“Scrappy Cards” On Path To Title?

By RUSS BROWN • Photos By UofL Athletics

Louisville's football team survived its early-season gauntlet of two Top-20 teams in the first three weeks of the season, and the most recent victory as of this writing has Card Nation worked into a frenzy about what could be looming on the horizon.

The importance of the Cardinals' 41-31 victory over No. 16 SMU on Sept. 19 in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener at L&N Stadium -- their first against the Mustangs in five tries -- is difficult to over emphasize. Because now U of L has a clear path to the ACC championship game in December in Charlotte and a possible spot in the College Football Playoffs (CFP).  

The Cards control their own fate, and a favorable schedule the rest of the way makes them the favorite, behind No. 5 Miami, to advance to the league title game and compete for the automatic CFP bid that goes to the ACC champion.

U of L is finished not only with ranked opponents in the remaining nine games (unless UK has broken into the top 25 by publication time), but more importantly their ACC slate is built for success. The Cards avoid the most dangerous teams in the conference -- the Hurricanes, who were runners-up to IU in last year's playoffs; a ranked Virginia team; and Clemson. They will be favored every time they take the field in October and November, and five of their last seven league foes were expected to finish at the bottom of the 17-team conference in the preseason poll.

Now they have to take care of business against less talented teams, which they haven't been able to do under Brohm in the past.

In his three previous seasons, he has shown the ability to prepare his team for a significant upset, only to suffer a head-scratching defeat not long afterwards. In 2023, they followed an upset of No. 10 Notre Dame with a 38-21 thrashing against Pitt on the road the next weekend. In 2024, a week after celebrating their first win ever over No. 11 Clemson in Death Valley, they blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead at Stanford and lost 38-35 to a team destined to finish next-to-last in the league. 

In 2025, unranked U of L pulled off the biggest upset in program history by knocking off No. 2 heavily-favored Miami 24-21 in the Sunshine State. But in early November a 29-26 overtime loss at home to underdog Cal delivered a crushing blow to the Cards' ACC championship hopes and ignited a three-game losing skid.

No wonder Brohm has cautioned his current team about a letdown despite holding the upper hand in the ACC race.

"If we think we're going to roll through anybody, it's not going to happen," he said following the win over SMU. "Not even come close to happening, so we've got to build on this."

Brohm was outspoken going into the season about his optimism that his fourth team at his alma mater could be special, and he definitely likes what he's seen so far. The Cards scored the last 14 points against the Mustangs, and in the season opener against No. 9 Ole Miss, they wiped out a 14-point deficit in the 4th quarter only to lose 41-38 on the Rebels' walk-off field goal.

"I think that's the makeup of this team," he says. "They're scrappers, they're fighters. I'd love for everything to look pretty and smooth, but that's not football on this level when you face good opponents."

Louisville has shown it has plenty of offensive firepower in mobile quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, who is blessed with a talented array of receivers at his disposal. A two-headed monster in running backs Isaac Brown and Keyjuan Brown, who combined for 230 yards and four touchdowns against SMU. And an improving defense that created three turnovers and limited the Mustangs to half their average in passing yards.

"At the end of the day, you've got to go 1-0 every week," linebacker Clev Lubin said. "So we're not really focused on who we just played."

Now the Cards have to prove that's true for eight ACC games in a row.