Recap: West Virginia vs. Louisville

By Sports Network - The Sports Network

Jock Sanders had 86 total yards and a touchdown, as the West Virginia Mountaineers grinded out a 17-9 win over the Louisville Cardinals in a Big East showdown at Milan Puskar Stadium.

Jarrett Brown was shaky under center for WVU (7-2, 3-1 Big East), as he completed 9-of-17 passes for 94 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

Louisville (3-6, 0-4) remains winless in league play, despite 164 rushing yards from Darius Ashley. Will Stein threw for only 100 yards and was sacked five times in the loss.

After a scoreless first quarter, Louisville grabbed a 3-0 lead on a 37-yard field goal by Chris Philpott at the 4:16 mark of the second quarter.

The Mountaineers answered with a 72-yard drive, capped by Brown's eight-yard touchdown pass to Sanders with 36 seconds remaining until halftime.

But the Louisville offense took over and quickly moved into field goal range, and Philpott kicked a 44-yarder just before the half.

WVU took a 14-6 lead on Tavon Austin's nine-yard touchdown run at the 10:32 mark of the third quarter.

Mountaineers kicker Tyler Bitancurt tacked on three more points with a 42-yard field goal late in the third quarter.

Louisville made it a 17-9 game on Philpott's 29-yard field goal with 10 minutes to play, but the Cardinals offense never crossed midfield the rest of the way.

The Mountaineers managed to win despite minimal offense and a defense that was gashed for 201 yards on the ground.

Game Notes