Oct. 17, 1981 – Home – Fairgrounds Stadium – Louisville, Ky. – Attendance 28,136
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisville | 7 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 30 |
| Tennessee State | 13 | 15 | 7 | 7 | 42 |
| Qtr | Time | Scoring Play |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 07:52 | Don Craft 3-yard rush (Tony Blair kick), 1-3, 00:06 |
| 2nd | 11:25 | Don Craft 1-yard rush (Tony Blair kick), 5-63, 01:40 |
| 2nd | 03:29 | Frank Minnifield 89-yard kickoff return (Tony Blair kick) |
| 4th | 08:52 | Mark Clayton 17-yard pass from Dean May (Tony Blair kick), 11-83, 04:50 |
| 4th | 01:24 | Safety |
| Louisville | Tennessee State | |
|---|---|---|
| FIRST DOWNS | 17 | 17 |
| Rushing | 2 | 6 |
| Passing | 11 | 10 |
| Penalty | 4 | 1 |
| NET YARDS RUSHING | 27 | 94 |
| Rushing Attempts | 43 | 42 |
| Average Per Rush | 0.6 | 2.2 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 2 | 1 |
| NET YARDS PASSING | 270 | 362 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int | 14-32-4 | 14-30-4 |
| Average Per Attempt | 8.4 | 12.1 |
| Average Per Completion | 19.3 | 25.9 |
| Passing Touchdowns | 1 | 3 |
| TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS | 297 | 456 |
| Total offense plays | 75 | 72 |
| Average Gain Per Play | 4.0 | 6.3 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost | 3-2 | 3-1 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards | 7-62 | 10-112 |
| PUNTS-YARDS | 9-378 | 8-344 |
| Average Yards Per Punt | 42.0 | 43.0 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD | 0-0-0 | 0-0-0 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-1 | 0-0-0 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD | 4-0-0 | 4-0-1 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-0 | 0-0-1 |
| PAT Kicks | 4-4 | 4-5 |
| 2Pts Conversions | 0-0 | 1-1 |
| Field Goals | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| RUSHING | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Gain | Loss | Net | TD | Lg | Avg | |
| Don Craft | 12 | 44 | 3 | 41 | 2 | 9 | 3.4 |
| Greg Hickman | 10 | 22 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 6 | 2.1 |
| Mark Clayton | 1 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 11.0 |
| Scedric Moss | 2 | 9 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 4.5 |
| David Hatfield | 4 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 1.3 |
| Dean May | 4 | 0 | 11 | -11 | 0 | 0 | -2.8 |
| Scott Gannon | 10 | 9 | 58 | -49 | 0 | 6 | -4.9 |
| Totals | 43 | 104 | 77 | 27 | 2 | 11 | 0.6 |
| PASSING | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-A-I | Yds | TD | Long | Sack | |
| Scott Gannon | 9-23-3 | 135 | 0 | 38 | 5 |
| Dean May | 5-8-1 | 135 | 1 | 60 | 1 |
| Mark Clayton | 0-1-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 14-32-4 | 270 | 1 | 60 | 6 |
| RECEIVING | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TAR | No. | Yards | YAC | TD | Long | |
| Mark Clayton | 7 | 193 | 1 | 60 | ||
| Mark Wilson | 2 | 31 | 0 | 17 | ||
| Jeff Speedy | 2 | 22 | 0 | 16 | ||
| Keith Humphries | 1 | 15 | 0 | 15 | ||
| Dwayne Johnson | 1 | 6 | 0 | 6 | ||
| Scedric Moss | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Totals | 14 | 270 | 1 | 60 | ||
| PUNTING | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Yds | Avg | Long | In20 | TB | |
| Mark Blasinsky | 9 | 378 | 42.0 | 55 | ||
| Totals | 9 | 378 | 42.0 | 55 | ||
| RETURNS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Punt No | Yds | Lg | Kick No | Yds | Lg | Int No | Yds | Lg | |
| Keith Humphries | 3 | 61 | 45 | 3 | 57 | 31 | 0 | 0 | |
| Frank Minnifield | 0 | 0 | 2 | 110 | 89 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Darrell Wimberly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 47 | 47 | ||
| Dwayne Johnson | 0 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 15 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Sebastian Curry | 0 | 0 | 1 | -3 | -3 | 2 | 7 | ||
| Totals | 3 | 61 | 45 | 8 | 193 | 89 | 4 | 54 | 47 |
| FIELD GOALS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Qtr | Time | Dist | Result |
| ALL-PURPOSE | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rush | Rcv | KR | PR | IR | Total | |
| Mark Clayton | 11 | 193 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 204 |
| Keith Humphries | 0 | 15 | 57 | 61 | 0 | 133 |
| Frank Minnifield | 0 | 0 | 110 | 0 | 0 | 110 |
| Darrell Wimberly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 47 |
| Don Craft | 41 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 |
| Dwayne Johnson | 0 | 6 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 35 |
| Mark Wilson | 0 | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
| Jeff Speedy | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 |
| Greg Hickman | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Scedric Moss | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| David Hatfield | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Sebastian Curry | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 | 7 | 4 |
| Dean May | -11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11 |
| Scott Gannon | -49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -49 |
| FUMBLES |
|---|
| Louisville – Scott Gannon 2-2, Frank Minnifield 1-0 Tennessee State – 3-1 |
| Louisville Defense | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Name | Solo | Ast | Total | Sacks-Yds | TFL-Yds | FF | FR-Yds | Int-Yds | BrUp | Blks | QBH |
| Mike Trainor | 7 | 2 | 9 | 0.0-0 | 0.0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sebastian Curry | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0.0-0 | 0.0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 2-7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Tom Blair | 6 | 1 | 7 | 0.0-0 | 0.0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Lamar Evans | 5 | 2 | 7 | 0.0-0 | 0.0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Frank Minnifield | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0-0 | 0.0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Darrell Wimberly | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0-0 | 0.0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 25 | 5 | 30 | 0.0-0 | 0.0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 4-54 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Tom Blair, Tony Blair, Mark Blasinsky, Mark Clayton, Don Craft, Sebastian Curry, Phil Ellis, Lamar Evans, Scott Gannon, David Hatfield, Greg Hickman, Jeff Hortert, Keith Humphries, Dwayne Johnson, Dean May, Frank Minnifield, Scedric Moss, Jeff Speedy, Mike Trainor, Mark Wilson, Darrell Wimberly