Louisville will play SEC playoff team in Nashville to open 2026 season

Louisville ended the regular season with a decisive win over an SEC team and now the Cardinals will try to open the 2026 season the same way. 

On3/Rivals' Brett McMurphy reports that Louisville will open the 2026 season against Ole Miss from Nissan Stadium in Nashville. This announcement comes on the heels of the news that Georgia and Louisville made the decision to cancel their home-and-home series that was scheduled to begin next season.

The ACC is going through a transitional year in scheduling with some teams playing nine conference games and others playing eight games, with the conference planning on fully adopting a nine-game conference schedule.

Louisville only has eight conference games next season, but the Cardinals now have a second P4 game with Ole Miss to go along with the annual matchup against Kentucky. There are tentative plans for Louisville and Georgia to have a neutral site game down the road. 

“Jeff Brohm has never shied away from playing a challenging non-conference schedule and is always willing to face anyone in the country,” Cardinals athletic director Josh Heird said.

The SEC will be playing a nine-game conference schedule starting next season and that conference also requires member schools to play one game against a Power 4 opponent. This game satisfies that requirement for Ole Miss.

Louisville's remaining non-conference schedule is Villanova and Charlote. The Cardinals will play conference games against Georgia Tech, N.C. State, North Carolina and Syracuse on the road and host Florida State, Pitt, SMU and Stanford.

The date of the Louisville-Ole Miss game has not been finalized yet. It could be either Saturday, September 5 or Sunday, September,6. 

Louisville will finish the 2026 season against Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday, December 23 from Flagler Credit Union Stadium. Ole Miss will host Tulane in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday, December 20.