—Spread Check: Ole Miss by 7.
—Lincoln Kienholz’s athleticism will allow Jeff Brohm to utilize a portion of his playbook that has gone virtually untouched over his first three seasons at Louisville.
—The AP’s Eric Olson serves up a quick guide to week one in college football.
—Athlon ranks all 91 week one games in college football, and has Louisville vs. Ole. Miss at No. 2.
2. Louisville vs. Ole Miss (Sunday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. ET – Nashville)
With Ole Miss aiming for another deep College Football Playoff
run, and Louisville ranking among the top ACC teams, this matchup in Nashville should be one of the better games in Week 1. Two of the nation’s top running backs are on display on Sunday night in Louisville’s Isaac Brown and Ole Miss’ Kewan Lacy. And at quarterback, Trinidad Chambliss can make an early statement in the Heisman race with a big performance against a solid Louisville defense. The Cardinals hope transfer quarterback Lincoln Kienholz (Ohio State) can provide a spark to the passing game.
LSU-Clemson is No. 1 on the list.
—We lost one of our greatest Kentuckians on Monday. Rest in peace, Wendell Berry.
—Former Louisville offensive lineman Bryan Hudson has made the 53-man roster for the New York Giants.
—The Louisville men’s soccer team played No. 14 Indiana to a 1-1 drawMonday night. The Cards had the better of the match’s two goals.
The 3-0-1 Cardinals close out their homestand Thursday night against Wright State. It’s Pups at the Pitch night, so feel free to bring your doggos.
—Michigan basketball five-star freshman Brandon McCoy Jr. will miss the entire season after suffering a torn ACL during one of the team’s exhibition games in Croatia. Louisville faces the Wolverines in Detroit on Dec. 5.
—It’s Arts & Culture Night at Lynn Stadium on Saturday, where Racing Louisville will play host to Angel City FC at 6:30 p.m. Not only will the evening feature live performances from the Louisville Ballet, Louisville Orchestra and others, but proceeds from a special cocktail sold at the game will be donated to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
CC readers can get discounted tickets to the match by going here.
—Ten of the 13 writers over at KSR believe Kentucky will beat Louisville this year … at football. None of them believe Will Stein will win fewer than five games in his debut season.
—Pat Kelsey is the guest on the latest episode of Jon Rothstein’s podcast.
—Today is the final day to renew your U of L women’s basketball tickets.
—After a 2-0 start, the Louisville field hockey team has jumped from No. 18 to No. 15 in the rankings.
—After a million season simulations, Bill Connelly’s S&P ratings give Louisville a 19.8 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff.
—All four members of CBS’ on-air college football crew pick Ole Miss to take care of Louisville.
—The newVanity Fair story on Lane Kiffin is not a great look for the LSU head coach.
—The CJ’s Brooks Holton has a player profileon U of L hoops freshman Isaac Ellis.
—ESPN’s Jeff Brozello continues to do the Lord’s work by keeping track of all of the moving and shaking on power conference college basketball rosters.
—Gary Parrish has Louisville at No. 8 in his updated hoops rankings.
—Better know a Cardinal: Flory Bidunga.
—Louisville field hockey’s Emily Young was named the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Division I Defensive Player of the Week.
—DeMarcus Henry, Rivals’ No. 3 overall hoops prospect in the 2027 class, took an official visit to U of L on Wednesday.
—Former Trinity High standout and U of L baseball signee Daylen Lile has been named the MLB National League Player of the Week.
—Jeff Brohm already had his first big win of the week.
The vibes are right.
—Louisville volleyball is up one spot to No. 6 in this week’s AVCA top 25 poll.
—Louisville men’s soccer midfielder Giacomo Zizza is the ACC Offensive Player of the Week.
—C.L. Brown debates whether Louisville or Kentucky has the better starting quarterback heading into the 2026 season.
—ESPN has a betting guide for Louisville-Ole Miss.
—Ok then.
—Nicole Auerbach is the guest on the latest episode of C.L. Brown’s podcast.
—Will Hill of Fox Sports likes the Cardsto at least cover the spread on Sunday night.
—Could this actually wind up being the best group of wide receivers Jeff Brohm has had at Louisville? Deion Branch believes so.
—The Athletic’s David Bearman makes the case for Louisville to be your darkhorse pick to make the College Football Playoff.
Louisville: +550
Preseason AP poll rank: No. 24
Miami is the best team in the ACC. The Hurricanes lost the CFP title game last year and might be better this year. They are a true national title contender. We have heard all of that. But you know what else? Miami has never, ever won the ACC. That’s right. The Hurricanes made the national title game last year and didn’t even play in the ACC title game.
So which ACC team could give Miami a run for its money? How about the team that beat the Hurricanes and was 7-1 to start last season? Jeff Brohm’s first three years at Louisville have each seen at least nine wins, but each have also included a costly loss that kept the Cardinals from going any further. Of Louisville’s first three losses last season, the first two were in overtime and the third was by a point.
Brohm will have to break in another quarterback, former Ohio State backup Lincoln Kienholz, but he also added some great transfer wide receivers to help the offense. There are a lot of new pieces, including two new coordinators, but they have a favorable schedule that misses Miami and Clemson and gets SMU at home. After the neutral-site opener vs. ninth-ranked Ole Miss, the Cardinals could be favored in every game the rest of the way. If they break tradition and don’t lose the game they shouldn’t, they are a sneaky play to make it to Charlotte, at which point you are one win from the CFP.
—Sports Illustrated’s Iain MacMillan is sticking his neck out there and taking Louisville to beat Ole Miss straight up in week one.
—SwimSwam previews the Louisville men’s swimming squad, which the publication has at No. 12 in its preseason rankings.
—I probably would have opted for a different name, but that’s me.
—Cardinal Authority’s Jacob Polacheck plays what I know/what I think with Louisville-Ole Miss.
—Matt McGavic takes a stab at projecting the Louisville and Ole Miss depth charts for Sunday.
—And finally, the Mike Rutherford Show returns from 2:30-5:30 this afternoon on The Big X. Ole Miss writer Ben Garrett will join us at 3:30. You can watch the show live on YouTube here.
