he finished with a 13-yard TD run.
PROLIFIC
Jackson ran 15 times for 185 yards to become the first quarterback in school history to run for more than 1,000 yards in a season. He completed 12 of 17 passes for 231 yards.
It was the third time this season he has accounted for seven or more touchdowns. No other player in FBS has done it more than once.
LONELY HIGHLIGHTS
Tyler Rouse scored from 39 yards out on a screen pass from Patrick Towles to give Boston College (4-5, 1-5) its only score. The Eagles were coming off a victory over North Carolina State that was their first ACC win in almost two years.
“(Louisville) is one of the top three talented teams in America. That quarterback is electric,” BC coach Steve Addazio said. “When you play a great football team, you can’t have self-inflicted mistakes like we had.”
UP NEXT
LOUISVILLE: The Cardinals return home to play Wake Forest before a Thursday night matchup at Houston.
BOSTON COLLEGE: Heads to Florida State on Friday night. The Eagles have lost six in a row to the Seminoles despite playing them tightly in the past three seasons, including Florida State’s 2013 national championship season.
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