Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough connected with Jamari Johnson on a five-yard touchdown pass with 1:55 left to lift the visiting Cardinals to a 24-20 win over Virginia on Saturday at Scott Stadium.
Shough’s pass capped an 11-play, 67-yard drive for Louisville, which is now 4-2 and will host Miami next week.
Driving for the go-ahead score, Virginia (4-2) turned it over on downs at the Louisville 39 with 48 seconds left after four straight incomplete passes. The Cavaliers had three timeouts left, but Louisville was able to gain a first down and run out the clock.
Cardinals freshman running back Isaac Brown ran for a career-high 146 yards on 20 carries and had a pair of touchdown runs. Shough finished with 231 yards and a touchdown.
Virginia quarterback Anthony Colandrea threw for 279 yards and a score and also led the Cavaliers with 84 rushing yards on 15 carries. Virginia will play at Clemson next.
The Cavaliers had issues in the punting game. Punter Daniel Sparks had two low punts hit his teammates in the back; that cost them field position, and one led to a Cardinals touchdown.
Sparks’ third-quarter punt went barely five feet off the ground and hit lineman Charlie Patterson in the back. Louisville took over at the Cavaliers’ 14 and Brown swept into the left side of the end zone on the next play to extend their lead to 17-7 with 10:40 left in the third quarter.
Virginia would respond with a pair of short field goals by Will Bettridge to make it 17-13 heading into the fourth. The Cavaliers would go ahead 20-17 when Colandrea hit a wide-open Xavier Brown on a 46-yard pass with 10:03 left.
Two drives later, Shough came through with the game winner.
Virginia marched down the field with the opening kickoff to the Cardinals’ 2-yard line and on third down removed Colandrea for 211-pound quarterback Grady Brosterhous. The Louisville defense stopped Brosterhous on his first try up the middle, but Brosterhaus was able to bull his way in on fourth-and-goal. It was Brosterhous’ fourth rushing touchdown of the season.
Louisville would tie the score on a six-play, 72-yard drive highlighted by a 23-yard run by Brown to the Virginia 7. He would sweep left on the following play for his first score to tie the game at 7.
