LOUISVILLE – Davis Shanley gathered Western Kentucky’s offensive players at halftime Saturday and gave them a message.

“He pulled them up together and told them, ‘We’re going to finish this thing,’ ” WKU coach Mike Sanford said.

“That’s something we’ve been looking for on the offensive side of the ball is a vocal leader who’s going to step up.”

Unfortunately for Shanley and the Hilltoppers, they were unable to build on their 14-3 halftime lead against Louisville. The Cardinals chipped at the WKU advantage and eventually won 20-17 at Cardinal Stadium.

It was a disappointing result for the Toppers (0-3), who’ve now lost five straight games dating back to last season. But the young quarterback Shanley didn’t shrink from the moment in his first extended college action.

“I thought he fought his tail off,” Sanford said of Shanley. “I thought he played like a warrior.”

After starting WKU’s first two games this season, QB Drew Eckels couldn’t go Saturday at UofL. Sanford said the redshirt senior suffered an upper-body injury – his second already this season – in a Sept. 8 home loss to Maine.

Sanford’s plan with Eckels on the shelf was to play Steven Duncan two series and Shanley two series. Then the coach would evaluate and see which quarterback to go with the rest of the way.

Duncan, a redshirt sophomore, made his first college start. He was 3-of-5 passing for 20 yards with an interception to the Cards’ C.J. Avery.

“He moved our team, got a little momentum, but we’ve obviously got to take care of the football,” Sanford said.

Then it was Shanley’s turn. On the redshirt freshman’s first series, WKU marched 80 yards over 16 plays in a drive that took 7:13 off the clock.

Shanley finished the series with a 9-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Fourtenbary. It was Shanley’s first career TD pass and Fourtenbary’s first career TD catch.

The Hilltoppers got a short field on their next series and needed only two plays to get into the end zone.

Shanley hit wide receiver Quin Jernighan down the left sideline for a 28-yard gain. On the next snap, Shanley tucked the ball and ran off left tackle for his first career rushing TD, making it 14-0 WKU with 12:40 left in the second quarter.

Nickelback Ta’Corian Darden said there was belief from the Tops’ sideline as Shanley piloted his team to a lead.

“We watch him in practice and see what he can do,” the redshirt junior Darden said. “We’ve got all the trust in him and once he got in there, we saw that he was making the right decisions and getting the ball out quick.

“We were like, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, Shanley. Let’s win this game.’ ”

After Louisville cut the margin to 14-6, Shanley drove his team into position to score again late in the third quarter. He completed a 31-yard pass to tight end Mik’Quan Deane down to the Cardinal 9-yard line. One play later, WKU had second-and-goal from the 1.

Shanley faked a handoff to running back D’Andre Ferby and kept the ball himself. U of L defensive lineman Tabarius Peterson stayed at home on the play and wrapped up Shanley in the backfield for a 4-yard loss.

“There are times that when you’re on the 1-yard line, you’ve got to hand the ball off,” Sanford said. “I’ve got to do that as a play-caller, take the guesswork out of it and don’t leave any possibility to pull the football.”

Shanley was then sacked for a 10-yard loss by G.G. Robinson on third-and-goal. That set up a 32-yard Ryan Nuss field goal attempt that was blocked and recovered by the Cardinals all the way back at the WKU 31.

That sequence was a big momentum shift in the game. Dae Williams rushed in for a Cards TD later that series to make it 14-13 WKU.

After a Nuss field goal pushed the Tops’ lead to 17-13, Williams carried for another short scoring run to give U of L its first lead of the night, 20-17 with 5:01 to play.

Shanley got the Hilltoppers into Cardinal territory twice over the game’s final five minutes, but WKU was unable to convert either trip into points.

“We were going to go with one (quarterback), and that’s what we did,” Sanford said. “It gave us a chance to win the football game. At the end of the day we fell short of that.”

Shanley’s only game experience prior to Saturday came Aug. 31. He played most of the fourth quarter of a season-opening 34-3 loss at then-No. 4 Wisconsin.

The Duluth, Ga., native finished Saturday’s game at Cardinal Stadium 22-of-33 passing for 240 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Shanley was listed with eight yards and a TD on 11 carries. Those numbers would’ve been better if not for three sacks that totaled 20 yards of lost ground.

“I’m kind of really jumping into the ocean now instead of just getting my feet wet,” Shanley said. “But at the end of the day, the stats and all the touchdowns, that doesn’t matter because the only stat in the books is that we lost tonight.”{&end}