CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- When he trotted back onto the field with just over 2 minutes to play and No, 5 Louisville suddenly trailing Virginia 25-24 on Saturday, Lamar Jackson was well aware of what was at stake.Everything, he said. Our whole season. We just knew what we had to do.Jackson, as has been the case all season, did the most, engineering a 75-yard drive and capping it by floating a perfectly placed 29-yard touchdown pass to Jaylen Smith with 13 seconds remaining as the Cardinals survived, 32-25.It was Jacksons fourth touchdown pass and kept the Cardinals (7-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the College Football Playoff picture, and couldnt have hurt the Heisman Trophy frontrunners candidacy.Virginia (2-6, 1-3) had scored with 1:57 remaining and used a 2-point conversion to take a 25-24 lead, whipping the sparse crowd at Scott Stadium into a frenzy that could only have made the task more daunting.Not for Jackson.He ran for 18 yards on the first play, hit Cole Hikutini in traffic for 5 yards on fourth-and-3, ran twice more for 16 yards before hitting Smith in the end zone with the pass over tight coverage by Juan Thornhill.I just stayed calm, Jackson said. Me being the leader of the offense, just kept a level head.So did Smith, who had just one prior reception.Once we got the ball back, I felt like we had too much time not to score a touchdown, he said.Jackson did not have one of his best days, getting sacked five times and turning the ball over twice, but still finished 24 of 41 for 361 yards. He ran 18 times for another 90 yards, and boosted his TD count to 38.His other TD tosses covered 15 yards to Jamari Staples, and 8 and 10 yards to Reggie Bonnafon.The Cavaliers had driven 75 yards in 14 plays, getting a 30-yard pass from Kurt Benkert to Keeon Johnson on fourth-and-7 to put the ball at the Cardinals 4. A TD throw to Doni Dowling on the next play and then Benkerts 2-point conversion pass to Albert Reid had put the Cavaliers ahead by a point with 1:57 left.I wanted to win and I didnt want to go to overtime, first-year Cavaliers coach Bronco Mendenhall said of the decision to go for 2, adding that he wanted his team to know he had faith in them to come though.They did, but then Jackson added one more highlight to what has been a magical season.We threw our best punch, Virginia linebacker Micah Kiser said. Got to keep throwing our best punches.THE TAKEAWAYLouisville: No style points for the Cardinals, but having Jackson makes up for a lot of problems. Penalties and dropped passes were a nuisance in the first half.Virginia: Coaches never acknowledge appreciating moral victories, but in a season of change under Mendenhall, his players had to love the confidence shown in them by going for 2 in the final minutes.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Cardinals would probably be pleased to stay where they are after needing all 60 minutes to beat a 33 1/2-point underdog, but theyd also love to see No. 12 Florida State beat No. 3 Clemson, reopening the Atlantic Division race. The Tigers hold the tiebreaker head-to-head because they beat Louisville 42-36 on Oct. 1.UP NEXT:Louisville: The Cardinals travel North for its final conference road game of the season against Boston College.Virginia: The Cavaliers go on the road for the first time in more than a month to face surprising Wake Forest.---The APs college football page:
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www.twitter.com/hankkurzjr . Canada is now down to its 22-player limit, although but players wont be registered until Christmas Day. Changes could still be made as a result of a suspension or injury. . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. . The 15th-ranked Canadian men lost the opening two games of their European tour: 19-15 to No. 17 Georgia and 21-20 to No. . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Mark Few wondered how his eighth-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs would handle a nine-day break for exams, traveling cross country and playing in front of a heavily orange crowd.Tennessee coach Rick Barnes saw enough Sunday to think Few and Gonzaga still might be undefeated when March rolls around.Nigel Williams-Goss scored 20 points, and Gonzaga remained unbeaten by holding off Tennessee 86-76.I thought they did good, especially the way we started the first half, Few said. Usually when you come out of finals like this, youre a little bit concerned about losing rhythm. We had some pretty good rhythm going into finals. Gave them several days off, I was a little bit worried about that. They responded.Gonzaga (11-0) hadnt played since beating Akron on Dec. 10 and looked strong as it scored the first eight points and never trailed. The Bulldogs led 27-6 on a jumper by Zach Collins with 12:06 left, 43-29 at halftime and 64-48 midway through the second half.Tennessee (6-5) went on a 10-3 run and got within 75-71 on a jumper by Robert Hubbs III with 2:26 left.Josh Perkins then hit a jumper as Gonzaga held on for its fourth straight win in the five games between these teams.Obviously we werent perfect, but to come in here and beat a good Tennessee team by double digits, and pretty much control the entire game, I thought we did a good job, Williams-Goss said. But theres room to grow.This was billed as the Battle of Broadway played at Bridgestone Arena, so technically it was a neutral court -- except for all the fans wearing Tennessee orange in the seats. Those fans got very loud as the Vols made their run.Barnes wasnt happy with how the Vols started, and hes tiring of coming close in losses.Its one thing being talked about as being a scrappy team that fights all the time, but at some point in time weve got to want to be more than that, he said. Weve got to want to play 40 minutes, and we havent done that at any point in time this year.Detrick Mostella ledd Tennessee with 17 points and Hubbs had 10.ddddddddddddThe Vols played without 6-foot-7 freshman John Fulkerson, who missed his first game since dislocating his right elbow in Thursday nights win over Lipscomb. Fulkerson is expected to miss six weeks with the injury.BIG PICTUREGonzaga: The Bulldogs came in as one of six undefeated teams in the Top 25 and did nothing to hurt their stock after their break. ... They improved to 12-8 all-time against Southeastern Conference teams and 2-0 this season. Gonzaga beat Florida last month. ... With 7-1 center Karnowski and 6-9 Johnathan Williams, the Bulldogs outrebounded Tennessee 42-38.Tennessee: This was the Vols fourth game in eight days, a stretch that started a week ago with a 73-71 loss in Chapel Hill to No. 7 North Carolina. ... Barnes now is 0-5 against Gonzaga and 0-4 against Few. ... Freshman Grant Williams scored 30 points in the Vols last game and finished with 11.QUOTABLEI think hes got as good a team as hes ever had, Barnes said of Few. I think hes going to become an even bigger story in college basketball because if you look ahead, hes always done tremendous things with his team in the league and he could be the first time in a long time that youve got a team capable of being undefeated heading into postseason play.FOUL TROUBLEThe officiating crew of Karl Hess, Jamie Luckie and Brent Hampton called 56 fouls combined. Gonzaga and Tennessee each had a player foul out with Silas Melson playing 18 minutes before his fifth foul for the Bulldogs, while Jordan Bowden had nine points in 27 minutes for the Vols. Gonzaga finished the game with four players having four fouls apiece.UP NEXTGonzaga: The Bulldogs host South Dakota on Wednesday.Tennessee: At East Tennessee State on Thursday night.---More AP college basketball:
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