No. 16 SMU and No. 23 Louisville are set up for a fast, fire-breathing ACC matchup Saturday, and both teams arrive with offenses that have been piling up yards at a clip that demands attention.
Louisville is back home after blasting Villanova 59-13 last Friday, a result that nudged the Cardinals up one spot in this week’s Associated Press Top 25. That came on the heels of a narrow 41-38 loss to then-No. 9 Ole Miss in the opener on Sept. 6, leaving Louisville at 1-1 overall and 0-0 in league play.
SMU took a similar rise in the rankings after handling UC Davis 56-10 in Dallas last Saturday. The Mustangs are 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the ACC.
This is the third straight season these programs have met, and the numbers suggest another track meet. Both teams sit inside the top 10 nationally in total offense entering Week 3. SMU is seventh at 566 yards per game, while Louisville is right behind at 10th with 552.
The quarterback play is a big reason why. SMU’s Kevin Jennings has been the engine of the attack, throwing for 767 yards to lead the ACC and matching Miami’s Darian Mensah with eight touchdown passes.
He can hurt defenses on the ground, too. Two years ago, Jennings ran for 113 yards in SMU’s 34-27 road win over Louisville, a victory that helped the Mustangs earn a College Football Playoff berth in their first ACC season.
“Containing him in the pocket, creating some push and pressure, also defending things early to not give him easy, simple reads, all that will be important,” Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said.
Louisville has its own dual-threat presence in Lincoln Kienholz. The Ohio State transfer is fourth in the conference with 639 passing yards, and his 111 rushing yards lead the team. SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said Kienholz has the kind of skill set that can make “defensive coordinators go crazy” because of the way he extends plays.
Kienholz’s path to this point has also been different from Jennings’. After spending basically three seasons on the sideline, he is finally getting a real chance, and Lashlee said the early jitters didn’t last long.
“Then he just balled,” Lashlee said. “So he's gained a lot of confidence, and that's your biggest fear as a coach.”
Jennings and Kienholz are also separated by only a sliver in one of the sport’s most explosive quarterback stats. Jennings ranks second nationally in yards per completion at 19.2, with Kienholz right behind at 18.8.
The pass-catchers have been just as dangerous. SMU and Louisville account for four of the ACC’s top five players in average yards per reception.
SMU’s Jalen Hale leads the league with a 40.3-yard average. Louisville’s Lawayne McCoy is second at 32.8, followed by Louisville’s Jaleel Skinner at 27.4 and SMU’s Yannick Smith at 25.2.
SMU dominated the most recent meeting, rolling to a 38-6 win in Dallas last November. Louisville was missing key pieces in that game, including its starting quarterback and top two running backs, and also lost its top receiver during the contest. Lashlee called that result an “outlier,” while also pointing to the way Louisville’s defense has improved across the board.
There are impact defenders on both sides worth watching. Louisville edge rusher Clev Lubin, who tied for fourth in the ACC with 8.5 sacks last season, is tied for the national lead with two forced fumbles this year. SMU safety Jimmy Wyrick is tied for the team lead with 11 tackles and shares sixth in the ACC with two sacks.
Louisville could also get a boost on defense. Linebacker Kalib Perry, who missed the first two games, was added to a recent lawsuit in a local court that would allow him to play a fifth season. Perry finished fifth on the team last season with 55 tackles and went undrafted before taking part in minicamps with the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and Tennessee Titans.
SMU has a possible reinforcement of its own in 2025 All-ACC first-team safety Ahmaad Moses, who is part of a Texas court case, though he still has not been medically cleared to return.
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