No. 16 Louisville falls to unranked Wake Forest for second loss of the season as 57-yard kick is blocked

The No. 16 Louisville Cardinals suffered their second loss of the season on Saturday, this one to unranked Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons clinched a 30-27 upset victory by blocking the Cardinals' 57-yard field-goal attempt which would have sent the game into overtime.

Wake Forest had been on top throughout most of the game. The Demon Deacons took a 24-21 lead into halftime and then kept the Cardinals to just six second-half points to pull off the win.

Louisville entered the game with a 2-1 record. The Cardinals lost their season opener to Ole Miss, but answered back with a blowout win over Villanova and then a conference win over then-No. 16 SMU.

The loss to Wake Forest is Louisville's first ACC loss. The Cardinals still have upcoming games against Florida State, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. Louisville still has a path to the College Football Playoff , but the program's margin for error was significantly reduced by Saturday's loss to Wake Forest.

The Demon Deacons pick up what could become a huge tiebreaker come the end of November. There are plenty of ACC games to get through over the next two months, but as of this game's finish, Louisville is 8th, and Wake Forest is 7th in the conference standings.

The Cardinals struggled to pick up first downs. While Louisville had 24 in the game, the Cardinals had 14 third-down attempts and converted only seven. Louisville went for it on fourth down once and was unsuccessful.

Before the blocked kick, Louisville had been moving the ball well, picking up 39 yards in five plays.

On first-and-10 from the Wake 30, Louisville was called for holding. After losing 10 yards, Cardinals quarterback Lincoln Kienholz had three consecutive incompletions as the pass rush got to him, and he took two especially hard hits.

Unable to pick up any more yards, Louisville had to either go for the Hail Mary and the win, or the 57-yard kick and the tie for overtime.

It was a fairly even game in the box score. Wake Forest had 402 total yards, compared to Louisville's 399. Each team had only one turnover, and there was only a five-yard difference in penalties. The Cardinals even had 33:34 of possession, while the Demon Deacons had 26:26.

The game really came down to the final play, and Wake Forest came up big when it needed it most.

Louisville will go on the road next week to take on NC State. The Demon Deacons will be at home and host Stanford.