Second half push wasn’t enough as cards fall to the Rebels, 41-38.

By : Cory Bosemer

In the only ranked game in the first official week for the 2026 season, the Louisville Cardinals faced off against the Rebels of Ole Miss. Lincoln over-threw Richardson in the first half when he was like the Dixie chicks, “wide open spaces” didn’t help either.

It was a rough first half as Lincoln Kienholz struggled to find his receivers with short passes and over-throws. The running game couldn’t get going either for the Cardinals, and the Rebels of Ole Miss didn’t do much better only putting up four more points than Louisville, ending the first half with a score of 10-6.

The second half however things started to get going not only for both teams, but respectfully the Cardinals in ways they didn’t expect based off how the first half went.

Lincoln started to get things rolling finding Richardson for two touchdowns, and running for one himself very late in the game. The defense for Louisville did have its bright spots in the game making stops on pivotal third downs, getting fumbles and just playing pretty good defense.

With just eight minutes to go in the game it seemed like all hope was lost for card nation as Ole Miss would go up 14pts and that’s when some of the fans started to leave. And then that’s right when things started going in favor of Louisville, making key stops again and scoring.

Having your expensive highly touted running back be held to less than 50 yards and no scores definitely didn’t help either to have things go your way.

You never want to lose but you also have to know as a fan you can’t win them all. Losing on a last second field goal isn’t anything to be ashamed of, your team fought and clawed their way back to tie it 38-38 against the 9th team in the nation.

Trey Richardson may have only had 4 catches, but he paired that with 83 yards, big runs after catches and a score. The glimpses you saw in him with those plays proved exactly why Brohm said what he said about him at ACC media days.

The Cardinals have a quick turnaround as they will face off against Villanova on September 11th at L&N Cardinal Stadium.

Stats ⬇️

L. Kienholz: 18/29, 307 yards, 2 TDs, 69 rushing yards, 1 TD

T. Richardson: 4 catches, 83 yards, 1 TD, 30 rushing yards, 1 TD

L. McCoy: 2 catches, 62 yards, 1 TD