As Lamar Jackson ran toward the pylon in the end zone, Cordell Hudson approached the quarterback. Just like most of the other SU defenders on Friday night, he whiffed.

Jackson was rarely there when linebackers and lineman dove in for a tackle — he had juked left, right, sometimes backward. But when Hudson dove in, Jackson jumped over him.

“You better hope he makes the Hall of Fame so you have a signature picture or something,” Syracuse head coach Dino Babers said of Hudson getting hurdled.

Babers said he’d only seen a live hurdle like that once in his coaching career while he was in the Pac-12 Conference, but he’s never seen a quarterback do that. Back then, he said, it was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Friday was a Heisman-moment kind of night for Jackson. Against a Power 5 team, Jackson proved last week’s showing against Charlotte wasn’t a fluke. He was consistently the fastest player on the field and knew how to elude Syracuse (1-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) defenders.

The leap over Hudson looked like most of the plays he had made prior. In all, the quarterback racked up 199 yards on 21 carries and added four touchdowns. That was just on the ground. He passed for another 411 yards and his only throwing touchdown came on the first play of the game.

He helped the Cardinals (2-0, 1-0) set a school and ACC record for yards of offense in a game. Jackson became the second player in FBS history to record 400 passing yards and 150 rush yards in a game. He was one rushing yard short of becoming the first player in FBS history to run for 400 yards and pass for 200 yards in one game.

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“He took plays that against a lot of other running quarterbacks may go 15 yards, he took them 80,” SU linebacker Zaire Franklin said.

The first sequence of the game was a signature sequence from Jackson. On the very first play, Louisville ran play action to suck the safeties in. UofL wide receiver James Quick ran a deep seam route that split safeties Kielan Whitner and Antwan Cordy. The ball dropped right in Quick’s hands before he ran the rest of the way to the end zone.

On the second drive, just two minutes later, Jackson launched a 61-yard pass to receiver Jaylen Smith before scampering into the end zone untouched from 7 yards out.

Finally, another two minutes later, Jackson broke out of the pocket, made Whitner miss with a little juke move and ran 72 yards for a touchdown.

In three drives and fewer than five minutes, Jackson had racked up 212 of his eventual 610 yards and three of his five touchdowns.

“The first play was very well protected. Lamar was perfect on his set, James (Quick) ran a great route and it was a perfect strike to put the ball in the end zone,” Louisville head coach Bobby Petrino said. “Then we came and I felt like we needed to keep going.”

On a couple occasions, Jackson put throws right where they were supposed to be that his receivers dropped, but he rarely missed a throw. The only big mistake Jackson made was on a throw to a receiver who wasn’t looking. Syracuse safety Daivon Ellison jumped the route and intercepted the pass.

Other than those plays, it didn’t matter whether Syracuse pressured him or let him stay in the pocket. When the Orange blitzed, Jackson scrambled for first downs. And when SU only sent a four- or three-man rush, Jackson had a clean pocket to throw out of.

“The one play I remember is I saw three guys in exactly the right position and it didn’t matter,” Babers said. “What do you do to that? If you’re two yards outside the guy so he can’t outrun you and you’re two yards outside the guy and you say, ‘Why don’t you go four yards outside the guy?’ He’ll go up inside and you’ll never get a chance for him. I saw some guys exactly in the right spot and they just couldn’t make the play.”

“What do you remember about that team?” Babers said later. “One guy.”

Published on September 10, 2016 at 3:13 am

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati