LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Malik Cunningham ran for two touchdowns and threw for another to lead Louisville, which cruised to a 30-3 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday night.

In guiding the Cardinals (1-1) to their first victory of the season, the redshirt junior quarterback completed 16-of-24 passes for 277 yards. He got some early help from special teams. Marvin Dallas recovered a muffed punt return at the Colonels 25, leading to Cunningham’s first score, a 5-yard touchdown run with 4:27 left in the first quarter.

Braden Smith made it 13-0 with a 49-yard punt return for a score with 10:15 left in the first half.

Cunningham would have had another touchdown, but freshman Ahmari Huggins-Bruce dropped the ball on the EKU 1 on what would have been a 95-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The ball rolled into the endzone, and the Colonels recovered for a touchback.

He was replaced by Evan Conley on the next series as the Cardinals were well in command by that point.

The Colonels (1-1) mustered just 233 yards of offense and turned it over three times.

THE TAKEAWAY

Eastern Kentucky: The Colonels held Louisville’s offense to just 173 yards in the first half and stayed in the game until Louisville’s final first half drive, which ended with a Cunningham 3-yard touchdown run with 47 seconds left. Turnovers doomed any chance they had to hang in with their Power 5 hosts.

Louisville: The Cardinals defense played much better than it did in Monday’s loss to Ole Miss, albeit against a much weaker foe. While Cunningham got better as the game progressed, some early struggles against an FCS squad will not generate much confidence in the Louisville offense as the schedule gets tougher.

UP NEXT

Eastern Kentucky holds its home opener next Saturday night against Indiana State.

Louisville hosts Central Florida in a nationally televised game Friday night.

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