Malik Cunningham rushed for 113 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 186 yards and a score as Louisville dominated South Florida 41-3 Saturday afternoon in Louisville, Ky.
The Cardinals (2-2) amassed 542 yards in total offense with 283 rushing while holding the Bulls (1-3) to 158 in total yardage and a meager 48 on the ground. That’s the lowest rushing total for an opponent since Louisville held Virginia to 35 yards last year.
Cunningham’s output moved the senior into a tie for second in program history in career touchdowns with 20 and into third place among Cardinal rushers with 3,014 yards. He is fifth in career passing yards with 8,629 yards.
The loss extended USF’s road losing streak to 14 games as its offense never got in gear. Gerry Bohanon Jr. was only 9-of-17 passing for 62 yards before turning game over to Katravis Marsh early in the third quarter. Marsh finished 4-of-11 for 48 yards in his first action of the season.
After punting on the opening series, the Cardinals scored touchdowns on their next four possessions with Cunningham scoring on rushes of 40, 35, and 8 yards and throwing a 26-yard pass to Jaelin Carter to take a 28-0 lead into the break.
Cunning had more rushing yards (106) than passing (100) in the first half as the Cardinals amassed 329 yards in total offense to just 84 for the Bulls.
South Florida managed 22 yards on the ground and had three turnovers, two on Bohanon’s fifth and sixth interceptions of the season, through the first half.
The Bulls foiled Louisville’s shutout bid on Spencer Shrader’s 37-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter, but the Cardinals responded with Tyler Evans’ 3-yard scoring run to make it 38-3 and James Turner added a second field goal to round out the scoring.
–Field Level Media
