Louisville football secured its first win of the 2026 season as the Cardinals defeated Villanova, 59-13, on Friday night. The Cardinals were once again led by Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz, who put on a dominant performance, throwing for 332 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for two touchdowns.
There were plenty of positives to take from the Cardinals' first victory of the season, but a major talking point after the win is their star running back, Isaac Brown. Entering the season, Brown was a preseason All-American and was trending as a top-five running back in the nation, but through the first two games, he hasn’t had that breakthrough moment just yet.
Jeff Brohm believes in Isaac Brown despite slow start
Jeff Brohm addressed the star running back last night in his postgame press conference, and when he was asked about Brown, the Cardinals head coach made it clear he has all the confidence in the world in Louisville’s RB1.
“Look, I think he’s frustrated that he hasn’t been able to break some runs. It is part of football," stated Brohm on Brown struggles. "We played a really good team last week. We weren’t able to break too many runs. Today really wasn’t able to break through a whole lot. I think just have to work through it. Playing competitive sports at a high level isn’t easy. You have to put in the work. You have to grind. Some games come easy, some games don’t. But I think if he pushes through these last two days, then he’s got a great opportunity next week against a really good opponent, and I believe in him. We want to figure out ways to get him the ball in space and let him do his thing, but I think he will come through for us.”
Brown finished Friday night’s game with 13 carries for 61 yards, averaging just 4.7 yards per touch. He was able to break through for a 26-yard carry in the final seconds of the first half, but other than that, he had another challenging night. Brown rushed for just 36 yards on 16 carries in their loss vs. Ole Miss, putting him at 29 carries for 97 yards, while averaging just 3.4 yards per carry after two games.
This usually isn’t the case for Brown. The star running back ran for 100 yards or more in six of the eight games last year, including against Boston College, where he finished with 205 yards. He led the league with 8.8 yards per carry, and in his first two seasons he averaged a dominant 7.7 yards per carry.
It is still very early in the season. While today seemed like a game where he should have gotten going and taken over like he did last year vs. James Madison and Eastern Kentucky, Brohm gave Cardinals fans a confident message on Brown.
The Cardinals have SMU next week, and that could be the perfect Isaac Brown game for Louisville. The Cardinals will look to earn the program's first-ever win over SMU, and it would come at the perfect time, as this game already has major ACC Title implications.
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