Kienholz locks in as Louisville opens ranked at Ole Miss
Lincoln Kienholz has the job, Louisville opens the season ranked in Nashville against a Heisman-caliber quarterback, and two 2025 starters just got their eligibility back.
Kienholz has the job, and Louisville opens ranked
The Ohio State transfer, Lincoln Kienholz, has settled the fourth straight portal quarterback competition Jeff Brohm has run at Louisville, and the staff is saying so out loud. After a fall scrimmage this camp, Brohm said Kienholz "had a good day, and it was good because he's had a good camp, and I think he's getting a better grasp" of what it takes to both execute and call the offense. Offensive coordinator Brian Brohm went further, saying Kienholz has "done a great job of picking up the offense and taking a leadership role within the group" — the kind of quote a quarterback room competition ends on, not one it continues on.
He is inheriting a program that arrives with real standing. Louisville drew four first-place votes and finished third in the ACC media poll behind only Miami and SMU, and heads into September ranked No. 24 nationally against a Nashville date that multiple outlets are calling the only ranked-versus-ranked matchup of the sport's opening week. A transfer quarterback's first start doesn't usually come with that kind of spotlight attached.
Last season ended with back-to-back wins, capped by Toledo
Louisville closed last season on a three-game losing skid — a 29-26 loss to California, a 20-19 defeat to Clemson, and a 38-6 blowout loss at SMU — before turning it around at the finish. The Cardinals routed Kentucky 41-0 on November 29, then beat Toledo 27-22 in their bowl game on December 23 to send last season out on a two-game winning streak.
That's the group Kienholz is stepping into: a roster that was playing its best football of 2025 by the time the year ended, not one limping into an offseason. Ending on consecutive wins, including a bowl win, gives Brohm's staff a foundation heading into a schedule that opens about as hard as it could.
A court ruling just handed Louisville two veterans back
Louisville linebacker Kalib Perry and defensive back Jabari Mack are both set to return for the 2026 season, per On3's Pete Nakos, after a court ruling out of Colorado opened the door to a fifth year of eligibility for players from the Class of 2022. Both are expected back in Louisville soon to begin the acclimation period.
The two cases haven't landed the same way, though. Reporting since has Mack cleared through a Jefferson Circuit Court restraining order that also covered linebacker D'Angelo Hutchinson, while Perry's claim runs through the broader, nationwide Colorado case and remains the messier of the two. Either way, it's a real gain if it holds — Mack was an impact corner in his first year after transferring from Jacksonville State, and Perry started four games last season and posted a career-high 55 tackles along with his first career interception.
A ranked date with Trinidad Chambliss in Nashville
Louisville opens the season on September 6 at Ole Miss, a true road date at Nissan Stadium in Nashville even with the neutral-city trappings. The line opened with Ole Miss favored by 6.5, making the Cardinals an underdog in their own opener, while the total opened at a middling 55.5.
The opponent is not an unknown. Ole Miss brings back Trinidad Chambliss, who threw for 3,937 yards and 22 touchdowns while adding 527 yards and eight scores on the ground last season and enters this year on preseason All-American and Manning Award watch lists. Ole Miss's own last-season finish was a 31-27 loss to Miami, so this is a Rebels team with something to prove too — which is exactly the kind of test a new starting quarterback doesn't usually get in Week 1.