Wake Forest scores 'ugly' upset on the road, takes down No. 16 Louisville 30-27

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- — Connor Calvert kicked three field goals, including a 32-yarder with 6:20 remaining, to lift Wake Forest to a 30-27 win over No. 16 Louisville on Saturday.

Gio Lopez threw for 225 yards and a touchdown on 12-of-19 passing for the Demon Deacons (3-1, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their first conference game of the season. Carlos Hernandez caught nine passes for 194 yards and finished three yards short the career best he set last season against Delaware.

Ty Clark III rushed 91 yards on 21 carries and had two touchdowns.

The Demon Deacons won despite committing 10 penalties for the third time this season and fumbling the ball on their side of the field in the fourth quarter, with the game tied.

“It was far from perfect,” coach Jake Dickert said. “Matter of fact, it was ugly, but it was so beautiful because our guys found a way to win.”

Louisville (2-2, 1-1) played without two starting defensive backs (Antonio Watts and Koen Entringer), and Lopez and Hernandez took full advantage. The duo connected on a 77-yard touchdown pass to put the Demon Deacons up 17-14 with 5:49 left in the first half. After the defense picked off Louisville quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, their 31-yard pass led to Clark’s second score, a 6-yard run that made it a 10-point lead with 1:19 to go in the half.

The Cardinals rallied to tie the game, using a 61-yard touchdown pass from Kienholz to Jaleel Skinner to make it a three-point game just 22 seconds after Clark’s last score. Carson Hilbert tied it with 9:37 left in the third on a 41-yard field goal.

Hilbert, who also made a 54-yarder late in the third to tie the game at 27, missed a 42-yarder with 2:29 remaining. Nick Keller lined up for a 57-yarder with 15 seconds remaining, but Gabe Kirschke blocked the atempt, sealing the win.

Louisville also turned the ball over on downs at the Wake 38 earlier in the quarter after recovering a Hernandez fumble, which led to the Demon Deacons’ winning score. The turnover happened at the Demon Deacons 29, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the play pushed the start of the drive back 15 yards.

“We didn’t play very sharp at all,” said Louisville coach Jeff Brohm, whose team was flagged nine times for 90 yards, the third time this season the Cardinals have been penalized that many times and also the third time they amassed at least 90 penalty yards. “It cost us. We’ve been doing it every single week.”

Kienholz completed 27 of 36 passes for 324 yards with a touchdown and his first interception of the season. He also ran for two scores.

The takeaway

Wake Forest: Despite being a two-score underdog, the Demon Deacons went toe-to-toe with the Cardinals to upset a ranked foe on the road for the second straight year. They took advantage of every Cardinals mistake and held a rushing attack that averaged 229 yards per game this season to only 75 yards.

Louisville: The Cardinals under coach Jeff Brohm have been known to lose a winnable game after beating a ranked opponent, and usually by their own making. Penalties on both sides of the ball, busted coverages in the secondary, an interception and a missed makeable field goal late all contributed to the latest bad loss after taking down SMU last Saturday.

Alarming trend

In each of his four seasons at Louisville, Brohm has coached his team to beat at least one ranked team. However, in each of those seasons, the Cardinals have followed with a loss later on in the year. Saturday marked the third time a Brohm squad dropped the next game after such a win.

Grounding Louisville

Besides shutting down Louisville’s running attack, the Demon Deacons also saw their own rebound after being held to 22 yards on 16 carries by Miami. On Saturday, they racked up 177 yards on 42 carries. Freshman Deuce Lawrence added 64 yards on 10 attempts.

Up next

Wake Forest hosts Stanford on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Louisville visits N.C. State on Saturday, Oct. 3.

------

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here