Louisville Cardinals College Football Preview 2026

Louisville Quick Hits

• Head Coach: Jeff Brohm (13th year overall, 94-56; 4th year at Louisville, 28-12)
• Best Case / Worst Case: Win the ACC Championship/Barely make a bowl game
• Key Player: Clev Lubin, EDGE Sr.
• 2025 Record: 9-4
• Biggest Question: Can new quarterback Lincoln Kienholz be the one to take the Cardinals over the top?
• 2026 Louisville Schedule Analysis

Louisville Key 2025 Stats

• Third Down Conversions: 59-of-167 (35.5%)
• Third Quarter Scoring: Louisville 82, Opponents 39
• No. 1 Pass Defense in the ACC, allowing 188.8 yards per game

Offense

It’s a Jeff Brohm offense. It’s supposed to be a little better than it was last year. The Cardinals were fourth in the ACC in total offense in both 2023 and 2024, but slipped to 11th last year.

The passing attack wasn’t as crisp, the running game was just okay, and the points weren’t there - the 389 points scored were the fewest in Brohm’s three years.

What’s Working

The running backs should be terrific. Smallish, shifty Isaac Brown is back after averaging a whopping 8.8 yards per carry with a team-high 884 yards, and Keyjuan Brown should add more power again after averaging 7.3 yards per carry. There’s good depth behind them.

Lincoln Kienholz can move. The new projected starting quarterback adds more mobility than any of the other three previous transfer quarterbacks Brohm brought in. He won’t have to be a runner on a regular basis, but he can do it.

The interior of the offensive line should be fantastic. There’s been some moving around, but this might be among the best interiors yet in the Brohm era by the start of the season. Boston College transfer Eryx Daugherty should be an All-ACC-caliber blocker no matter which guard spot he’s at.

What Needs Work

The tackle spots are a tad iffy. Anwar O’neal has a ton of talent, but he’s hurt and should need the rest of the offseason to get right. The Cardinals will have to move some parts around early on. That matters because …

The pass protection has to be better. The Cardinals allowed 25 sacks last season after giving up 15 in 2024. To be fair, keeping the quarterbacks upright was a problem in 2023, too, and the offense worked fine, but this time around it’s a bigger deal because …

Kienholz doesn’t have a ton of experience. The first three transfer quarterbacks who started in the Brohm era - Jack Plummer, Tyler Shough, and Miller Moss - were ready right out of the box. Kienholz only threw 36 passes in his three seasons at Ohio State.

Player to Watch

Isaac Brown, RB Jr.
One of the better backs in the ACC over the last two seasons, he banked 2,057 yards and 18 touchdowns, averaging 7.7 yards per carry, and caught 43 passes for 200 yards and a score. He’s a weapon who needs the ball in his hands as much as possible.

Defense

The defensive style over the last few years has been relatively straightforward.

Make up for concerns and deficiencies by always attacking.

The pass rush wasn’t quite as devastating as normal, but it was still good, the pass defense was great, and this year’s defense has enough talent returning to be a positive.

What’s Working

The pass rush should keep on rolling. The defensive ends are dangerous, experienced, and very, very good, starting with senior Clev Lubin, coming off an 8.5-sack season with 13.5 tackles for loss. AJ Green is a force on the other side with six sacks and 31 tackles last season.

The Cardinals had the ACC’s best pass defense. Only five teams came up with over 200 yards against this bunch, and the team was 8-0 when allowing quarterbacks to hit fewer than 61% of their throws.

The linebacking corps should be a killer. Stanquan Clark was terrific in 2024, but he was banged up last year and only played in five games.

He appears to be right again and ready to be one of the team’s leading tacklers. T.J. Capers is a rising veteran who can do a little of everything.

What Needs Work

The tackles aren’t a concern, but the rotation needs to emerge. There’s size, and there’s potential, but this bunch will be young, and a few veterans like junior Demeco Kennedy have to rise up and rock.

Louisville filled the holes at safety, but it’s a brand new bunch. Iowa transfer Koen Entringer was a wonderful signing to fill in one of the gaps, and bringing in TJ Banks (Ole Miss) and Kaleb Beasley (Tennessee) are strong gets.

More takeaways are a must. The Cardinals were great last year at forcing mistakes. Now they have to do even more. They were 6-0 when coming up with two or more takeaways, and 3-4 when they didn’t.

Player to Watch

AJ Green, EDGE Jr.
Also known as Adonijah Green, there’s a shot the NFL types will be calling his name if he pulls off a big year. He’s 6-6, 250 pounds, and has a great first step. With Lubin on the other side, Green will have plenty of chances to crank up the stats.

Keys to the Season

The parts are there to come up with a massive year, but the offense has to be a bit more consistent and dangerous, and the projected stars on the defensive front and corner have to be great right away.

Player Who Needs To Shine

Lincoln Kienholz, QB Jr.
This is the first time Brohm is taking a bit of a chance on his quarterback transfer.

Kienholz doesn’t have the talent of Tyler Shough, but there’s more upside than Miller Moss, who only threw 16 touchdown passes last season and didn’t crank up the downfield plays like Shough or Jack Plummer did in 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Biggest Concern

Third down conversions.
Last year, the offense converted at just a 35.5% clip - it was a killer in close losses to Cal (37.5%) and Clemson (18.2%), and the blowout against SMU (25%). Get past 40% in the big games, and things should be okay.

Biggest Game

at NC State, October 3
It’s the first ACC road game after starting at home against SMU and Wake Forest. With three of the four November games on the road, and a decent October after the trip to Raleigh, this might make or break the season.

Transfer Portal

It was a terrific haul for the Cardinals with instant starters at several key spots, and with minimal damage - there wasn’t a slew of big losses.

They reinforced the offensive front, solved the concern at safety, and built up the depth across the board. However, it all comes down to Kienholz. He has to be the answer at quarterback.

Best Signing

Tre Richardson, WR Sr.
The receiving corps needed a few instant fixes, and it got one in Florida State’s Lawayne McCoy, and pulled off a coup getting Richardson. A deep threat for Diego Pavia last year, the former Vanderbilt Commodore averaged close to 18 yards per grab on his 46 catches.

Biggest Loss

Jordan Church, OG Jr.
There weren’t any totally irreplaceable losses, but it would’ve been nice if the big, promising Church was still around to battle in the guard rotation. He’s about to be a key starter at Texas Tech.

Other Names to Know

• Brady Foley, TE (Tulsa)
• Tyler Thompson, EDGE (North Carolina)
• Eryx Daugherty, OG (Boston College)

CFN Season Prediction

The talent is there, the depth is great, and again, the transfer portal was an overall plus, but there are a ton of new players who have to be amazing right away.

The offense should be more explosive, and the defense has a world of upside to be dominant at times, but can the secondary be wonderful in the opener against Ole Miss? Can the offense avoid mistakes in a slew of late road games?

CFN Prediction: 8-4

With the game against the Rebels in Nashville to open, a date against what should be an improved Kentucky in Lexington to close, and throwing in road games at NC State and Georgia Tech, this won’t be easy.

However, there’s no Notre Dame to deal with. Clemson, Duke, Virginia, and Virginia Tech are all off the slate, and best of all, there’s no Miami to face.

It’ll be another fantastic season, but like the first three under Brohm, it’ll come just short of being an ACC Championship campaign.

- ACC Strength of Schedule Rankings