Instant Analysis | U of L 20, Wake Forest 10

I believe it was a great philosopher who this week said Louisville-Wake Forest would be an uglyfest.

I strongly suggest paying attention that guy -- his name's Jeff Greer.

Wait.

(In fairness, I also said Louisville's defensive line was the weakest part of the team before the season started, and I could not have been more wrong.)

Louisville found its way through the muck on Saturday afternoon and topped Wake Forest 20-10 in a sluggish, hot, not-so-pretty tussle at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. The Cards are now 4-1 overall and 2-1 in the ACC. That's a solid start for Louisville, but beauty's only skin deep.

It's been a halting, inconsistent 4-1 start to the season. Let's run through some quick thoughts from today's game and how they affected that perception, if they did at all. (They didn't change it at all.)

Play of the game: I know it seems really small, but Brandon Radcliff's five-yard run on third-and-3 at Wake Forest's 28-yard line kept the go-ahead scoring drive alive at a critical juncture in the fourth quarter. Had he not gotten that first down, Louisville would've tried a 45-yard field goal and would've only been able to tie the game. Instead, that first down set up the final plays of the series and the touchdown.

Turning point: Just when it seemed like Louisville had lost whatever moxie and mojo it had left, Sheldon Rankins came up with a Big-Man Interception to get the ball back for Louisville in the final moments of the third quarter. That led to the go-ahead scoring drive for Louisville and Radcliff's 16-yard TD hustle.

MVP: It has to be Radcliff, who ran for 100-plus yards for the first time in his college career (in his first start of his college career). He was physical, decisive and fast. His 29-yard touchdown run in the first half was a major stress reliever for U of L, and he powered Louisville's fourth-quarter scoring drive that put the Cards back in the driver's seat. He had an impressive preseason camp and those who've watched Louisville knew he could produce like that.

Surprise: I shouldn't be surprised anymore by it, but the fumbles have really hurt Louisville this year. The Cardinals have now lost nine fumbles this year, which would still rank them behind Eastern Michigan, which has 11, but puts them in the bottom two or three in all of college football. The fumbles keep coming on quarterback-running back exchanges, the task of handing the ball off to a tailback on a run play. It goes back to the communication problems that team captain Jake Smith acknowledged this past week.

Takeaway: Ugly. Fest. Louisville won again, but it wasn't pretty. The Cards' offense looked out of sorts for most of the game, especially in the first half. Radcliff's strong running salvaged that from being the entire story. The offensive line once again had the quarterback on the run, but having quick freshman QB Reggie Bonnafon back there helped the Cards avoid sacks on a few occasions.

The story stays the same for the defense, though. This is one of the top defenses in the country, and U of L proved that again on Saturday, stifling Wake Forest all afternoon. The Deacs had six first downs late in the fourth quarter, and just 74 total yards of offense. Rankins' pick was just part of a dominant performance. Wake Forest allowed seven sacks and nine tackles for loss and had gained 1.4 yards a play through the first 56 minutes of the contest. Brutal.