RAPID REACTION | Louisville lets it slip: Missed chances doom Cards in 29-26 OT loss to Cal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – So here’s how this usually works: the Louisville football team messes around, I spend the game writing a critical column, and then, inevitably, they finish strong, and I have to scramble like Miller Moss with a defensive lineman on his heels.

Not this time.

With four minutes left, I was still staring at a blank screen. Take that!

Turns out, that didn’t work, either.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

The Louisville late-game rally never came. Despite numerous chances, the Cardinals could not beat a team that practically begged them to. And in overtime, a gutsy fourth-down call by Cal paid off for a 29-26 Golden Bears win.

On a night when ACC leader Virginia also lost, this was a massive missed opportunity for No. 15-ranked Louisville. But here’s the painful truth — if you can’t win that game, you’re not a team that should be talking playoffs.

Louisville had its chances.

At the 3:23 mark of a 23-23 tie, the Cards had pinned Cal at its own 3-yard line. A defensive stand would give them one final shot. But Cal quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who had already confounded announcers and defenders alike, was finished yet. He finished with 356 passing yards on 30-for-46 accuracy and two total touchdowns.

Louisville’s defense, solid most of the season, had little to say about it. And an offense still missing star back Isaac Brown had little to say, either.

Miller Moss, who completed 23 of 38 passes for 218 yards, took some hits, missed some open reads, and threw a costly interception that led to a Cal field goal that put it up 20-13 early the second half. Louisville answered with an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive -- aided by a pair of Cal personal fouls — capped by a one-yard sneak from Moss to tie the game.

After trading field goals, both teams squandered late opportunities. Cal’s final punt traveled just 18 yards, gifting Louisville the ball at midfield with 39 seconds left in regulation. One or two completions would’ve put the Cards in field goal range. Instead, they lost yardage.

Moss was sacked, threw a short screen to Caullin Lacy, spiked the ball, and tossed a desperation pass that fell incomplete as time expired.

And then came overtime.

Keyjuan Brown picked up 10 yards on the first snap, but a chop block penalty killed momentum. Louisville settled for a 49-yard Cooper Ranvier field goal.

Cal’s possession: incompletion. Then completions of eight and nine yards. First-and-goal at the 8. A two-yard run. Another two-yard run. Third-and-goal from the 4: a trick play. Jacob De Jesus, lined up to pass, tucked the ball and darted up the middle, stopped just short.

Fourth-and-goal from the 3. Timeout. Decision time.

Go for the tie? Or go for the win?

Cal went for it all.

Sagapolutele dropped back. Found Jacob De Jesus in the left flat. Touchdown.

Ballgame.

De Jesus getting the ball was not a surprise. He caught 16 passes in the game for 158 yards.

Louisville has big games coming up. Clemson. SMU. Kentucky. But some steam was taken out of them Saturday night in a second overtime loss at home.