Louisville comes from behind to beat Virginia and keep ACC championship game hopes alive

Louisville having only five days to prepare for Virginia showed.

Though the 11th-ranked Cardinals have looked the sharpest at home, they struggled as 20 ½-point favorites against Virginia on Thursday night at L&N Stadium.

The two-win Cavaliers had already recorded a top-10 win over North Carolina this season and were hungry to pocket another big win. On a wild night that included a special teams touchdown for Louisville and a fumble recovery score for Virginia (2-8, 1-5 ACC), the Cardinals prevailed, 31-24, in the thriller.

"Of all of our victories, I'm probably proud of our team for hanging in this one than any of them because they could've easily lost confidence and started to doubt themselves a little bit, but they didn't," Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said. "They played until the end. So really, really proud of them."

With the win, U of L (9-1, 6-1) extended its home winning streak to 11 games and is one game closer to the ACC championship game for the first time in program history. It would be Brohm’s second straight conference championship appearance after leading Purdue to the Big Ten championship game for the first time in program history a year ago.

Louisville had been in close games this season but none at home until Thursday. Virginia’s 24 points were the most the Cardinals have surrendered at L&N Stadium since they beat Boston College, 56-28, on Sept. 23.

Though the Cardinals’ defense recorded three first-half sacks, the unit couldn’t keep the Cavaliers down. Running back Jack Griese ended Louisville’s 10-quarter touchdown shutout with a 1-yard TD on fourth-and-goal at the 4:15 mark of the third quarter.

Virginia scored 14 more unanswered points on a 28-yard pick six from linebacker Kam Robinson and wide receiver Malik Washington’s 42-yard fumble recovery touchdown to take a 21-14 lead into the fourth quarter.

The game took an unfortunate turn when Cavaliers tailback Perris Jones was carted off the field after Washington’s score, pausing the game for nearly 15 minutes.

"I said my piece to him when he was on the stretcher," said Louisville safety Cam Kelly, who was involved in the hit with Jones. "Nothing but love for him. ... I hope he has a speedy recovery."

Once play resumed, Louisville put together a drive that ended with Brock Travelstead kicking a 35-yard field goal about four minutes into the fourth quarter for the Cardinals’ first points of the second half.

Virginia quarterback Anthony Colandrea’s deep ball and the Cavaliers’ tempo offense kept the Cardinals’ defense off-balance, with the freshman totaling 314 passing yards. After Travelstead’s field goal, Colandrea had a 48-yard pass to Washington during a drive that ended with a 38-yard field goal from Will Bettridge.

In contrast, Louisville’s offense sputtered despite having running back Jawhar Jordan and wide receiver Jamari Thrash, both of whom were game-time decisions. Jordan started, but Thrash came in later in the first half with Jadon Thompson getting his first start as a Cardinal.

U of L’s offense scored on quarterback Jack Plummer’s 4-yard pass to tight end Joey Gatewood during the team’s second drive. Louisville also scored when wide receiver Jimmy Calloway came up with the ball in the end zone after safety D’Angelo Hutchinson blocked a Virginia punt with 3:01 remaining in the first half. It was the first time the Cardinals have had such luck since a 31-10 win over UConn on Nov. 8, 2013.

That luck took a while to manifest again, but the Cardinals regained the lead in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. Plummer overcame his interception and threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to receiver Ahmari Huggins-Bruce, who beat two defenders on his way to the end zone with 6:20 remaining in regulation for the 24-all game.

Running back Isaac Guerendo followed up a career performance against Virginia Tech by scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 73-yard run for the one-play drive three minutes later. The Cardinals’ defense helped to secure the win by forcing a punt and turnover on downs on the Cavaliers’ next two drives. Cornerback Storm Duck made the final play in coverage on fourth down as Colandrea’s pass fell incomplete.

"I think that's a sign of a good team is being able to, when things aren't going your way, find (a way) to gut it out, find a way to win," Plummer said. "I think again, that's another step for us. We've had a couple of games where maybe we've been down and found a way to come back and win. We've just gotta keep building off of that and learn from this game then just get ready for next week."

C.L. Brown column: Louisville football can't afford to have any more lackluster showings this season

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

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs Virginia football: Cards keep ACC title game hopes alive