In a game where ESPN BET had them favored to win by 20.5 points, No. 19 Louisville suffered a heartbreaking 38-35 loss to an unranked Stanford team on Saturday. Cardinal kicker Emmet Kenney knocked down a field goal from 52 yards away as time expired.
After Louisville turned the ball over on downs on its final offensive drive of the contest, Stanford’s offense got the football on their own 45-yard line with only four seconds left in the fourth quarter.
With the score tied at 35-35, most assumed overtime was going to be necessary to determine the winner of the matchup. But then the Cardinals made two gigantic mistakes that wound up costing them the victory.
First, Lousiville defensive back Tayon Holloway was called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty following a one-yard catch by Stanford wide receiver Emmett Mosley V.
The penalty allowed the Cardinal to line up for a potential game-winning field goal from 57 yards away with one second left in regulation. But just as Kenney was about to attempt the long kick for Stanford, Louisville defensive back Quincy Riley jumped offsides and drew a five-yard penalty.
So because of two massive penalties by the Cardinals in the final second of the fourth quarter, Stanford’s senior kicker was handed a much more makeable field-goal attempt from 52 yards away.
Of course, he knocked it down, and the small hope that Louisville had of making this season’s 12-team College Football Playoff went right out the window.
With their loss to a two-win Stanford team on Saturday, the Cardinals are now sitting with a 6-4 record, and they will likely be knocked out of the updated major top-25 polls after being ranked for the majority of the season.
Louisville seemed to have the victory wrapped up when they scored a touchdown to take a 35-21 lead with less than 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
But then Stanford’s offense put together two straight touchdown drives over 75 yards to tie the game up at 35-35 with 45 seconds left in the matchup.
The Cardinals offense got one final chance to escape the contest with a victory, but they couldn’t get past the Stanford 45-yard line. And instead of punting the ball on 4th-and-10 with 10 seconds on the clock, Louisville gambled and attempted one final pass that wound up incomplete.
That gamble turned out to be a huge mistake, as it ultimately led to the Cardinals’ College Football Playoff dreams shattering into a million pieces.