Louisville did not name a starting quarterback before the opener against No. 6 Auburn.
Then the Cardinals pulled an even bigger surprise.
Freshman Lamar Jackson took the bulk of the snaps over three more experienced quarterbacks thought to be battling for the job. It nearly worked, too, as Louisville rallied from a 24-point deficit before losing 31-24 on Saturday.
Coach Bobby Petrino isn't ready to name Jackson the permanent starter but was clearly impressed.
"I thought he really did a nice job," Petrino said. "We saw that in practice. Coming into the game, we knew we were going to play him. He did compete extremely hard. We thought he gave us the best opportunity to get back into the game and find a way to win."
Petrino sent out both Jackson and sophomore Reggie Bonnafon for the first play, a trick formation the team had been working on all week. Bonnafon went in motion but the snap was botched, leaving Jackson scrambling to his right. Looking very much like it was his first college play, he simply threw it up, right into the arms of Tray Matthews.
The Auburn safety returned the interception 35 yards to the 26, setting up quarterback Jeremy Johnson's 1-yard touchdown run.
Bonnafon played into the second quarter before giving way to Jackson for good after a fumbled handoff with Louisville driving gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead. Justin Garrett scooped up the loose ball and took off the other way for an 82-yard touchdown return.
Jackson did plenty of good things for the Cardinals in his debut. He was only 9 of 20 passing for 100 yards, but led the team in rushing with 106 yards on 16 carries, including a 10-yard touchdown toward the end of the third quarter.
"That freshman quarterback is electric," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "He's going to be tough to deal with."
Fortunately for the Tigers, Will Muschamp's revamped defence came up with those two huge plays early on. The former Florida coach made his debut as Auburn's defensive co-ordinator, charged with turning around a unit that fell apart late last season.
"I am very excited about this season and what the defence can do," tackle Montravius Adams said. "We forced a lot of turnovers and got a lot of sacks. That shows people we are getting better."
Even though he spent the last two years behind Nick Marshall, Johnson came into the season hyped as one of the potential breakout stars in Malzahn's explosive spread offence.
The junior completed only 11 of 21 for 127 yards with three interceptions, though he did throw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Ricardo Louis.
"I just made some mental mistakes," Johnson said. "I'll learn from it."
Peyton Barber, taking over after starter Roc Thomas went out with an undisclosed injury, wound up carrying the bulk of the offensive load in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at the Georgia Dome. The third-year sophomore rushed for 115 yards on 24 carries, more than doubling his career output.
"That meant everything to me," Barber said. "This is what I've been waiting on."
Auburn led 24-0 after scoring on its first possession of the second half. The Tigers were up still up 31-10 with just over 10 minutes remaining, before Jackson led a couple of late touchdown drives that made the Tigers sweat it out.
Auburn managed to run out the clock after recovering an onside kick, helped a bit by Petrino's decision to call a timeout after a holding penalty on the Tigers.
Johnson was picked off twice in the first half by former Georgia safety Josh Harvey-Clemons, who sat out last season after transferring to Louisville. Trumaine Washington had the Cardinals' other interception, the revamped secondary picking right up where it left off last season, when Louisville led the nation with 26 picks.
Malzahn said he was not concerned about Johnson's performance.
"He was trying to force a few things," the coach said. "He made some very good plays to help us win. He's going to be fine."
Auburn led 17-0 at halftime after Daniel Carlson booted a career-long field goal from 56 yards in the final minute of the second quarter. It was the third-longest field goal in school history.
___
AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org
___
Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963
This content appears as provided to The Globe by the originating wire service. It has not been edited by Globe staff.