Louisville's No. 16 ranking can be traced back to two sleeper stars in the transfer portal

The Louisville Cardinals are among the better teams in college football this season, as they're 2-1 and ranked No. 16 in the nation.

Normally, a 2-1 record after three games would be a dissapointment, but Jeff Brohm's team has faced a tough schedule and has looked good doing it.

The Cardinals played then-No. 9 Ole Miss to start the season and fought hard before ultimately falling, 41-38. They bounced back in Week 2 against Villanova, and then welcomed in the No. 16 SMU Mustangs for a big Week 3 contest last weekend.

Louisville won that game, 41-31, and now looks to be a serious contender in the ACC. As of now, there's no other ranked team on the Cardinals' schedule, so they could hypothetically make a run to the ACC title game at 11-1.

There's a lot of credit to go around at Louisville, but much of the credit belongs to Brohm and his recruiting staff, who went into the transfer portal this offseason and pulled off two massive steals.

At the time, the transfers of quarterback Lincoln Kienholz from Ohio State and safety Kaleb Beasley from Tennessee didn't seem like a huge deal. At the very least, their transfers to Louisville didn't get the headlines that other transfers around college football did.

And yet, this far into September, both Kienholz and Beasley have landed on ESPN's "unexpected all-portal team." In fact, Louisville is the only program with two players representing it on the list.

Per ESPN's Max Olson, this list is comprised of players who were not considered top-100 transfer portal players earlier this offseason. Keinholz and Beasley have both played as if they belonged on those original rankings, though. 

Lincoln Kienholz leading the way for the Louisville Cardinals 

Against a really good Ole Miss team, Kienholz, who notched only 36 career passes at Ohio State, completed 18-of-29 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 69 yards and a touchdown.

Kienholz competed head-to-head with Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who many expect to be a Heisman Trophy finalist, and he looked every bit the part of a big-time quarterback.

This season, he's thrown for 816 yards and eight touchdowns with no interceptions while already having rushed for 153 yards and four scores.

On defense, Beasley has been a star for the Cardinals.

After playing in 26 games in two seasons for the Volunteers but never being considered a starter, Beasley has taken advantage of the additional playing time at Louisville.

Through three games, he's notched 22 tackles, one pass defended and two interceptions. Both picks came against SMU's Kevin Jennings, who is a high-end talent.

Up next for Louisville is 2-1 Wake Forest, which just lost to Miami, 33-20.

Louisville may not be at the level of the Hurricanes in 2026, but this is absolutely a team that can make a case for sneaking into the College Football Playoff, especially if Kienholz and Beasley keep leading the way.