NC State Holds Off Louisville on a Late Field Goal
Louisville lost three fumbles, never led, and still had the game tied with five and a half minutes to go. Then Kanoah Vinesett kicked a 28-yard field goal, and NC State won 31-28.
NC State scored first and kept scoring early: a 46-yard field goal, a 19-yard touchdown from CJ Bailey to Keenan Jackson, a 29-yard field goal just before halftime, and a 34-yard touchdown to Tyran Warren to open the second half. That made it 20-7. Louisville kept pulling within one score, with Lincoln Kienholz touchdown passes of 33 yards to Lawayne McCoy and 38 yards to Tre Richardson, but each time NC State had an answer, the best of them a 1-yard Will Wilson run (with a successful two-point pass) that made it 28-14. Keyjuan Brown scored from a yard out with 20 seconds left in the third to make it 28-21, and Isaac Brown broke a 70-yard run early in the fourth to tie it at 28-28.
That was the only time Louisville got level, and the only time all day NC State did not have the lead. The yardage was nearly even, with NC State ahead 503 to 491, but the gaps were in the ball security. Louisville lost three fumbles and threw no interceptions, while NC State threw one and lost none. Louisville ran 24 times for 237 yards, which is almost ten a carry. NC State threw for 373 yards on 40 attempts, and Bailey completed 24 of them.
NC State moves to 3-2 and Louisville falls to 2-3. Flip one of those fumbles and this could easily have gone the other way. Richardson's 25.7 points were the best from the Louisville side, though Bailey's 29.8 topped the day.