Louisville’s first win of the 2026 season came with a familiar name doing the heavy lifting, but the conversation after Friday night’s 59-13 rout of Villanova kept circling back to Isaac Brown.
While Ohio State transfer Lincoln Kienholz stole the spotlight with 332 passing yards, two touchdown throws, and two rushing scores, Brown is still waiting for the kind of burst that made him one of the sport’s most talked-about backs entering the year. He came in as a preseason All-American and was tracking as a top-five running back nationally, but through two games, the big breakout hasn’t arrived.
Jeff Brohm made it clear after the game that he isn’t losing faith in his star runner.
“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’s numbers on Friday were solid, but not the kind that usually come with his reputation. He carried 13 times for 61 yards and averaged 4.7 yards per touch, with a 26-yard run late in the first half providing his best moment of the night.
That followed a difficult opener against Ole Miss, where he managed just 36 yards on 16 carries. Through two games, Brown has 29 carries for 97 yards and is averaging 3.4 yards per carry.
That’s a sharp dip from the standard he set last season. Brown topped 100 yards in six of Louisville’s eight games a year ago, including a 205-yard performance against Boston College. He also led the league with 8.8 yards per carry, and over his first two seasons he averaged 7.7 yards per carry.
It’s still early, and Brohm’s message to Louisville fans was straightforward: the staff believes Brown will find his rhythm.
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Louisville Still Has One Big Problem With SMU Up Next
Louisville left Villanova with a lopsided 59-13 win and a few encouraging signs, especially at quarterback and in the backfield. Lincoln Keinholz has already put his name in the school record book by topping 300 passing yards over his first two games, and freshman Marquise Davis along with sophomore Braxton Jennings each found the end zone multiple times in the latest rout.
Still, the Cardinals know the performance was not clean enough to carry into next weekend, when Southern Methodist arrives for the Atlantic Coast Conference opener. Louisville opened slowly and added more penalties than it could afford, the kind of slippage that tends to matter more once league play begins and the margin for error shrinks. [Read more 🡒]