Taylor's walkoff TD helps No. 24 UVa beat Louisville 30-27 in OT

One play after its quarterback got hit hard near the goal line, No. 24 UVa got a 2-yard touchdown from running back J’Mari Taylor on a direct snap to finish a walk-off 30-27 overtime win at Louisville on Saturday. 

With the victory, Virginia (5-1, 3-0 ACC) continues to control its own destiny in league play and keep an unfathomable College Football Playoff appearance in the realm of possibility.

Taylor’s 2-yard TD was the first time the Wahoos got into the end zone on offense since Chandler Morris hit Cam Ross for a 19-yard score with 6:56 to go in the second quarter. On the previous play, Morris looked to end the game on a bootleg run but was converged on by three Louisville defenders. He walked off under his own power, cheering on his guys in the huddle as backup Daniel Kaelin came in for the final.

Helping to buoy the Cavaliers at L&N Federal Stadium were a pair of defensive touchdowns, first on a scoop-and-score from Donovan Platt and then on a pick-six by Kam Robinson.

But if not for a Will Bettridge field goal from 46 yards out with 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Virginia wouldn’t have had the 10-point lead it needed to hold off the charging Cardinals, who tied it up with 1:08 left on a 50-yard FG by Cooper Raviner.

All told, UVa’s offense posted just 237 yards of offense, with Chandler Morris going 19 of 31 for 149 yards and a TD. Taylor had a team-high 16 carries for 68 yards to go with his TD in the extra frame.

And the Hoos got the W despite wide receiver Chris Bell hauling in 12 receptions for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns for the Cards (4-1, 2-1).

The first points of the day came on what otherwise looked like a promising 11-play drive for Louisville. Facing a 4th and short, the Cards elected to go for it at the Virginia 37-yard line. The pitch out of the short-yardage formation, though, got away from Isaac Brown and Platt scooped it up, rumbling 60 yards down his own sideline for the score to put UVa up with 6:12 left in the first quarter. 

Louisville evened things up for the first time on the ensuing drive, going 12 plays and 75 yards in 6:12 to tie it up on a Miller Moss 1-yard run on 4th and goal as the first quarter concluded.

The Cavaliers went to work immediately thereafter. They churned out an 8:04-long drive that covered 75 yards in 16 plays, the last of which was a 19-yard TD pass from Morris to Ross with 6:56 left in the half. 

The Cards, on the other hand, didn’t need half that amount of time to tie things back up. They struck back 3:26 later when Moss hit Bell for a 15-yard TD, capping a seven-play, 70-yard drive with 3:26 left in the half.

After stymieing the UVa offense and forcing the second Wahoo punt of the day, the Cardinals benefited from a horse collar tackle on the return and got great field position out of it. Seven plays later, Louisville seemed poised to take its first lead on a 43-yard FG from Cooper Ranvier but the turf and the operation went awry and it fell harmlessly short and wide left. 

In the second half, the initial drive by the Cards looked like it might be gaining steam before back-to-back sacks by Daniel Rickert and Mitchell Melton on 2nd and 3rd downs led to a forced punt. The Wahoos, meanwhile, also looked like they had a solid start to their drive only for it to end with a turnover on downs at the Louisville 35-yard line with 7:31 left in the third quarter.

On the next possession, the Cardinals played with fire two times before getting burned on the third. After an incomplete pass was nearly fumbled thanks to a Ja’Son Prevard hit, DB Christian Charles nearly came up with an INT down the field on a shot play. Instead, with Moss under pressure and trying to get rid of the ball on 3rd and 10, an errant throw was brought in by Robinson, who retuned it 47 yards for Virginia’s second defensive score of the day giving the Hoos a 21-14 lead with 6:25 left in the third quarter. It was Charles whose pressure helped lead to the points. 

The teams traded punts on the following two drives, the second of which was downed by UVa at the Louisville 1-yard line with 2:42 left in the third.

After Melton almost got UVa its third defensive touchdown of the day, narrowly missing an interception several yards from pay dirt, Louisville was forced to punt two plays later. The Hoos got enough out of the next drive to set Bettridge up for the FG that pushed it to 24-14 with 0:30 left in the quarter.

The Cards weren’t able to do much of anything on the next possession, despite LB Trey McDonald getting called for targeting on the kickoff coverage. The Wahoos couldn’t either, as the teams traded punts once again.

From there, business picked up.

First, Louisville put together a six-play, 55-yard drive capped by a 13-yard TD from Moss to Bell that cut the UVa lead to 24-21 with 9:41 left.

The Cavaliers ate up 5:10 on the ensuing drive, but Morris missed Jahmal Edrine on what would’ve been a huge gain on the 1st down prior to the punt. Instead, the Hoos ended up giving it back to the Cards, who set up at their own 28 with 4:34 remaining. 

Despite a Hunter Osborne sack on 1st down, Louisville picked up the 1st down on 3rd and 10. UVa stuffed Isaac Brown on the next play for no gain and Jason Hammond got home for a sack on 2nd down, leading to a Cardinal timeout with 2:04 left.

On 3rd and 24, Moss hit Chris Hughes for a 33-yard gain to take it to the two-minute warning that seemed in the moment like it might be a harbinger of what was to come.

At the UVa 40, the Cards picked up eight more yards on the next two plays before Robinson broke through to hurry Moss on the 3rd down and 2. That’s where, from the 32-yard line, Raviner made a 50-yard FG to tie it up with 1:08 left, which led to OT. 

On its extra possession, the Cards had to settle for a FG attempt once a pass from Moss to Brown that initially was ruled complete—and would’ve given them 1st and goal—was ruled incomplete.

And that’s where Morris and Co. took over, getting 14 yards on a pass to TE John Rogers on 1st down and then a small gain from Taylor to set up 2nd and 8 at the Louisville 9-yard line. Morris took the next snap, drifted left, and the committed for going for the pylon only to be turned away by Jabari Mack and D’Angelo Hutchinson. After being down on the field for a minute or so, he first sat up and then walked off before hyping up the huddle prior to the team’s return to the field and the eventual game winner.