The final score of Louisville’s expected dismantlement of woefully overmatched Austin Peay was about right.

62 nil.

Takin’ care of biz.

It is not always that way.

So the question becomes, what if anything can be discerned from essentially a scrimmage in front of what appeared to be kinda, almost the announced official assemblage of 47,067?

As Coach Jeff Brohm said postgame, a lot of dudes deep into the roster got some PT.

And contributed.

Thirty one defenders — a significant abundance — registered a defensive stat of some sort or another.

31.

Including redshirt senior/ former Eastern Eagle Ramon Puryear’s sweet 22 yard rumblin’ stumblin’ scoop and score late in the 3d.

Preseason A-A Ashton Gillotte, imagine our surprise, led with four tackles. One for a sack, another for a TFL.

U of L strongarmed 7 sacks, plus an equal number of TFLs.

Eight guys registered a carry. (Though, Tyler Shough’s and Pierce Clarkson’s were sacks.)

The top leading rushers were, hmmmmmmmm, true freshman.

Isaac Brown. 5 totes for a glossy 123 yards. One a 77 yard streak to paydirt. His stop and go on 36 yard scamper was a ploy of beauty.

Duke Watson. 6 carries. 89 yards. TD.

Two of the Cardinals’ panoply of backup signal callers aired it out.

Pierce Clarkson, who is really diminutive by the by, 4/4.

Bailey Harrison was 6/6.

More about you know whom, i.e. that guy who started, in a bit.

Eleven Cardinals caught a pass.

Jacory Brooks, late of the Crimson Tide, 7 snares for 83 yards. A touchdown. Amazing Alabama quality catch.

Former Bearcat Jadon Thompson grabbed a trio of tosses, two of which ended up for six.

Former Aztec Mark Redman nabbed one only. But it was for a tally.

 * * * * *

All that well and good.

We must admit however, that not only were the Govs inferior in every asset, their scrubs gave up late in the 3d. Kind of sad actually.

A running clock in the 4th would have been merciful for all.

U of L did not stop playing. All the way to the end of the bench.

 * * * * *

Tyler Shough.

Yes, most always he had plenty of time to survey the gridiron and double check his coordinates. Though he was hurried a number of times. (Thrice officially.)

One thing was obvious despite that caveat.

He. Is. A. Significant. Upgrade. The dude can sling it. He does not panic when pressured.

Love his sidearm tosses. Don Drysdale quality stuff.

His dime to Redman for that score in the corner of the endzone was top shelf.

Shough sat after intermission. After going 18/24 for 234 yards and four TDs in the opening half.

 * * * * *

Kudos to Special Teams Coordinator Karl Maslowski.

Cards blocked two Governor punts.

 * * * * *

Blips:

None on the defensive side of any consequence. It  was domination.

As for the O, there was a moment when I actually was taken aback. It was the Krapthorpian eight yard route on a 3d & 12 during the Cards opening foray. Which ended with three as a result.

But, other than that . . .

. . . it was domination.

Other peripherals:

Loved the rugby style scrum score that pushed the lead to 17 zed. Kejuan Brown with help of 1500 lbs. of thrust from his OL’s avoirdupois.

Not sure what I think of Shough’s hint o’ stache. But, hey, if his bride likes it, fine with me.

Brohm dropped a serious F-Bomb to tech assistant when Clarkson’s helmet speaker wasn’t working, costing the Cardinals a timeout. Which frankly was of zero consequence since the lead was 38-0 at the time.

I’ve often jokingly called my alma mater, the Harvard of Eastern Parkway. So, it just makes me smile that there’s a portal guy from real Harvard of Cambridge. Thor Griffith. He notched a tackle.

Returnee receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, back on the squad officially for mere hours after a Red Bull at South Carolina, played. And caught one.

Next: Jax State.

— c d kaplan