LOUISVILLE, Ky. — — Isaac Brown ran for a career-high 205 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries to help No. 19 Louisville beat Boston College 38-24 on Saturday night.
The Cardinals (6-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) had 317 yards on the ground. Brown had 151 on just five carries in the first half, including a 73-yard gain on Louisville’s first play and a 62-yard scoring run with 1:02 left in the second quarter.
Brown’s fumble on the first play of the second half led to Grayson James ′ 23-yard touchdown pass to Kaelan Chudzinksi that cut the Cardinals’ lead to 21-17.
Louisville won despite committing three turnovers and converting only 3 of 11 third downs.
“Even when things aren’t super efficient, and super smooth, we hang in there,” coach Jeff Brohm said. “We try to make adjustments. Some of them work, some of them don’t, but our guys responded.”
Miller Moss connected with Caullin Lacy on a 22-yard touchdown pass with 7:34 left to make it 28-17. That score was set up by Antonio Watts ′ fumble recovery at the Boston College 27.
Moss completed 15 of 27 passes for 187 yards. He ran for a pair of touchdowns in the first half to go along with his passing score, but unlike his coach, he was not nearly as pleased with the performance.
“We did not play anywhere close to a clean game offensively,” Moss said. “today the encouraging part is we played pretty bad on offense and scored (38) points, and we won.”
The Eagles (1-7, 0-5) were down just 31-24 when they chose to punt near midfield with three minutes left. Keyjuan Brown scored on a 67-yard run with 1:49 remaining for the final touchdown to cap his career-high 95-yard night on 10 carries.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a game where I’ve seen that many long runs,” Eagles coach Bill O’Brien said.
Grayson James threw for 244 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions for the Eagles.
Boston College: The Eagles came to Louisville with a solid plan to keep the ball away from the Cardinals, and they held the ball for nearly 24 minutes in the first half. Unfortunately, the Cardinals still had enough time to make the big plays they needed.
Louisville: The win was by no means pretty, but it was also the first time the Cardinals, under coach Jeff Brohm, won the next game after upsetting a ranked team. It keeps them in the running for the ACC Championship Game.
Even after being on the field for nearly 80% of the first half, the Cardinals’ defense still found ways to make plays in the second half. Louisville, which entered the weekend 10th nationally, giving up just 274 yards per game, forced three turnovers after halftime. Two of those led to points, and the other came two plays after Moss threw a pick.
With the loss, the Eagles will see their two-year bowl streak end. They’ve also lost seven straight games, their longest such streak since dropping their nine-game skid that encompassed the final eight games in 2015 and the season opener in 2016.
“I have to coach a lot better than I’m doing,” O’Brien said. “I have not done a good job this year coaching.”
Boston College: Hosts No. 12 Notre Dame on Saturday.
Louisville: At Virginia Tech on Saturday.
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