Ty Clark III ran for two touchdowns and Wake Forest turned to second-half defense to pull off a 30-27 victory against No. 16 Louisville on Saturday afternoon in Louisville, Ky.
Connor Calvert kicked his third field goal — a 32-yarder — with 6:20 to break a tie.
Wake Forest’s Gabe Kirschke blocked a 57-yard field goal attempt from Nick Keller with less than 20 seconds left to preserve the outcome. The Cardinals faced a decision on fourth-and-20 from the Wake Forest 40.
Louisville (2-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) had a chance to pull even earlier, but Carson Hilbert missed a 42-yarder with 2:29 left. Hilbert had drilled a 54-yarder with 42 seconds to go in the third quarter to pull the Cardinals even at 24-24.
Louisville forced a Wake Forest punt and regained possession at its own 31-yard line with 1:44 to play before moving back into Wake Forest territory on its final possession.
Quarterback Gio Lopez completed 12 of 19 passes for 225 yards and a touchdown for Wake Forest (3-1, 1-1), which fell eight days earlier to nationally ranked Miami. Nine of those completions went to Carlos Hernandez for 194 yards. Clark gained 91 yards on 21 carries.
Lincoln Kienholz ran for two touchdowns and threw for another for Louisville. He was 27-for-36 for 324 yards in the air with an interception.
Wake Forest held a 292-239 first-half edge in total yards. Of those, Lopez threw for 193 yards on eight completions.
Kienholz’s 61-yard hook-up with Jaleel Skinner with 57 seconds remaining before halftime pulled the Cardinals within 24-21.
They were tied on Hilbert’s 41-yard field goal to cap their first second-half possession.
Clark had a pair of 6-yard touchdown runs in the second quarter. In between those, Lopez connected with Hernandez on a 77-yard touchdown play.
Kienholz’s first-half TD runs were from 5 and 6 yards out.
For the game, the teams combined for 175 yards worth of penalties on 19 infractions.
–Field Level Media
