Louisville dominated Villanova 59-13 on Friday night at L&N Stadium, earning its first win of the 2026 season. The Cardinals controlled the game from the start and pulled away in the second half. Louisville led 17-3 after the first quarter and took a 31-10 advantage into halftime. The Cardinals continued their strong offensive performance after the break, scoring 28 points while shutting out the Wildcats in the fourth quarter.
Photo Cred: Louisville
Quarterback Lincoln Kienholz led Louisville’s offense, throwing for 332 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for two touchdowns. Lawayne McCoy added 102 receiving yards and a touchdown. Louisville finished with 635 total yards, while Villanova managed just 253 yards. The Cardinals will now turn their attention to a major ACC matchup against SMU on Sept. 19.
Jeff Brohm — Head Coach
On the overall performance:
“Proud of our team. I thought we did what we had to do to come out and win the football game. Got off to a little bit of a rocky start, a little rough at the beginning, but we regrouped and played hard to the end.”
On moving forward to SMU:
“Now we move on to tough conference games starting with SMU which will be a battle – and they’ve had our number. We’re going to have to have a great week of practice and continue to get better and play well next week.”
