By Conner Farrell —

Football (2-3, 0-2) squandered a 14-point lead against Florida State for a last-minute 28-24 defeat. FSU outscored U of L 21-3 in the second half.

“That’s a really hard loss there for us,” head coach Bobby Petrino said.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Jawon Pass threw for 306 yards, hitting seven different receivers and registering all three Cardinal touchdowns. Puma also had two costly interceptions in the final two minutes.

“I thought Jawon did a good job in the first half, he was moving the ball around,” Petrino said.

First half

Louisville struck first in the opening quarter with a 14-yard scramble from Pass. It was the first time this season the Cards scored an offensive touchdown in the first

The Seminoles responded on the next drive with a 17-yard touchdown pass for a 7-7 score going into the second quarter.

On the first play of the second quarter, Pass capped an eight-play, 73-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to redshirt senior Micky Crum.

The game met a stalemate as the teams traded a trio of punts and a pair of turnovers on fumbles in the second quarter.

U of L tacked on more score before halftime to push their lead to 21-7. Pass connected with sophomore wide-out Dez Fitzpatrick on a three-yard route.

Petrino’s team racked up 238 total yards at halftime, which was 24 more than they had in their last tilt against Virginia.

Second half

Florida State opened the scoring in the third quarter with a 55-yard touchdown from redshirt sophomore quarterback Deondre Francois. Louisville’s lead was cut to 21-14.

On the following drive, the Cards responded with a 53-yard pass to freshman wide-out Tutu Atwell. FSU pushed their opponent out of the red zone after a penalty.

U of L settled for a 42-yard field goal from redshirt junior Blanton Creque to stretch their lead to 24-14.

Francois and the Noles responded again with a 25-yard touchdown. The score was 24-21 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game.

Following a punt, the Louisville defense stepped up and stopped the Seminoles on third down after a pair of tackles for loss. The Cards received the ball with under six minutes to go.

Puma seemed to be putting the game on ice with a long drive in the final minute of the fourth quarter. When the offense reached the red zone, Pass threw an interception on first down at the Florida State 15-yard line.

“The last play that was the interception, I look back at it and I guess I should have ran the ball,” Petrino said. “I made a bad call.”

FSU converted the turnover into the game-winning touchdown on a 58-yard touchdown pass. U of L gained one yard on the final possession of the game before turning the ball over with another interception, cementing their 28-24 defeat.

The Seminoles lead for a total of one minutes and 13 seconds throughout the game.

Takeaways

On the bright side of things, the Cardinal offensive got a spark out of the backfield from freshman Hassan Hall who racked up 57 yards on 11 carries.

“I like Hassan a lot, I think he’ll be real explosive,” Petrino said.

Senior wide-out Jaylen Smith lead all receivers with 100 yards on five catches and a touchdown.

The Louisville defensive produced their best showing of the season despite allowing the Seminoles to score 20 points in the second half.

“I thought our defense played really hard and competed really hard, we just gave up two huge plays for touchdowns and that kills you,” Petrino said.

Football moves to 2-3 on the season and 0-2 in ACC play. The Cards are back in action next week when Georgia Tech comes to Cardinal stadium for a Friday night game on Oct. 5.

You can follow the Louisville Cardinal on Twitter @thecardsports.

Photos by Nancy Hanner and Jessica Abell / The Louisville Cardinal