The Hokies had a hard time trying to slow down Isaac Brown and the Louisville rushing attack. (Ivan Morozov)

The Hokies quickly learned why Louisville running back Isaac Brown entered Saturday’s game in Lane Stadium leading the ACC with 8.7 yards per carry.

Virginia Tech yielded just 39 rushing yards last week against Cal. Brown surpassed that on the No. 16 Cardinals’ second play from scrimmage.

After gaining 10 yards on their first snap, he burst up the middle, planted twice and turned on the jets for an untouched 52-yard touchdown run.

That was an early tone-setter and a sign of things to come as Brown and Louisville dominated the Hokies for 235 rushing yards and 6.9 yards per carry in Tech’s 28-16 loss.

“They’re just physical at the point of attack,” Hokies nickelback Isaiah Cash said. “We knew they had some pretty good backs, and if you’re not in the right gap or if you’re peeking your head in the wrong gap, they’re going to put their foot in the ground and go, and I think we saw that on the first drive.

“We kind of got that contained, but as the game went on, they just found holes in our defense.”

Brown totaled 130 yards on 16 carries for an 8.1 average — a slight hit to his season’s yards per carry that dropped to 8.6. It was his third consecutive game with 100-plus rushing yards, the program’s longest streak since Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2017.

He gave Tech fits until suffering an injury with 5:50 remaining in regulation, and Cardinals head coach Jeff Brohm said after the game that Brown “might be out a little while.”

While that could be a blow to Louisville’s potential in the ACC title race, it didn’t hold the offense back from shutting the door on the Hokies. Rather, fellow tailback Keyjuan Brown stepped up in Isaac’s place and ripped off the game-clinching 24-yard touchdown with 2:10 left.

The Cardinals paved some huge running lanes for Keyjuan Brown late in the game. (Jon Fleming)

It was his second score of the game after he punched it in from the 2-yard line in the third quarter, and he posted 94 yards on 12 totes for a 7.8 average.

“I think [Isaac] Brown, just his top-end speed and his ability to one-cut and just get going quick,” Cash said. “That just makes him difficult to defend, and you’ve got to make sure you’re tracking your angles right, and then the other back [Keyjuan Brown], he just had more power to him.”

The majority of Louisville’s damage came in the second half. Outside of the 52-yard touchdown run from Brown in the first quarter, it had just 40 rushing yards at halftime. After intermission: 143. For comparison, the Hokies had 164 yards on the day.

After that initial setback, Tech did well to stymie the Cardinals’ attack, intercepting quarterback Miller Moss and forcing two three-and-outs and a turnover on downs.

It wasn’t as successful in the second half, though. Moss, who started 8-for-14 for 40 yards, was 11-for-14 for 96 yards after the break. That, combined with a balanced rushing game, gave Louisville a cushion.

It wasn’t all bad for the Tech defense. It forced the Cardinals to punt twice in the Hokies’ territory in the fourth quarter — from the 37 and 45 — which gave the offense a chance, but when that unit sputtered, the defense eventually caved to the Louisville running game.

It marked the fourth time this season the Hokies yielded more than 200 rushing yards, joining Vanderbilt, Old Dominion and Georgia Tech, all of whom incorporate read-option elements. Louisville was much different — just straight downhill running with good blocking and two good backs, and Tech couldn’t slow it down.

“I thought for the most part, especially early in the game, we got opportunities to get multiple hats to him, get an opportunity to vice that and get it on the ground,” Hokies interim head coach Philip Montgomery said.

P.J. Prioleau made a spectacular play for the Hokies with his punt block. (Jon Fleming)

Special Teams Giveth And Taketh

P.J. Prioleau provided the Hokies with an early shot in the arm when he came off the edge and blocked a punt from Louisville’s Carter Schwartz, which went out of the end zone for a safety.

It gave Virginia Tech a 9-7 lead at the end of the first quarter against a ranked foe and was a giant momentum swing.

Montgomery said special teams coach Stu Holt identified a weakness in the Cardinals’ scheme and practiced attacking it throughout the week, with Prioleau getting his hands on a few. When the Hokies got that look during the game, Prioleau’s eyes lit up and he made a play.

“I thought [Stu Holt] did a really nice job on that one as far as creating an opportunity for P.J. to get in there, and then obviously P.J.’s got to go make it happen,” Montgomery said. “There’s a lot of guys in the flow of that that all make it happen together. But he was the block point to it, and blocked a couple of them in practice this week. So really proud of him and the way he continues to grind and get better. Anything we ask him to do, he’s always 100 percent in, and made a huge play for us today.”

It was Tech’s first blocked punt since Oct. 8, 2022, at Pitt when Prioleau got off the edge and made a game-changing play that resulted in a touchdown when Nyke Johnson fell on it in the end zone.

“We knew their scheme, we’d been practicing that all week, coming tight off the edge,” Prioleau said. “When I got out there and saw what they were doing, I knew it was like the opportunity, so I just went after it. …

“It’s crazy because it’s like something you go for every time, but you really don’t know when it’s going to happen. So it’s always a spark play, always a momentum change and a great feeling when you get to do something like that.”

Special teams bit the Hokies later, though. Louisville wide receiver Caullin Lacy, the best punt returner in the ACC who entered the game averaging 21 yards per attempt, broke a long 63-yarder right after the Tech offense missed the chance to capitalize on a big play.

Lacy weaved up the middle and to the outside before hitting the gas and returning the punt down to the Tech 5-yard line, which set up Keyjuan Brown’s aforementioned 2-yard score. The Cardinals took a 21-16 lead and didn’t look back.

Caullin Lacy flipped the game with this 63-yard return for the Cardinals. (Jon Fleming)

Lacy finished with 106 punt return yards, marking the first time a Hokies opponent eclipsed the century mark in that realm since Maryland had 106 on Nov. 16, 2013. It’s not the first time they’ve given up that kind of big swing this year — South Carolina’s Vicari Swain broke an 80-yarder for a touchdown in the opener — but it’s the first time that facet of the game has consistently hurt them in 12 years.

Lacy and the Cardinals are second in the nation in punt return yardage, with 18 attempts for 422 yards and two scores, which showed up numerous times on Saturday. Meanwhile, Tech is the exact opposite. Excluding Prioleau’s 24-yard punt block, which is statistically categorized as a return, the Hokies have 99 yards on 13 attempts this season.

“We knew going into it that [Lacy’s] an explosive punt returner, and he’s done it to a lot of people already this year,” Montgomery said. “The thing he does is he takes a lot of chances back there, and then he gets north and south, he can make some things happen. We knew we needed to do a great job of getting a lot of hats to it and make him run sideline to sideline and not let him get vertical. When he gets vertical, it gets scary.”

Cash Funds Defense


Cash provided a spark and got the Lane Stadium crowd on its feet early in the game when he intercepted Moss on Louisville’s second possession.

Moss tried to fit a pass into a tight window and Cash made a play, picking it off at the Hokies’ 45-yard line and cutting across the field for an 18-yard return that set the offense up at the Cardinals’ 37. That came after he had two tackles on Louisville’s first four plays of that drive.

“That was a huge play right there on the interception, and had a nice return off it as well,” Montgomery said of Cash’s pick. “Thought he had an opportunity, I thought when he cut it back across the field, might be able to get to that other sideline and keep going. But huge play of the game right there.”

It was Cash’s first interception in Blacksburg after transferring from Sam Houston State, where he had two picks last year. It also marked the team’s fourth of the season.

Isaiah Cash and the Hokies' defense celebrated after his first-quarter interception. (Ivan Morozov)

“We were showing pressure, that was something we wanted to do throughout the game,” Cash said. “Kind of rolled into it, playing underneath. When he broke inside, I kind of knew the ball was coming, so I just made sure I got my head around and made a play.”

The Austin, Texas, native also had a crucial pass breakup on a third-and-5 throw from Moss to Lacy towards the Tech sideline, batting the ball away to force a Cardinals punt in a 21-16 game.

“Coach probably would have preferred me to be in outside leverage on that play with the condensed formation,” Cash said, relying on his film studies, “but I kind of figured what route I was going to get, so I just kind of tried to undercut it, but by the time I got my head around, I just had to play through his hands and get the ball out.”

Cash has been one of the Hokies’ best tacklers this season with 33, good for fifth on the team, and has proven to be one of their most impactful offseason transfer additions.