CRAWFORD | Louisville bubbles up late to beat Toledo 27-22 in the Boca Bowl of Beans

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- If you're going to play in a bowl named after beans, expect things to bubble late.

The Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl of Beans boiled over in the fourth quarter Tuesday, with Louisville holding off a furious Toledo rally to claim a 27-22 win that sent the Cardinals into the offseason at 9-4, and into 2026 with more questions, starting with whether head coach Jeff Brohm is a serious candidate at Michigan.

The first half was a slog. The second half was an eruption. And the Cards rode a pair of Browns — Isaac and KeyJuan— to the finish.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

"We found a way to run the ball," Brohm told ESPN after the game. "We were more physical in the second half."

Louisville rushed for 207 yards, got a pair of touchdown passes from Miller Moss, and weathered a 19-point fourth quarter from the Rockets, who didn’t find the end zone until the final frame.

After marching 75 yards in 8 plays for a touchdown on their opening drive — a 17-yard pass from Moss to Treyshun Hurry — the Cardinals offense disappeared for the rest of the half, managing just 78 more yards before the break.

But when the ground game reemerged, it did so with vengeance. Louisville’s first scoring drive of the second half was sparked by a 28-yard pass to Caullin Lacy and a 19-yard run by KeyJuan Brown, and finished with a 5-yard touchdown toss from Moss to Antonio Meeks.

On the next drive, Isaac Brown found a crease on the right side and danced into the end zone from 11 yards out, giving Louisville a 21-3 lead with 14:53 left.

Brown wasn’t done. After Toledo cut the lead to 21-14 — thanks to a touchdown, a 50-yard field goal, and a whole lot of momentum — Brown broke free again, this time for a 53-yard touchdown sprint that looked like it would seal the win.

Only it didn’t.

Toledo blocked the extra point and returned it all the way for two points, cutting the lead to 27-16. Then, after a short defensive stand, the Rockets marched 68 yards in six plays, with Chip Trayanum barreling in from 3 yards out to make it 27-22 with 2:24 remaining.

But that’s when KeyJuan Brown, the former SEC transfer, decided enough was enough.

He carried the ball on three of the final five plays, ripping off gains of 17, 14, and 17 yards to chew the final minutes off the clock and squash Toledo’s comeback hopes.

Brown finished with 112 yards on 15 carries. Isaac Brown? 102 yards on 10 carries and two touchdowns, including the game’s longest play. Louisville averaged 5.8 yards per carry and converted all three of its fourth-down attempts.

There was a sideline scuffle with under a minute to play, the result of a hard (and likely late) hit on Isaac Brown after he had crossed the boundary. Officials sorted it with offsetting penalties. That summed up the game well: testy, unpredictable, and never entirely under control.

But Louisville controlled what mattered most: the scoreboard.

What happens next? The situation with Brohm and Michigan, if there is one, should resolve quickly. What its aftermath might be, we'll see.

This game, at least, was just about the football. And the beans.