Louisville rallies to defeat Cavaliers, 34-17, as UVA drops third in a row

By Scott Ratcliffe

Virginia dropped its third-straight game — and sixth-consecutive ACC contest — on Saturday, as Louisville erased a 10-point deficit, outscoring the Cavaliers 34-7 over the final three quarters en route to a 34-17 win at Scott Stadium.

UVA (2-4, 0-3 ACC) netted just six yards rushing on the day, and turned the ball over on its final three possessions, as the Wahoos fell for the fourth time in the last five games.

The Cardinals (3-3, 1-3) were playing without starting quarterback Malik Cunningham and starting running back Tiyon Evans, a duo that accounted for 70 percent of the team’s rushing production this season.

Louisville didn’t necessarily need Cunningham or Evans, as it turned out, as backup QB Brock Domann led his team to its first conference win of the year.

Domann threw for 275 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 71 more yards and another score, including a 44-yard scamper that fooled the entire Cavalier defense to tie the contest midway through the second quarter. It was pretty much all Cardinals from there.

Virginia senior quarterback Brennan Armstrong posted a season-high 313 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns — one through the air, one with his feet — but was picked off twice, sacked six times and couldn’t lead the Wahoos to a much-needed homecoming victory.

Keytaon Thompson led Virginia with 98 receiving yards, while Dontayvion Wicks — who left the game with an injury in the second half — added 69 yards and a first-quarter touchdown grab.

Louisville rushed for 198 yards on the afternoon. Tyler Hudson had a game-high 101 yards receiving, with Marshon Ford adding 93 yards and a touchdown.

FIRST QUARTER
After a Louisville punt on the game’s opening possession, UVA freshman Will Bettridge booted a career-long, 47-yard field goal to give his team an early 3-0 lead with 9:45 showing.

On the very next play from scrimmage, Louisville transfer Anthony Johnson came down with a one-handed interception of Domann.

A few plays later, as a Cardinal defender jumped offsides, Armstrong rolled to his left and connected with Wicks on a 40-yard touchdown strike, and the Hoos jumped out to a 10-0 advantage with still 6:42 left in the opening frame.

Louisville quickly punted the ball right back, and the Cavaliers were on the move again. Armstrong, who completed 7 of his first 9 attempts, used back-to-back completions to Thompson to get Virginia back near the red zone, but coughed up the football at the Louisville 18-yard line with 3:00 left. UVA outgained the Cards in the period, 149-19, possessing the ball for 9:19.

SECOND QUARTER
As sharp as the Cavaliers looked across the opening 15 minutes, things got a bit sloppy in the second quarter.

Louisville finally got on the board with a James Turner chip-shot field goal with 10:19 left until halftime. On Virginia’s next possession, Thompson dropped a pair of passes, the latter of which would have given UVA a first down, resulting in a second-straight three-and-out.

The Cardinals tied it up with 7:51 on the clock, as Domann faked a handoff on a fourth-and-2 conversion and raced 44 yards to the house, as Virginia’s defense went after the running back instead, thinking he had the ball.

The Hoos again couldn’t execute on offense, as Armstrong was stuffed short on third down, and quickly punted away.

A rare bright spot in the quarter for the home fans was an Antonio Clary interception, returned to midfield with 4:33 to go, but Armstrong was picked off a few plays later himself by Louisville’s Jarvis Brownlee.

That led to another Turner field goal as the half expired, and the visitors went into the locker room with a 13-10 lead.

UVA accumulated just 13 total yards in the quarter (Louisville gained 216) on nine total plays, and didn’t pick up a single first down, only possessing the ball for 4:11.

THIRD QUARTER
Tony Elliott’s halftime speech must not have motivated the offense much, as the Cavaliers went three-and-out yet again to open the second half. A pair of UVA penalties — a false start and an illegal snap — pushed punter Daniel Sparks to the back of his own end zone, but he was able to get off a booming punt of 55 yards and the coverage team didn’t allow a return.

But Louisville struck again, as Ford snuck into the UVA secondary uncovered and hustled 32 yards for a score, and the Hoos trailed, 20-10, with 10:35 on the clock.

The Cavaliers were finally able to move the ball, as first-down passes to Thompson and Lavel Davis Jr. moved them across midfield and into UL territory.

Armstrong found Wicks on an out-route along the sideline on a fourth-down conversion at the 37-yard line to keep the chains moving, and then threw incomplete deep down the field for Davis, who was interfered with on the play, giving UVA the ball at Louisville’s 11-yard line.

On the next play, Armstrong took the snap and couldn’t find an open receiver, so he saw an opening and dove across the goal line, cutting the Hoos’ deficit to 20-17 with 6:58 left in the third quarter.

The UVA defense got a quick stop and forced the Cardinals to punt it right back, but Louisville’s

MJ Griffin made an amazing, diving interception on Armstrong’s very next attempt.

A pass interference call on Johnson put the ball at UVA’s 2-yard line, setting up a short Trevion Cooley touchdown run to push the Cardinals’ lead back to 10, 27-17, with 54 seconds on the clock.

FOURTH QUARTER
On a critical fourth-and-1 at the UL 42-yard line, Armstrong tried to scramble but was sacked by Mason Reiger for an 11-yard loss with 13:11 remaining. Jawhar Jordan’s 1-yard touchdown run then stretched Louisville’s lead to 34-17 with 11:03 to go.

The Hoos kept fighting, as Demick Starling made a diving grab at Louisville’s 14-yard line, and it looked as if Mike Hollins’ second-effort carry on a fourth-and-short a few plays later had given Virginia a first-and-goal opportunity. However, the play was reviewed and overturned, as it was determined that Hollins didn’t make the line to gain before his knee hit the turf, and the Cardinals took over from their own 5-yard line with 8:11 to play.

Virginia would not get the ball back, as Louisville milked the remaining time off of the clock and left Scott Stadium with a victory.

Game Stats

Scoring Summary
Louisville 0 13 14 7 — 34
Virginia  10 0 7 0 — 17

First Quarter
UVA (9:45) — Will Bettridge 47-yd field goal. Virginia 3, Louisville 0.
UVA (6:42) — Dontayvion Wicks 40-yd pass from Brennan Armstrong (Will Bettridge kick). Virginia 10, Louisville 0.

Second Quarter
UL (10:19) — James Turner 23-yd field goal. Virginia 10, Louisville 3.
UL (7:51) — Brock Domann 44-yd run (James Turner kick). Virginia 10, Louisville 10.
UL (0:00) — James Turner 20-yd field goal. Louisville 13, Virginia 10.

Third Quarter
UL (10:35) — Marshon Ford 32-yd pass from Brock Domann (James Turner kick). Louisville 20, Virginia 10.
UVA (6:58) — Brennan Armstrong 11-yd run (Will Bettridge kick). Louisville 20, Virginia 17.
UL (0:54) — Trevion Cooley 1-yd run (James Turner kick). Louisville 27, Virginia 17.

Fourth Quarter
UL (11:03) — Jawhar Jordan 1-yd run (James Turner kick). Louisville 34, Virginia 17.

Player Stats

Rushing
UL — T.Cooley 18-77; B.Domann 9-71; J.Jordan 11-29; M.Turner 7-23; TEAM 1-(-2). Total: 46-198. UVA — X.Brown 4-7; P.Jones 6-6; M.Hollins 1-0; B.Armstrong 14-(-7). Total: 25-6.

Receiving
UL — T.Hudson 7-101; M.Ford 4-93; A.Huggins-Bruce 4-53; D.Martin 1-22; M.Turner 1-6. Total: 17-275. UVA — K.Thompson 9-98; D.Wicks 4-69; L.Davis Jr. 4-52; S.Wood Jr. 3-48; D.Starling 2-35; G.Misch 1-6; P.Jones 1-5. Total: 24-313.

Passing
UL — B.Domann 17-30-275-1-2. Total: 17-30-275-1-2. UVA — B.Armstrong 24-34-313-1-2. Total: 24-34-313-1-2.

UP NEXT
The Hoos have a bye next week and will return to action on Thursday, Oct. 20, at Georgia Tech (7:30 p.m., ESPN).