Inside The Numbers: Louisville Football's offensive team leaders

We take a look at the offensive team leaders for the Louisville football team through the first seven games of the season.

The Louisville football team played incredible in a must-win game against the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday in Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium. Lamar Jackson had another Heisman-worthy performance and the defense played great as well. After an Ohio State loss to Penn State, Louisville’s college football playoff hopes have come back to life.

With that being said, we are going to take an in-depth look at the offensive statistical leaders for Louisville’s offense through the first even games. Some of the numbers just might surprise you.

Here are the statistical leaders, according to College Football Stats:

Passing:

There really isn’t anything to see here other than Lamar Jackson has been a more improved passer this season. NC State came into the game on Saturday with a secondary that was ranked in the bottom half of the ACC in passing defense. Before the first half was over, Jackson had already thrown for over 300 yards and put the game well out of reach for the Wolfpack.

What’s even more impressive is Jackson’s touchdown to interception ratio. There has not been one interception that he has thrown this year that has been a killer for the Cards. Also, one of those interceptions came from the Syracuse game where it was questionable between a fumble by Cole Hikutini or an interception. Jackson has been highly careful with the football on 2016.

Rushing:

We talked about this on Twitter yesterday during the game and it has been proven true after the game: Jeremy Smith is becoming Louisville’s best power running back.

The good news is that Louisville will have another year of Jackson and Smith being at the fore-front of the rushing attack. These two create an almost unstoppable duo of players at any point of the field. They use Smith a lot in the red zone, which is why he has so many more touchdowns than Radcliff. However, we may see more of Smith going down the stretch for the Cardinals anyways.

Receiving:

James Quick has been the Cardinals’ best receiver all year long and that is proven true in that stats category. He and Jackson do such a great job of finding space in the defense and making them pay. These two haven’t been able to hook up for the usual long touchdown over the last two weeks, but I have a feeling that could change against Virginia.

The player that you should be impressed with is Jaylen Smith. Louisville is going to lose their top three receiving threats after this season in Quick, Staples, and Hikutini, but Smith is showing why Cardinal fans should be confident in his abilities going into the future. Just look at that long touchdown catch-and-run he had against NC State. Jaylen Smith turned on the burners and left the cornerback in his dust.

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