#11 Louisville Outlasts Virginia on Thursday Night, 31-24

Nov 9, 2023; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals quarterback Jack Plummer (13) looks to pass against the Virginia Cavaliers during the second half at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. Louisville defeated Virginia 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports /

Louisville survived Virginia in a thrilling 4th quarter finish last night

The Louisville Cardinals started kickoff last night as -20.5 point favorites, but Virginia didn’t seem to care, as they had a touchdown lead going into the 4th quarter. Louisville eventually outlasted the Cavaliers by outscoring them 17-3, and having the defense finish them off with a 4th down stop.

The game vibes were already off when the glow started off with Louisville not being able to turn off the stadium lights. It is not much of a glow game if their is no glowing to be seen. The offense for both teams in the first half was very sloppy, and if it wasn’t for the Cardinals beautiful blocked punt TD, it would have been a 7-0 halftime score. Instead Louisville was up 14-0 at halftime, and although it was sloppy, they still had a 2 possession lead.

That did not last long, as Virginia outscored Louisville 21-0 in the 3rd quarter.

Jack Plummer looked really bad in the 3rd quarter, paired with the run game being stagnant and Anthony Colandra airing it out against the Louisville defense, things were not going well.

Plummer never seemed to be the guy to dig the Cardinals out of holes, and we haven’t seen the Cardinals falter at home all season long. I wasn’t expecting Plummer to come back and win this one.

I was dead wrong. As Plummer continued to make some precision passes, and dot Amahri Huggins-Bruce up for a 52 yard TD pass to tie the game up at 24 in the 4th quarter.

After some solid defense from the Cardinals they got the ball back, and Isaac Guerendo iced the game with a 73 yard TD pass to send Virginia home packing,

Key Takeaways:

The key takeaways I took from this game were mainly this:

Louisville is an extremely persistent football team, and will never cease to stop fighting no matter what the score is
Isaac Guerendo is proving he is a very capable running back, and fans should have no worries if he has to start next week against Miami
Jack Plummer is not a perfect QB, but he can bounce back from his mistakes and make the right plays when they are needed
The Cardinal secondary may need some extra practice this week as Virginia threw for over 300 passing yards
Virginia is a good football team, they are just very, very, very unlucky
Jeff Brohm is likely going to lead the Cardinals to an ACC Championship berth

The Cardinals should have won this game by more than 7, but when Louisville and Virginia play it is always weird no matter what. I expected this game to have odd vibes, but this was way weirder than I ever could have imagined.

Louisville needs to correct some of the offensive and coverage issues they had against Virginia, but they found a way to win, and that is all that matters.

On to Miami next Saturday, as the Cardinals look to secure an ACC Championship berth.

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