Penalties, defensive mistakes sink Louisville football vs. Wake Forest
· Yahoo Sports
No. 19 Louisville football’s road to the ACC championship gained a speed bump.
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The Cardinals’ Week 3 win over No. 25 SMU was quickly forgotten after they couldn’t capitalize, falling to Wake Forest, 30-27, on Sept. 26 at L&N Stadium.
Louisville (2-2, 1-1 ACC) attempted a late rally but came up short as the Demon Deacons (3-1, 1-1) blocked a 57-yard field goal attempt with 22 seconds on the clock.
Penalties took on a life of their own with a holding call coming in the Cards’ final drive. But many of the calls were questionable, and UofL head coach Jeff Brohm let the referees know it. Louisville and Wake Forest came into the game as two of the most penalized teams in the ACC and combined for 175 yards on 19 penalties in the Week 4 contest.
Louisville was also without two defensive starters — safety Koen Entringer and safety/linebacker Antonio Watts, who’s out for the year — and struggled to contain Carlos Hernandez. The Wake Forest wide receiver had 170 receiving yards in the first half. A slow start for Louisville and 21 second-quarter points from the Demon Deacons allowed the visitors to go into halftime with a narrow 24-21 lead.
Quarterback Lincoln Kienholz led the Cardinals’ offense, scoring two rushing touchdowns in the first half and becoming the first Louisville quarterback to score six rushing touchdowns in his first four games. But even Kienholz faltered and threw his first career interception in the first half after completing 59 passes without a turnover to start the year. Wake Forest came into the game with only one takeaway over its first three games of the season.
The second half became a battle of special teams with the Cardinals and Demon Deacons trading field goals. That included UofL kicker Carson Hilbert’s career-best 54-yard field goal to make it 27-all with 42 seconds left in the third quarter. Hilbert later missed a 42-yard field goal with 2:29 on the clock to prevent the third tie of the second half. The Cardinals had one final opportunity in the final two minutes but couldn’t capitalize.
Louisville has its first true road game of the season when it plays at NC State at 3:30 p.m. next Saturday.
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This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Penalties, defensive mistakes sink Louisville football vs. Wake Forest