Louisville and Stanford each came into Saturday afternoon’s game in “The Derby City” on two game winning streaks and riding some momentum.  Louisville was coming off a bye week after beating Syracuse last time out and Stanford coming off a win against NC State in Palo Alto that ultimately got Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren fired. 

It was the first matchup between these two programs in Louisville, with Stanford prevailing in the only previous matchup in 2024 at Palo Alto, 38-35.  A lighter than usual crowd filled into L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium for a Halloween affair on an overcast and pleasantly mild afternoon.  The Cardinal offense had plenty of treats for the fans and the defense was tricked a few times, much to their dismay. 

Louisville came into the contest as a 22.5-point favorite according to DraftKings and established the offense early.  With news coming out this weekend that receiver Lawayne McCoy would be out for an extended period after an injury sustained in the Syracuse game, Lincoln Kienholz and the Cards were intentional in getting Tre Richardson involved early and often. 

The Ville went 80 yards for a touchdown on the first drive with Richardson hauling in four catches, including a 44 yarder with Louisville facing a third and long on its own 34-yard line.  Isaac Brown capped the drive with a 5-yard touchdown dash up the middle. 

The Louisville defense would hold Stanford to just 66 yards on 17 plays in the first quarter with turnovers being the overall story of the first 15 minutes.  Louisville advanced the ball to the Stanford 19-yard line on their second drive, attempting a fake field goal where Ryan Zimmerman completed a pass to Brody Foley who was tackled short of the line to gain. Coming into today’s game, Stanford was 136th in the country in red zone defensive efficiency, giving up points 96.4% of the time. 

Stanford went for it on fourth-and-four at the Louisville 47-yard line late in the quarter and defensive lineman Tommy Ziesmer busted through the Stanford offensive line for a sack and turnover on downs.  Two plays later, Kienholz would fumble setting up a Stanford drive that led to the end of the quarter. 

Stanford capped off their short yardage opportunity with a 48-yard field goal by Emmet Kenney to make it 7-3.  Fireworks would ensue for the remainder of the half.  Louisville went three-and-out prior to Stanford quarterback Davis Warren burning the Louisville defense for a 41-yard touchdown pass to Nico Brown.  10-7 Cardinal.   

Louisville’s ensuing drive saw Keyjuan Brown rip off three carries for 21 yards, then Richardson took an end around 14 yards.  Kienholz put a pass over the top of the Stanford defense, finding tight end Jaleel Skinner for 18 yards setting the Cards up inside the 10-yard line.  After what appeared to be a touchdown on a slant pass to Treyshun Hurry for six yards was ultimately overturned, Kienholz would sneak up the middle for his 11th rushing touchdown of the season.  14-10 Cards. 

Warren found backup tight end Aiden Black for a 75-yard touchdown on a delayed drag the first play of Stanford’s next drive. 17-14 Cardinal, 5:24 left in the first half. 

Louisville drove 58 yards on a 30-yard hookup from Kienholz to Richardson and 20 rushing yards from Isaac Brown to set up a tying 35-yard field goal from Louisville kicker Carson Hilbert. 17-17, 1:49 left in the first half. 

A quick three-and-out that was doomed after a Demeco Kennedy tackle for a 6-yard loss on a swing pass put the Cards in position for one more first half drive.  With :55 seconds, three quick passes to Richardson for 19 yards set the Cards up for a 22-yard strike to Treyshun Hurry who absorbed a massive hit by the Stanford defensive back for the touchdown. 24-17 Louisville at the half. 

At the break, the Louisville offense already had 286 yards, with 117 on the ground and 169 through the air.  Kienholz was 14-for-18 with Richardson pulling in 10 receptions for 101 yards to go with three carries for 30 yards.  The Cardinal had 22 players record a tackle in the first half. 

The Stanford offense had 177 yards on 27 plays in the first half.  Two plays went for 116 yards, while their other 25 went for 61. The big pass play was killing Louisville once again.  Louisville held Stanford to one-for-six on third down in the half. 

Stanford would strike first in the second half on a fourth-and-one play action shot where they slipped running back Micah Ford into the flat for a 40-yard touchdown.  With the game tied at 24 and the remaining crowd of 44,308 rather uneasy, Louisville took over. 

Isaac Brown took over in the second half.  He took a swing pass 18 yards for a touchdown to put Louisville up 31-24 and for good.  With :23 seconds left in the third quarter he darted for a 23-yard touchdown and put an exclamation point on it with a 75-yard touchdown on the first play of a drive with 10:01 left to finish the scoring at 52-24.  Brown finished with a career high four touchdowns on the day & 139 rushing yards on nine carries (15.4 avg).

The Stanford defense came into the game ranked 120th in the country in rush defense allowing 187.6 yards per game.  The Cards rushed for 296 yards on 33 carries.  Kienholz had 64 yards on nine carries (6.9 avg), Keyjuan Brown 50 yards on seven carries (7.1 avg) and Richardson with 49 yards on 4 carries (12.2 avg). 

Richardson finished with 140 receiving yards on 10 receptions, Hurry and Isaac Brown each had 33 receiving yards and a score. 

The Louisville defense put the clamps on the rest of the way.  The final six drives for Stanford resulted in 36 plays for 109 yards.  Tayon Holloway took an attempted hook and ladder fumble 31 yards for a touchdown.  Jabari Mack produced a fourth down interception in the third quarter and held Stanford to two more turnover on downs for the half. 

Louisville finished the game with 545 yards.  In the three games since offensive coordinator Brian Brohm took over the play calling, the Cards are 3-0: averaging 502 yards and 43.3 points per game.  Kienholz had another efficient day going 20-for-28 for 250 yards and two touchdowns. 

The defense was led by Stanquan Clark with eight tackles and a quarterback hurry.  Clev Lubin and Kalib Perry each had five tackles. Holloway, Ben Perry and Kaleb Beasley recorded pass breakups. 

Warren finished 23-for-37 with 270 yards and three touchdowns.  Nico Brown pulled in six receptions for 109 yards and a touchdown and Ford rushed the ball 20 times for 72 yards.  Stanford falls to 3-5 on the season.    

In the special teams department, Hilbert was one-for-two on field goals and seven-for-seven on extra points.  Niall Hayes had 2 punts for 81 yards, and Jackson Voth had two punt returns for 45 yards including a 33 yarder.  Kickoff specialist Nick Keller put eight through the back of the end zone for the most touchbacks in a game since at least 2000. 

Louisville improves to 5-3 this season and 4-2 in the ACC. 

The Cards got help in the ACC race from Syracuse today, who knocked off SMU and gave the Mustangs their second conference loss of the season.  Next up for The Ville is a road contest in Atlanta vs Georgia Tech next Saturday night.  The game kicks at 7:30 and will be steamed on the ACC Network.  The Yellow Jackets are 2-5 on the season and 1-3 in conference play with a game at Acrisure Stadium against Pittsburgh tonight.