Lincoln Kienholz passed for 332 yards, threw two touchdowns and rushed for two more to lead No. 24 Louisville to a 59-13 win over visiting Villanova on Friday night.
Lawayne McCoy caught three passes for 102 yards and a touchdown, Tre Richardson had seven grabs for 98 yards and Jaleel Skinner had 82 receiving yards and a touchdown catch for the Cardinals (1-1).
Marquise Davis had two rushing touchdowns and Braxton Jennings added a rushing and a receiving score for Louisville, which racked up a 635-253 advantage in total yards.
Villanova quarterback Pat McQuaide completed 18 of 31 pass attempts for 166 yards and one touchdown. Ja’briel Mace had 73 receiving yards and a touchdown reception for the Wildcats (1-2).
With 4:33 left in the first quarter, Kienholz escaped the Wildcats’ rush and scrambled for a 19-yard touchdown to put the Cardinals up 10-3.
Both teams then traded explosive scoring plays in the first half.
Louisville’s advantage grew to 17-3 when Skinner took Kienholz’s short pass in the flat 69 yards down the sideline for a touchdown with 14 seconds left in the first quarter.
Two plays later, Villanova answered when McQuaide connected with Mace for a 65-yard touchdown to trim Louisville’s lead to 17-10 on the first play of the second quarter.
The Cardinals needed only two plays to reply as Kienholz floated a pass to McCoy, who beat his defender for a 61-yard touchdown and a 24-10 Louisville lead.
Kienholz’s second rushing score, this one from 4 yards out, gave the Cardinals a 31-10 lead with 1:53 left before halftime, capping a 10-play, 85-yard drive.
In the third quarter, Jennings rushed for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Cardinals a 38-10 lead at the 7:50 mark. After a Villanova field goal, Davis’ 3-yard touchdown run put Louisville up 45-13 with 7 seconds to play in the third.
The Cardinals took a 52-13 lead on Davin Wydner’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Jennings with 12:36 to play. With 7:04 left, Davis plunged into the end zone from 4 yards out to cap the scoring.
