Isaac Brown Scores Four Times as Louisville Pulls Away From Stanford 52-24

For a quarter and a half, Stanford had Louisville exactly where it wanted. Davis Warren was slinging it, the Cardinal had 17 points on the board, and a team that opened as a 21.5-point underdog was trading haymakers at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium. Then the Cardinals in red remembered they had the better roster, and the afternoon got away from the Cardinal in a hurry.

Louisville beat Stanford 52-24 on Saturday, pulling away with 28 unanswered points after the game was tied 24-24 early in the third quarter. Lincoln Kienholz threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score, Isaac Brown ran for 139 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries and caught a fourth score, and a defense that spent the first half getting carved up made the plays that broke the game open. Louisville moved to 5-3 and 4-2 in the ACC. Stanford fell to 4-5 and 2-4.

The Cardinals ran for close to 300 yards at better than nine yards a carry, and Tre Richardson caught 10 passes for 140 yards. Stanford, which matched Louisville score for score for nearly 35 minutes, managed only one touchdown after halftime.

An early haymaker from both sides

Louisville did not waste time. Kienholz hit Tre Richardson for 44 yards on the opening drive, and Brown punched it in from 5 yards out at 11:25 of the first quarter. Seven plays, 80 yards, 7-0.

What followed was a strange stretch of fourth downs. Louisville went for it on fourth-and-3 and lost a yard on a short pass. Stanford converted a fourth-and-1 with a Micah Ford run, then got stopped on another fourth down when Tommy Ziesmer sacked Warren for a 10-yard loss. Louisville handed it right back with a fumble that Ernest Cooper recovered at the Stanford 38, and Emmet Kenney drilled a 48-yard field goal early in the second quarter to make it 7-3.

Then the Stanford passing game got going. After a Louisville punt gave Stanford the ball at midfield, Ford ran for 9 yards and Warren hit Nico Brown for a 41-yard touchdown at 10:41. Stanford led 10-7.

A 75-yard answer and a back-and-forth half

The second quarter turned into a track meet. Kienholz scored on a 1-yard run at 5:26 to put Louisville back in front, 14-10. Ten seconds of game clock later, Warren found Aiden Black for a 75-yard touchdown, and Stanford was back up 17-14. It was the kind of shot the Cardinal offense, which came in ranked 125th nationally in scoring, had not shown much of this season.

Louisville clawed back. Carson Hilbert tied it with a 35-yard field goal at 1:46, kicking on fourth-and-1 from the Stanford 17. Tyler Thompson sacked Warren for a 10-yard loss on the next series, forcing a punt from deep in Stanford territory, and Kienholz needed only 40 seconds to find TreyShun Hurry for a 22-yard score with 15 seconds left in the half. Louisville led 24-17 at the break.

Stanford came out swinging again. Warren hit Nico Brown for 25 yards and then Ford for a 40-yard touchdown at 12:46 of the third. Tie game, 24-24.

The turning point: one lateral too many

Louisville retook the lead almost immediately. Kienholz ripped off a 33-yard run and then threw an 18-yard touchdown to Brown at 10:57 for a 31-24 edge. After a Stanford punt, Hilbert missed a 40-yard field goal, and the Cardinal had a chance to tie it again.

That is where the game turned. On a play that started with Warren completing a pass to Nico Brown, Nico Brown tried to keep it alive with a lateral to Caden High, and High fumbled at the Stanford 31. Tayon Holloway scooped it up and returned it 31 yards for a Louisville touchdown with 3:34 left in the third. Instead of a Stanford drive to tie, it was 38-24.

The Cardinal unraveled from there. Facing fourth-and-4 at its own 31 with 1:55 left in the quarter, Stanford went for it, and Jabari Mack intercepted Warren at the Louisville 47. Kienholz hit Richardson for 19 yards, and Brown scored on a 23-yard run with 27 seconds left. 45-24 after three quarters, and a game that had been tied 13 minutes earlier was over.

One last stand, one last answer

Stanford did not go quietly. The Cardinal opened the fourth quarter with a 10-play drive to the Louisville 25, with Warren hitting Nico Brown for 24 yards and Ford for 19. On fourth down, Warren went deep for Caden High near the goal line, and Benjamin Perry broke it up at 10:16.

Louisville needed one snap to make Stanford pay. Isaac Brown took the handoff at the Louisville 25 and went 75 yards for a third rushing touchdown with 10:01 to play. 52-24. Both teams emptied the bench from there.

Stars beyond the box score

Kienholz was efficient all afternoon, completing 20 of 28 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, and added 62 rushing yards on nine carries, including the 33-yard run that set up the go-ahead score in the third quarter. Kienholz came in with 10 rushing touchdowns on the season and added an 11th.

Isaac Brown was the difference. Nine carries, 139 yards, three rushing touchdowns, plus three catches for 33 yards and the 18-yard receiving score that put Louisville ahead for good. Tre Richardson was Kienholz's favorite target, with 10 catches for 140 yards, including the 44-yarder that opened the scoring. Keyjuan Brown chipped in 50 yards on seven carries.

On defense, Stanquan Clark led Louisville with eight tackles, Tommy Ziesmer and Tyler Thompson each had a sack, and Tayon Holloway's scoop-and-score and Jabari Mack's interception were the two plays that broke the game open.

For Stanford, Nico Brown caught six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown, and Ford finished with 72 rushing yards plus six catches for 48 yards and a score. Jay Green and Darrius Davis each made eight tackles.

The numbers that tell the story

Louisville nearly quadrupled Stanford on the ground, running for close to 300 yards while the Cardinal managed 81 on 31 carries. Warren threw for 270 yards, but 75 of them came on one play. Stanford lost two turnovers and Louisville lost one, and both of Stanford's became Louisville touchdowns in the final 3:34 of the third quarter. Three of Stanford's fourth-down tries ended in a sack, an interception and a pass breakup. The complete numbers are in the official box score (opens in a new tab).

What it means

For Louisville, this was a reminder of how dangerous Jeff Brohm's offense can be when it gets rolling. The Cardinals came in averaging 38.7 points per game, 11th nationally, and they hit that number with time to spare. The defense, which entered ranked 124th in total defense, gave up big plays early but delivered the two turnovers that swung the game. Louisville visits Georgia Tech on Nov. 7, then goes to North Carolina before closing with Pitt at home and Kentucky on the road.

For Stanford, there is real progress in the first-year Tavita Pritchard era. Warren threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns, and a week after beating NC State 31-28 on four Warren touchdown passes, the passing game showed it can hang with an offense like Louisville's for a half. But the defense could not get stops once Louisville found a rhythm. Stanford has an open date next week before visiting Virginia Tech on Nov. 14, then closes at Cal and at home against SMU.

The last word

Stanford gave Louisville a fight for well over a half. Then a lateral went sideways, a fourth-down gamble came up empty and Louisville did what good offenses do with short fields. On Halloween, the scariest thing in Louisville was how fast a tie game became a blowout.

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, theScore, The Associated Press via ABC7 and Field Level Media via Deadspin. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Louisville Athletics.