Louisville's Lamar Jackson has back-to-back 300 passing yards, 100 rushing yard games

ByDAVID HALE
September 9, 2017, 4:15 PM

— -- CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The sequel to Lamar Jackson's Heisman campaign might be even better than the original.

The defending Heisman winner turned in another record-breaking performance in the Louisville Cardinals' 47-35 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels on Saturday, throwing for 393 yards and rushing for 132 more. Jackson became just the second quarterback in FBS history -- and first from a Power 5 team -- to throw for 300 and run for 100 in back-to-back games. Rice University quarterback Chase Clement did so in 2007, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

It was Jackson's third career game hitting those marks.

"Just a credit to my offensive line," Jackson said, deferring -- as he has all offseason -- talk of another run at the Heisman trophy.

Still, there was no ignoring the performance. A week after leading a mistake-prone offense to a win over Purdue University with 378 yards passing and 107 on the ground, Jackson looked even better against the Tar Heels, hitting Jaylen Smith for a 75-yard touchdown pass midway through the second quarter and adding a 43-yard run early in the third to provide the highlights.

But Jackson also delivered again and again on third down, working the UNC defense with crossing routes the Heels seemed helpless to cover, then finishing drives -- including a 99-yarder to seal the game -- with some physical running.

Earlier in the week, North Carolina linebacker Andre Smith suggested the Tar Heels would shut down the defending Heisman winner.

"We definitely don't want it to be the Lamar Jackson show," Smith told reporters. "He's not going to beat us. We are just going to stop anything he tries to do."

Louisville's players heard the comments, and while Jackson fired off a tongue-in-cheek tweet in response, receiver Dez Fitzpatrick said the team wanted to send a message.

"We tried to tune it out," said Fitzpatrick, who hauled in two of Jackson's touchdown passes, "but we definitely wanted to make them pay."

This seems like an ongoing discussion for Louisville, as Jackson's Heisman run last season, which ended with losses to Houston and Kentucky and was followed by a bowl defeat to LSU, has engendered its share of critics who feel he backed into the award. In turn, the offseason buzz about a second straight Heisman has been comparatively quiet.

That's what makes Saturday's performance all the more eye popping. If it was his brilliant September that thrust Jackson to the award a year ago, he's already on pace to improve upon those numbers in 2017. In his first two games a season ago, he posted 1,015 total yards of offense against Charlotte and Syracuse. In his first two this year, against Purdue and UNC, he's got 1,010 yards.

"Lamar had a great game," coach Bobby Petrino said. "What a player, what a great competitor."

Saturday marked Jackson's fourth career game with six touchdowns or more, his seventh 300-yard passing game and his 15th 100-yard rushing day.

Jackson's 525 total yards Saturday were the most ever allowed by a North Carolina defense, and the eighth-most by any ACC player.

"I thought about what they said, and I just like to play football," Jackson said. "But if you talk, it's going to be a dog fight."