November 1, 2025 Week 10 · Regular Season Belt defended

Louisville defends the belt, 28–16, on the road at Virginia Tech.

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Virginia Tech 16

Away · Defending Holder

LouisvilleAP No. 16 28

AP poll, week 10: Louisville No. 16 at Virginia Tech unranked · No. 1 that week: Ohio State. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Louisville came in 15 days into reign #329, which began with a win over Miami, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. It was the last defense: California took the belt in the very next belt game, on November 8, 2025.

For Virginia Tech this was its 18th shot at the belt; it had held the belt once before.

This is the only time Louisville and Virginia Tech have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Virginia Tech struck first with a quick touchdown drive, adding a safety on a blocked punt and another score to lead 16-7 at halftime. Louisville's defense tightened dramatically in the second half, holding Virginia Tech scoreless while the offense exploded for 28 unanswered points. The Cardinals scored on a 24-yard pass from Moss to Lacy early in the third quarter, then added two rushing touchdowns from K. Brown (2 yards and 24 yards) to put the game away. Virginia Tech managed just 76 passing yards for the entire game and couldn't find the end zone after halftime, while Louisville's ground game (235 yards) controlled the clock and dictated the tempo.

Virginia Tech's safety in Q1 on the blocked punt gave the Hokies early momentum and a 16-7 halftime lead
Louisville's 24-yard TD pass from Moss to Lacy at 9:07 of Q3 ignited a second-half comeback after halftime adjustments
K. Brown's back-to-back rushing touchdowns in Q3 and Q4 sealed the belt retention as Louisville's ground game proved unstoppable
Virginia Tech's complete offensive shutdown in the second half (0 points, 0 passing yards) proved decisive in the belt retention

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

By Quarter

Line score

Team	1	2	3	4	Final
Virginia Tech	9	7	0	0	16
Louisville	7	0	14	7	28

Pulled directly from CFBD’s play-by-play record, the same source as every score in the lineage.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

Virginia TechLouisville

Total yards240371

Rushing yards164235

Passing yards76136

First downs1618

3rd down conv.4/154/11

Turnovers01

Penalties–yards5–466–52

Time of possession29:3830:22

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q3 8:52	Louisville	+23 yd	(09:07) #98 N.Keller kickoff 65 yards to the VT 00 #20 P.Prioleau return 23 yards to the VT 23 (#42 J.Minkins) PENALTY VT UNS: Unsportsmanlike Conduct (#4 J.Coney) 11 yard from VT 23 to VT 12
Q3 5:42	Virginia Tech	+63 yd	(05:51) #95 N.Veltsistas punt 43 yards to the UL 32 #5 C.Lacy return 63 yards to the VT 05 (#96 C.Epling), out of bounds
Q3 5:01	Louisville	+2 yd	(04:52) #22 K.Brown rush middle for 2 yards gain to the VT 00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 05:01 #36 C.Ranvier kick attempt good (H: #93 D.Chapeau, LS: #48 S.Kochav)
Q3 2:21	Virginia Tech	-4 yd	(02:54) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 K.Drones rush left for 4 yards loss to the UL 45 fumbled by #1 K.Drones at UL 45 recovered by VT #1 K.Drones at UL 45, End Of Play
Q3 1:50	Louisville	+20 yd	(01:57) Shotgun #1 I.Brown rush middle for 20 yards gain to the UL 28 (#25 I.Brown-Murray), out of bounds, 1ST DOWN
Q3 0:00	Louisville	-27 yd	End of 3rd quarter.
Q4 10:45	Virginia Tech	+23 yd	(10:41) #95 N.Veltsistas punt 53 yards to the UL 27 #5 C.Lacy return 23 yards to the UL 50 (#23 T.Williams)
Q4 3:39	Louisville	+20 yd	(03:46) Shotgun #22 K.Brown rush middle for 20 yards gain to the VT 45 (#16 N.Chambers)
Q4 2:16	Louisville	+24 yd	(02:10) #22 K.Brown rush middle for 24 yards gain to the VT 00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 02:16, 1ST DOWN #36 C.Ranvier kick attempt good (H: #93 D.Chapeau, LS: #48 S.Kochav)
Q1 13:40	Virginia Tech	+20 yd	(13:43) #95 N.Veltsistas punt 46 yards to the UL 18 #5 C.Lacy return 20 yards to the UL 38 (#24 J.Keller; #96 C.Epling)
Q1 12:58	Louisville	+52 yd	(13:08) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 I.Brown rush middle for 52 yards gain to the VT 00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 12:58, 1ST DOWN #36 C.Ranvier kick attempt good (H: #93 D.Chapeau, LS: #48 S.Kochav)
Q1 6:53	Louisville	+18 yd	(06:57) No Huddle-Shotgun #7 M.Moss pass intercepted by #18 I.Cash at VT 45 #18 I.Cash return 18 yards to the UL 37 (#7 M.Moss)
Q1 1:57	Virginia Tech	+3 yd	(01:57) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 K.Drones rush middle for 3 yards gain to the UL 00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 01:57 #17 J.Love kick attempt good (H: #95 N.Veltsistas, LS: #96 C.Epling)
Q1 0:52	Louisville	+0 yd	(00:57) #39 C.Schwartz punt 0 yards to the UL 24 blocked by #20 P.Prioleau, out of bounds at UL 00. Virginia Tech SAFETY, clock 00:52
Q2 8:25	Virginia Tech	+5 yd	(08:19) No Huddle-Shotgun #1 K.Drones pass complete short left to #9 C.Seldon caught at UL 07, for 5 yards to the UL 00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 08:25, 1ST DOWN #17 J.Love kick attempt good (H: #95 N.Veltsistas, LS: #96 C.Epling)
Q2 0:00	Louisville	-61 yd	End of 2nd quarter.
Q3 9:07	Louisville	+24 yd	(09:03) Shotgun #7 M.Moss pass complete deep middle to #5 C.Lacy caught at VT 01, for 24 yards to the VT 00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 09:07, 1ST DOWN #36 C.Ranvier kick attempt good (H: #93 D.Chapeau, LS: #48 S.Kochav)
Q4 0:00	Louisville	+67 yd	End of 4th quarter.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Virginia Tech

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Kyron Drones	11/24	76	3.2	1	0	45.0

Louisville

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Miller Moss	19/28	136	4.9	1	1	67.3

Rushing

Virginia Tech

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Kyron Drones	14	85	6.1	1	16
Marcellous Hawkins	13	45	3.5	0	11
Terion Stewart	8	22	2.8	0	12
Jeffrey Overton Jr.	4	9	2.3	0	4
Cameron Seldon	1	3	3.0	0	3

Louisville

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Isaac Brown	16	130	8.1	1	52
Keyjuan Brown	12	94	7.8	2	24
Miller Moss	3	11	3.7	0	13
Caullin Lacy	1	1	1.0	0	1
Deuce Adams	1	0	0.0	0	0
Team	1	-1	-1.0	0	0

Receiving

Virginia Tech

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Ayden Greene	1	17	17.0	0	17
Takye Heath	3	16	5.3	0	7
Ja'Ricous Hairston	3	15	5.0	0	11
Cameron Seldon	2	14	7.0	1	9
Marcellous Hawkins	1	12	12.0	0	12
P.J. Prioleau	1	2	2.0	0	2

Louisville

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Chris Bell	8	56	7.0	0	13
Caullin Lacy	6	53	8.8	1	24
Nate Kurisky	2	12	6.0	0	10
Treyshun Hurry	1	7	7.0	0	7
Antonio Meeks	1	6	6.0	0	6
Keyjuan Brown	1	2	2.0	0	2

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Virginia Tech

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Kaleb Spencer	7	5	0	1	0	0
Caleb Woodson	7	4	0	0	0	0
Thomas Williams	5	3	0	0	0	0
Isaiah Cash	5	2	0	0	1	0
Isaiah Brown-Murray	4	3	0	0	0	0
Noah Chambers	4	3	0	0	1	0
Elhadj Fall	4	2	0.5	0.5	0	0
Kemari Copeland	4	0	0.5	1	0	0
Kody Huisman	3	3	0	0	0	0
Joseph Reddish	3	2	0	0	0	0
Sheldon Robinson	3	1	0	0	0	0
Jaden Keller	3	0	0	0	0	0
Christian Epling	2	1	0	0	0	0
Antwone Santiago	2	0	0	0	0	1
Jordan Bass	2	0	0	0	0	0
Tyson Flowers	1	1	0	0	0	0
Aycen Stevens	1	1	0	0	0	0
Emmett Laws	1	1	0	0	0	0
Kelvin Gilliam	1	0	0	0	0	0
Ben Bell	1	0	0	0.5	0	0
Immanuel Hickman	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jason Abbey	1	0	0	0	0	0
Brennan Johnson	1	0	0	0	0	0

Louisville

Player	TOT	SOLO	TFL	PD	QB HUR
TJ Quinn	10	4	1	0	0
D'Angelo Hutchinson	7	1	0.5	0	0
Kalib Perry	6	3	0	0	0
JoJo Evans	6	2	0	0	2
Adonijah Green	6	0	0	0	0
Corey Gordon	5	3	0	0	0
T.J. Capers	5	3	1	0	0
Jabari Mack	4	3	0	1	0
Wesley Bailey	4	2	0.5	0	0
Tayon Holloway	4	0	0	0	0
Rene Konga	3	3	1	0	0
Antonio Watts	3	0	0	1	0
Justin Beadles	2	0	0	0	0
Miller Moss	1	1	0	0	0
Denzel Lowry	1	1	1	0	0
Jaden Minkins	1	1	0	0	0
Jordan Guerad	1	0	0	0	0
Clev Lubin	1	0	0	0	0
Jerry Lawson	1	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Virginia Tech

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Kyron Drones	1	0	0

Louisville

No recorded stats in this category.

Interceptions

Virginia Tech

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Isaiah Cash	1	18	0

Louisville

No recorded stats in this category.

Kick Returns

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
P.J. Prioleau	1	23	23.0	23	0

Louisville

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Caullin Lacy	1	33	33.0	33	0

Kicking

Virginia Tech

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
John Love	0/0	0.0	0	2/2	2

Louisville

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Cooper Ranvier	0/0	0.0	0	4/4	4

Punt Returns

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
P.J. Prioleau	1	24	24.0	24	0

Louisville

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Caullin Lacy	3	106	35.3	63	0

Punting

Virginia Tech

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Nick Veltsistas	8	376	47.0	1	3	68

Louisville

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
David Chapeau	4	153	38.3	2	0	45
Team	1	0	0.0	0	0	0

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 401754580) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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