The Louisville football team may have a new starting quarterback when it kicks off against Virginia next weekend.

Saturday against Western Kentucky, coach Bobby Petrino benched starter Jawon Pass and replaced him with Malik Cunningham early in the second quarter. Louisville trailed 7-0 when Pass left the game and won, 20-17.

Asked about Pass' status, Petrino said, “I think right now we got to look at Malik and get him going. Two weeks in a row now where he’s come in and did a great job. Moved the football, got us in the end zone, competed extremely hard. I didn’t think that Puma played very well when he was in there. We had to make the change. He’s not the only one. We had other opportunities to make plays and weren’t able to make them.”

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Cunningham finished 10-for-18 passing for 88 yards. He rushed 21 times for 129 yards. Pass was 0-for-3 with an interception. He also took a sack, and Petrino put in Cunningham for the next play.

Petrino said later, "He just wasn't executing, just not executing like we need to get the offense going."

Cunningham, a redshirt freshman, would make his first career start if he gets the nod next week.

Jake Lourim: 502-582-4168; jlourim@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @jakelourim. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jakel.