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BOSTON -- Lamar Jackson believes there's a way to crack every defense, if you're willing to put in the work. "There's always something that a defense is giving you," the Louisville sophomore quarterback wrote Thursday in The Players' Tribune. "A great quarterback solves that puzzle on every play."
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When Jackson went up against Boston College, which boasts one of the nation's top defenses, last season, he was limited to 15 rushing yards and threw two interceptions.
This time around, Jackson put all the pieces together.
Jackson accumulated 416 total yards and scored seven touchdowns while becoming the first quarterback in school history to amass 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
The Pompano Beach, Fla. native's efforts helped lead the seventh-ranked Cardinals to a 52-7 rout of the Eagles on Saturday.
"It's a different team this year," Jackson said. "People were there last year, but we were very young last year. We're mature now, we've been bonding all season. We trained a lot and we're showing it now. People can actually see it."
Jackson threw for 231 yards and four scores while rushing for 185 and three more, increasing his nation-leading total to 45 touchdowns (26 passing, 19 rushing).
As Jackson padded what is now his front-running Heisman Trophy candidacy, Louisville (8-1, 6-1 ACC) looked to prove the naysayers wrong.
The Cardinals, ranked No. 5 in the AP Top 25 poll, were pegged two slots lower when the initial College Football Playoffs rankings were released last week.
"Our team, we fought all year and people still don't give us credit, so every game we're going to perform the way we do," said Jackson, who recorded his third seven-touchdown game of the season. No other FBS player has more than one.
The ranking left Cardinals coach Bobby Petrino second-guessing his approach.
Petrino believes in sportsmanship, but wonders if the Cardinals will have to keep putting up points to be noticed by the CFP selection committee.
"I guess we do," he said. "It's sad because there's something called sportsmanship, but maybe I made a mistake.
"Maybe looking back at it in Florida State, we should have kept all the starters in and scored 80 points and did that. But I don't understand why it's like that."
It's not like Louisville has been hurting for offense, either. The Cardinals boast the nation's top offense (50.2 points per game).
On Saturday, they torched an Eagles' defense, which came in ranked seventh nationally in total defense (298.5 yards per game), for 515 yards (305 passing, 210 rushing).
In a bit of role reversal, it was BC which mustered only 207 yards (150 passing, 57 rushing).
"We just went out there and showed them who was the best defense," Louisville linebacker Stacy Thomas said.
Steve Addazio, for one, agrees with him.
"I think that's the best defense in the conference," the Eagles coach said.
Before Saturday, the Eagles had never allowed 50 points in a game twice in a season, according to the team's radio broadcast. BC also allowed 50 in a 56-10 home loss to Clemson on Oct. 7.
It's now back to the drawing board for Boston College (4-5, 1-5), which fell back to earth after snapping a 12-game ACC losing streak with a 21-14 victory at N.C. State last Saturday.
Before that, the Eagles hadn't won a conference game since beating Syracuse 28-7 on Nov. 29, 2014.
"We'll grow from all this," Addazio said. "We'll learn and we'll develop, and this stuff will come back to you. This is painful, but it helps you develop."
"That's an extremely talented football team," said Boston College quarterback Patrick Towles, who threw for 147 yards and a touchdown to Tyler Rouse for the Eagles.
"They played really, really well. We did not, so that's why the score was what it was."
Boston College lost the last four meetings dating back to 1998 and trails the all-time series 6-3. BC's last win in the series came at Louisville in 1994, a 35-14 victory.
Jackson shredded the Eagles' defense for 290 total yards and five touchdowns (four passing) while guiding four scoring drives under 1:38 as the Cardinals built a 38-0 halftime lead.
He was replaced by backup Kyle Bolin with nearly two minutes left in the half with what Petrino said was cramping in his forearm and numbness in his finger.
"He just said, something is wrong with my fingers," Petrino said. "(He got an IV), and everything is fine."
"I'm good, I'm good. 100 percent," said Jackson, who returned in the third quarter, after the game.
NOTES: Louisville did not commit a penalty for the first time since Sept. 22, 1979. "Well, that's pretty good," coach Bobby Petrino said. "(1979) was a good year anyway." ... Cardinals QB Lamar Jackson opened up about his football journey in an article penned for The Players' Tribune. Jackson called his mom "the best coach I've ever had," said he modeled his game after Michael Vick and Reggie Bush, and talked about his recruitment. "I think we're ready to take on whatever's in front of us," the sophomore wrote. "Now, it's game on." ... The Eagles held opponents under 100 rushing yards in 20 of their last 33 games coming in. ... Louisville hosts Wake Forest next Saturday. Boston College visits No. 22 Florida State next Friday.
