By Derek DeBurger

No. 16 Louisville toughed out a gritty performance against the Virginia Tech Hokies to pull off the road win.

The Cards are now 3-0 away from home this season.

On a dime

Louisville got out to about as good a start as possible.

After forcing a four-and-out on defense, Isaac Brown only required two carries to go 62 total yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

The Hokies were once again stifled on offense, and the Cards kept on moving the ball. But on the first third down of the day for Louisville, Miller Moss threw a bad pick to give Va Tech great field position.

From there the momentum was clearly with the Hokies. Kyron Drones led his team into the red zone and tied the game on a quarterback keeper.

The next time out, not only did Louisville go three-and-out, but the punt was blocked through the back of the end zone for a safety and a 9-7 Va Tech lead.

The two teams exchanged three-and-outs, but the Hokies were able to get back into the promised land by spreading the defense out and running RPOs. The long drive resulted in another touchdown for Va Tech.

After a dull rest of the half, Louisville trailed 16-7 at the break.

Been here before

Louisville’s first drive of the second half was dreadful.

After a nice pitch-and-catch to Chris Bell for a first down, the Cards were forced to punt pretty quickly.

Luckily the defense was able to get them the ball right back in good position, and the offense woke up.

Moss and Brown were able to get just enough chunk plays to keep the chains moving, then a 24-yard catch from Caullin Lacy put them back in the scoring column.

Va Tech had another woeful drive, and Lacy was able to take the punt all the way back to the five-yard line. Just two plays later, Keyjuan Brown was able to jump over the offensive line to bring the score to 21-16.

The fourth quarter was a bit of a punt fest, with Va Tech being the first to break the trend on a failed fourth down attempt.

With just 5:40 left on the clock, the Cards needed to either score to put the game out of reach or take the air out of the ball.

Louisville chose the latter, but Isaac Brown came up injured on the very first play of the drive. To literally add insult to injury, a hold was called on the Cards to make it first-and-14. This forced Louisville into being more aggressive, and it worked as Moss hit a couple of receivers on solid passes to pick up a first down.

Then Keyjuan Brown showed off his speed for the second week in a row, picking up gains of 20, 17 and four on the ground before sealing the game with a 24-yard touchdown.

With no more time left on the clock, Louisville won 28-16.

Whatever it takes

Louisville look awful for a long time after their first drive.

The defense played ok in the first half, but the offense did not do them any favors.

But that has been the expectation for some time now, so a win in any fashion is still a win. And a road win at that is nothing to sneeze at.

Louisville is now 1-3 all-time playing against Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium. Also, strangely enough, Louisville has won four straight games when giving up a safety.

The ground game, however, did look solid. Isaac Brown had 130 yards and a score on just 16 carries and Keyjuan Brown had 94 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.

Lacy was the difference maker, though, as his special teams play gave the Cards life when they needed it most.

For now, the Cards are 7-1 on the season and 4-1 in the ACC to stay alive for the playoffs and the title game hunt.

Photo by Harrison Plank / The Louisville Cardinal