Louisville posts second half shutout, edges N.C. State 13-10

The Cardinals have been rolling with 4 straight wins coming into tonight’s game, but the Wolfpack brought their best effort and it was backed behind a packed stadium on a Friday night. Jeff Brohm and his squad would love to escape with a win in order to stay undefeated for their matchup against Notre Dame next Saturday, but N.C. State didn’t go down without a dogfight.

Louisville was able to edge out the Wolfpack 13-10 on the road in a low scoring battle to move to 5-0 on the season for the first time since 2013.

Game recap and analysis:

This game wasn’t pretty at all, both offenses had trouble finding their rhythm to start the game, but Louisville looked the worse of the two. The complete opposite happened in their last game, but the momentum didn’t carry over. Jack Plummer and the offense had a dreadful half to say the least. They didn’t score a single point in the entire first half, after scoring 42 points in a half last week. Plummer looked rattled by the Wolfpack blitzes all night and he gave the football away twice (one INT, one fumble) in the second quarter. The main takeaway to begin this year has been Louisville plays good when he plays good, but so far he’s been inconsistent.

Luckily, the defense showed up this Friday night and they kept themselves in the game. N.C. State didn’t have much on offense either, they struggled to sustain drives as well. They managed to come away with ten points, but for the most part, Louisville was able to hold them in check to remain within striking distance. The Cardinals defense had a little trouble last week, but tonight they showed up and played aggressively, which knocked the Wolfpack off their game.

Jeff Brohm’s offense was finally able to show some life in the third quarter after a couple of drives. Jack Plummer settled in and threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Chris Bell, the most productive receiver for Louisville in this game. The Cardinals followed up that drive with a 33-yard field goal to tie the game up at 10-10. N.C. State’s offense was nowhere to be found in the second half. Credit to Coach Ron English and his defense for holding them to zero points for the last 30 minutes of the game. The Wolfpack had multiple opportunities to capitalize on, but couldn’t get the job done against Louisville’s aggressive defense.

Louisville could’ve won the game by more than just three points, but they turned the ball over on first and goal with an opportunity to go up by seven points, or at least three. Jack Plummer is going to have to play a much better game against Notre Dame if Louisville has any chance to beat the Fighting Irish. The turnovers he had in tonight’s game were very costly for his team and they almost lost the game because of it. Fortunately, his defense had an excellent second half and he had chances to get the ball back and drive down the field. After the bad turnover, Louisville was finally able to complete the comeback and kick a field goal to make the score 13-10, which would end up being the final score.

The Wolfpack got a stop and had one last possession to tie or take the lead with less than two minutes remaining in the game. The Cardinals defensive line played well all night, and they generated enough pressure to force an interception on a sky ball from Brennan Armstrong.

Not how anyone expected it to go, but somehow, someway, this Louisville team continues to find ways to win. Even in games where it’s not looking good for them, Jeff Brohm has had an answer for everything thrown at his team this season. Next week however, is the biggest test of the season for this team. They get a chance to showcase their skills on the national stage against a top 15 ranked opponent. If Jeff Brohm pulls this off, he should be leading the race for ACC coach of the year.

Louisville will host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish next Saturday on October 7th in a prime time matchup in L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium at 7:30 P.M. (ET).