How it happened: No. 19 Louisville stumbles past Boston College
Well, that was weird.
In a game that spanned almost four hours, there was a little bit of everything in No. 19 Louisville’s 38-28 win over Boston College on Saturday night.
Boston College got off to an excellent start offensively, controlling the football for over 13 minutes and running 25 plays on the first two drives of the game. BC got off to a 10-7 lead, but by the second quarter, the Louisville offense had a response of its own.
Cards running back Isaac Brown took his first carry of the night 73 yards down to the one-yard line and later in the second half broke a 62-yarder off the right side to the endzone. Brown finished with 205 yards and a touchdown on 14 rushing attempts.
It’s the first 200-yard game of his career. Brown was also responsible for one of the Cards’ three turnovers after fumbling on the opening drive of the second half. Louisville’s other featured back, redshirt sophomore Keyjuan Brown, also had a great day on the ground, running for 95 yards on 10 carries and a touchdown. Keyjuan iced the game on a 67-yard touchdown with under three minutes to go. Duke Watson continues out with a lower-leg injury. As a team, Louisville gashed BC for 319 yards and four touchdowns on 11 yards a carry — by far the best rushing performance of the season.
Miller Moss struggled to find consistency over the course of the evening, throwing an interception and only completing 15-of-27 passes for just 187 yards, his second-lowest passing total of the season (JMU). The senior also ran it in for two scores in the first half. Despite the inconsistencies in the air, the Cardinals’ offense still totaled 504 yards on one of the ACC’s worst defenses.
Louisville’s leading receiver was Caullin Lacy, who caught his first touchdown of the season and ended the night with six catches for 43 yards.
The Louisville defense’s turnaround from a season ago has been one of the more pleasing storylines surrounding the program, and again on Saturday, the unit continued to make plays, getting into the backfield for two sacks and six tackles for loss.
TJ Quinn led U of L in tackles with 12 and also collected a pass breakup and half a tackle for loss.
Eagles quarterback Grayson James started his second consecutive game and completed 23-of-46 passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns. Louisville also intercepted James twice, once by defensive lineman Jordan Geurad off a deflection and the other by linebacker Kalib Perry, both the first of their careers.
BC tried to control the game, but three turnovers and went 1-of-4 on fourth downs. The Eagles have yet to beat an FBS opponent this fall.
Louisville, now bowl eligible and 6-1 (3-1 ACC), hits the road to visit Virginia Tech for the first time in over 30 years next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3 PM EST at Lane Stadium.
