Louisville Football: Lamar Jackson’s Heisman campaign starts now

Louisville football and Lamar Jackson fell off the national radar after losing to Clemson. Jackson will bring back that attention with a huge day in Week 5.

It’s Murray State. Nobody wins Heisman Trophies by beating Murray State. The Cardinals could win by 10 or by 100 on Saturday and it’s not going to move the needle in Jackson’s Heisman odds. But, it could be the attention grabber that gets the ball rolling once more.

Good teams are supposed to beat bad teams. The Cardinals are 50 point favorites against the Racers in Week 5. This game isn’t going to be close, and nobody will notice a solid stat line from Jackson. Yet somehow, by the end of the season, those incredible stat lines get quoted by every member of the sports media.

Jackson finished 2016 with 3,543 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also had 1,571 rushing yards and 21 yards on the ground. His best game a year ago came during a seven touchdown performance against Marshall. Heisman Trophies aren’t won in September, but it’s those September games that set the stage for special moments down the road.

A seven touchdown day is certainly within reach for Jackson on Saturday. At the very least it will earn him a nod on SportsCenter and an “attaboy” from sportswriters around the nation. But those seven touchdowns are going to become all the more important when the race starts to heat up later in the season.

Next: Where does Jackson fall in latest NFL Mock Draft?

There has only been one repeat Heisman winner. So far this season there hasn’t been another quarterback in the nation that’s broken away from the pack. If Penn State’s Saquon Barkley doesn’t do something extraordinary it might be Jackson’s Heisman to lose. Thanks, at least in part, to another incredible outing against Murray State on Saturday.