Florida State’s response to adversity on the road again turned into misery.

After scoring the game’s first 14 points, Louisville stopped FSU on the goal line. And from that moment on, it was all Cardinals.

Isaac Brown had a 97-yard touchdown run after the defensive stop and Louisville responded with 35 unanswered points in a 44-20 rout of FSU on Friday night. Lincoln Kienholz had two of Louisville’s six rushing touchdowns.

Brown, a Miami native, had 17 carries for 235 yards and a 68-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Lawayne McCoy, an FSU transfer, had three catches for 78 yards — one of them a 35-yarder that set up a touchdown.

Ousmane Kromah had 88 yards on 19 carries, the sixth straight game he had surpassed the 80-yard mark. Kromah again broke tackles early to help FSU build drives.

The Seminoles have been snakebitten on the road for 35 months, and the loss at Louisville showed all of the elements. There were remarkable plays — including Micahi Danzy’s incredible, one-handed touchdown grab — but there were also inexplicable drops (a few by Danzy) and missed tackles. There were plays that were there to be made only for the opportunities to slip through the Seminoles’ fingers.

With the loss at Louisville (3-3, 2-2 ACC), FSU’s road struggles continue. The Seminoles have not won on the road since November 2023 (at Florida) or since the ACC championship win over the Cardinals in December 2023 in Charlotte, N.C.

FSU (3-3, 1-2 ACC) led 14-0 after 15 minutes and had 130 offensive yards. After Louisville’s goal-line stand, the Seminoles then had five punts (including a trio of three-and-outs). FSU’s final two drives ended when Kromah went out of bounds on fourth down and Ashton Daniels was intercepted.

The opportunities on offense were there for the taking against Louisville, a sub-100 scoring defense in the FBS. Louisville was 113th in scoring (29.2 points), 92nd in rushing (156.2 yards) and 130th in passing (266.8 yards). The Cardinals were also depleted by injuries on defense.

Daniels threw a season-high 37 passes, completing 21, as the Seminoles trailed 28-14 after three quarters and rallied to no avail. Daniels threw for 209 yards and had a fourth-quarter interception. Danzy added a second touchdown, from 2 yards out, as FSU cut the deficit to 35-20 with 8:30 to go.

FSU’s defense played its best 45 minutes of football, allowing just a touchdown in a rout of Virginia last week. But the Seminoles gave up 537 yards — an astonishing 397 on the ground — and six touchdowns.

A week after a feel-good home win over Virginia, the questions persist and the pressure on Mike Norvell and the coaching staff is again cranked up.

Noteworthy

FSU had been 21 of 21 on red-zone trips going into Friday night. But the fourth-down stop was the first by one of FSU’s opponents. The Seminoles were 2 of 3 on red-zone trips against Louisville.

Chris Jones had a fourth-down stop of Louisville in the first quarter. Jones led FSU with seven tackles.

Rylan Kennedy had FSU’s only sack of Kienholz. Kennedy had two tackles for loss.

Coming up

FSU travels to play Miami on Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. (ESPN).

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