There's no way to sugarcoat this: A Louisville football team that began September with aspirations for an ACC championship and a spot in the College Football Playoffs (CFB) is now fighting for survival with its season on the brink of disaster.

NC State (3-2, 2-1) delivered the latest blow, edging the sloppy, error-prone Cardinals (2-3, 1-2) 31-28 for three-point losses and their third defeat by a total of nine points in rainy Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C. Saturday.

Quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, who was a gametime decision after suffering an ankle injury against Wake Forest, started with both ankles heavily taped and looked to be at nearly full strength. He did his part, completing 21-of-30 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. His scoring throws went to Lawayne McCoy for 33 yards and Tre Richardson on a catch-and-run that covered 38 yards.

Kienholz said he was determined to play.

"My mindset was I was going to do as much as I could to get ready to go and stay positive," he said. "I practice some and felt good, felt real good. I didn't want to miss a game; I felt like I'd be letting my teammates down. I was going to get in there and fight."

And Isaac Brown finally came alive, exploding for a 70-yard touchdown run that tied the score at 28-28 with 12:27 remaining and finishing with a season-high 127 yards on nine carries. He and Keyjuan Brown combined for 213 yards rushing, with Keyjuan also contributing a TD on a one-yard plunge that set up Isaac's game-tying touchdown.

But all of that wasn't enough to overcome three lost fumbles that NC State turned into 18 points, a 1-for-3 showing in the red zone, and a pass defense that was AWOL for most of the game. Of the trio of fumbles, Keyjuan's was particularly damaging, occurring at the Wolfpack 13-yard line on a first down play after a 25-yard gain in the third quarter with the score deadlocked.

Louisville gained 485 yards of total offense, but its defense couldn't contain Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey, who threw for 373 yards and two touchdowns while completing 24-of-40 passes. The Cards allowed six completions of 20 yards or more, including touchdown throws of 34 and 33 yards to wide open receivers, and other completions of 46, 35 and 36 yards that either kept drives alive or set up TDs.

The Wolfpack also converted six of their first seven third downs, finished 9-of-17 and added a 4th-down conversion.

Afterwards, U of L coach Jeff Brohm's brief comments sounded all too familiar.

"Yeah, well, every loss is disappointing. This one is definitely disappointing again," he said. "I do think we fought hard to come back to give ourselves a chance and today was a turnover-fest with the ball on the ground too much.

"I know it's raining in the first half, it's wet and all that, but we've worked on that all week. Turnovers were costly to us on offense. We weren't able to sustain drives, get the ball in the end zone, and we started slow. Our defense, it's not up to par for sure, way too many big plays and not aggressive enough in our approach. A lot of things to fix."

NC State scored first on a 46-yard field goal midway through the first quarter and never trailed. The Pack seemed to be in control when they opened a 28-14 lead on backup quarterback Will Wilson's 6-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion with 3:50 left in the third quarter.

Louisville stormed back, with Kienholz directing a nine-play, 77-yard drive that featured his 12-yard scramble on a third-down play and culminated on Keyjuan's one-yard TD to narrow the gap to 28-21 in the final seconds of the third quarter.

Then defensive back Kalib Beasley intercepted a Bailey pass in the end zone from the U of L 8-yard line on the first series of the fourth period, and after tight end Laleel Skinner caught a 10-yard pass, Isaac bolted up the middle on his 70-yard TD with 12:27 remaining. But that proved to be the Cards' last gasp.

After Keyjuan's fumble, NC State drove from its own 13 to the U of L11 and Kanoah Vinesett kicked the decisive 28-yard field goal.

"Today we were not efficient early on offense," Brohm said, "and had some key turnovers that, without question, hurt us, especially when we're fighting like heck to come back when the game isn't going our way. We'd get downfield, get ready in field goal range, to either score or kick a field goal to take the lead. It’s disappointing. You applaud them getting to that point, but we've done a bad job finishing."

U of L will try to avoid the second three-game losing streak of the Brohm era when it hosts Florida State Friday night.

Isaac Brown rushed for 125 yards, but Louisville fell to N.C. State, 31-28, on Saturday to fall to 2-3. (Louisville Athletic photo)