Louisville 44, Georgia Tech 17: A 21-point burst and 251 rushing yards

Louisville settled this one in a span of about nine minutes. Tied 3-3 late in the first quarter, the Cardinals scored three touchdowns between 3:26 of the first and 10:00 of the second, and Georgia Tech never got closer than 17 again. The final was 44-17 at Bobby Dodd Stadium on Saturday.

The ground game did the heavy lifting. Louisville ran for 251 yards on the way to 456 total, and the biggest single play of the day was a 52-yard touchdown run by Tre Richardson.

How it was won

The first two possessions that reached the scoreboard ended in field goals: Carson Hilbert from 42 yards at 11:06 of the first, Aidan Birr answering from 32 at 6:19.

Then Louisville pulled away. Lincoln Kienholz hit Richardson for an 8-yard touchdown at 3:26 of the first, found TreyShun Hurry from 4 yards at 12:31 of the second, and Richardson broke his 52-yard run at 10:00. That made it 24-3. Hilbert added a 23-yard field goal with 56 seconds left in the half before Georgia Tech got one back, Alberto Mendoza throwing 10 yards to Isaiah Fuhrmann with 10 seconds to go. Louisville led 27-10 at the break.

The third quarter put it away. Hilbert hit from 29 yards at 7:17, and Isaac Brown ran in from 11 at 5:42 for a 37-10 lead. Grady Adamson threw 11 yards to Chris Corbo at 4:15 of the fourth for Georgia Tech, and Braxton Jennings closed the scoring with a 2-yard run at 1:56.

Kienholz was efficient through the air, 17 of 25 for 182 yards and two touchdowns, and he was also the leading rusher with 81 yards on nine carries. Keyjuan Brown added 54 on nine. Hurry caught eight passes for 104 yards and a score; Richardson had four catches for 52 to go with his run.

The box score is closer than the scoreboard in places. Georgia Tech had 23 first downs to Louisville's 22, possession was nearly even at 30:15 to 29:45, and each side turned it over once. Louisville converted only 2 of 9 third downs. The difference was explosive plays: the Cardinals did not need third downs when they were running for 251 yards. Georgia Tech threw for 241 but ran for 109, with Justice Haynes getting 87 of those on 12 carries. Mendoza went 13 of 25 for 148 yards, and Dalen Penson led the receivers with five catches for 66.

Against the number

Louisville closed at -14.5 and won by 27, covering by 12.5 points. The moneyline was Louisville -700, Georgia Tech +500, so backers of the favorite paid a steep price for a result that was never in doubt after the second quarter.

The total closed at 62.5 and 61 points went in, so the under held by a point and a half. It was tight late: Jennings' touchdown with 1:56 left took the game from 54 to 61, and one more score in the final two minutes would have flipped it. Full prices are on the game page.

What's next

Louisville is 6-3 and has won four straight since back-to-back losses to Wake Forest and NC State. The Cardinals go to North Carolina on Saturday, November 14.

Georgia Tech falls to 2-7 with four straight losses, its only wins coming against Mercer and Duke. The Yellow Jackets play at Clemson on Saturday, November 14.