Why did Louisville's Malik Cunningham not start vs. Kentucky? What Scott Satterfield said

The curious case of Malik Cunningham began Tuesday.

No. 25 Louisville football head coach Scott Satterfield said the quarterback would be listed as day-to-day while nursing a shoulder injury sustained Nov. 12 against Clemson. At the time, Satterfield guessed that Cunningham had a sprained AC joint in his right shoulder, his throwing arm, but later said he wasn’t sure of the specifics.

Cunningham sat out against North Carolina State on Nov. 19 as backup quarterback Brock Domann picked up his second win of the year, 25-10. Cunningham had missed playing one final game at Cardinal Stadium with his status in one final Governor’s Cup game in question.

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That question led to even more questions when the redshirt senior didn’t play in the first quarter of Saturday's Governor's Cup game against rival Kentucky, giving Domann his third start of the year. It continued when Cunningham came in at the 10:27 mark of the second frame. In the hours leading up to the contest, Cunningham was considered a game-time decision. It was then reported he would play but not start, which was confirmed by a team spokesperson.

According to Satterfield, Cunningham had been “living in the training room” over the last couple of weeks with his only practice snaps happening Friday.

Louisville was already down to Kentucky 13-0 when Cunningham stepped onto the field about five minutes into the second quarter. The quarterback was brought in during the second quarter against the Wildcats, though, in hopes of him providing the team with a spark.

“Malik wanted to play, to his credit,” Satterfield said. “He's beat up and he's tough. He's like, coach, I'm ready to play. … You're limited and he's limited in what he can do because he's not full speed. It's not the complete Malik but I appreciate the effort and the toughness that he showed to be able to go out there and play.”

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Cunningham was sacked on the second play of the drive for a 10-yard loss. Running back Maurice Turner was only able to get back 13 yards as the Cardinals went three-and-out and punted.

Cunningham, now warmed up, returned on the next drive and scored on a 6-yard run to send U of L into halftime with a 13-7 deficit. But just as he appeared primed for a hero moment, his first two drives of the second half ended in a three-and-out and interception, respectively. Satterfield said Cunningham re-injured his shoulder while making a tackle on Wildcats linebacker Trevin Wallace, who picked off the pass. Domann then returned with 6:35 remaining in the third quarter and played the rest of the game.

Despite only playing for part of the game, Cunningham made history as the new record holder for touchdowns responsible for with 120, replacing former quarterback Lamar Jackson’s record of 119.

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Cunningham is out of eligibility and can opt out of Louisville’s bowl game, but Satterfield said those conversations will be held this week.

“We were focused everything on Kentucky this week and everything we could do to try to come out here and play well,” Satterfield added, “and so now, we'll digest this over the next few days and meet with everybody one on one and figure out where we need to go.”

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Why Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham played despite injury