Cards Flip The Script On Florida State & Season

Isaac Brown Louisville vs. Florida State 10-9-2026 | William Caudill

The stadium was not happy. Social media was declaring Louisville Football a hazmat disaster. Florida State was leading 14-0 and inside the Red Zone about to tack on another score.

The Cards had started slow again. An 8-play drive had stalled at midfield after a failed 4th down attempt and its other drive of the game saw a 54-yard FG miss just to the right.

The natives weren't just restless. They were pissed.

Where had this promising season gone? Why wasn't this talent translating to success for the Cards? Fans were grappling with the idea that THIS team, the team that had lost at the buzzer in its opener to Ole Miss by 3, a team that at one point was ranked as high as #16 in the country.... was on its way to a 2-4 record.

THE SPARK: Isaac Brown

With Florida State leading 14-0 with the ball on the 2-yard line Mike Norvell decided to go for the TD instead of the FG...... and the Cards stopped it. LIFE.

It took one play to make everyone believe again. Isaac Brown took a handoff from Lincoln Kienholz and followed a hole created by the entire left side of the Louisville Offensive Line and ran an electrifying 97-yards for a Touchdown.

And this wasn't just a time to believe in Louisville again. It was a time to believe in the Louisville running game again. The Cards dominated SMU running the ball and then were shutdown a week later vs. Wake Forest. Fumbles doomed the Cards in Raleigh.

Fans hadn't seen Isaac Brown do that yet this year. At least not in person. Isaac Brown has the reputation as a dynamic runner, but he was not that same ball carrier in 2026 as he had been in 2025 & 2024 for the Cards. 36 yards vs. Ole Miss, 61 vs. Villanova, 67 vs. SMU, 33 vs. Wake Forest.

Isaac broke a big one against NC State, his 1st real explosive of the year and the Cards still lost. But that run seemed to answer a number of questions for Louisville: 1) Can they run the ball confidently? 2) Is Isaac Brown back?

The answer tonight was: YES!

The Solution: Run The Damn Ball

Louisville took off on the ground vs. Florida State. After the Isaac Brown long run, Marquise Davis got into the action. Jeff Brohm said after the game, "the offensive line could feel it popping in there." Louisville had found something.

RUN. THE. DAMN. BALL.

And Louisville's running game both demoralized Florida State and brought Louisville's season back to life.

Lincoln Kienholz: 2 Rushing Touchdowns to start the 3rd quarter. Cards go up 28-14.

To start the 4th quarter, Joker & The Thief played, the stadium was unhinged and a series of entirely run plays was capped with a 44-yard Touchdown run from Braxton Jennings. 35-14.

And then the final nail in the coffin. 68-yard Touchdown from Isaac Brown. All on the ground.

Prior to taking 3 knees to end the game Louisville was over 400 yards rushing. The Cards have only been over 400 yards on the ground EIGHT times in school history. As it is, Louisville finishes with its 9th best rushing performance of all time with 397 yards.

A Confident Defense: Five Consecutive Punts

Louisville's run game might get the majority of the headlines tonight. But don't let it get lost that this defense rallied.

The Cardinal defense played 90 total snaps against NC State. Florida State first 3 drives totaled 33 plays. That's a lot of plays. UofL was having trouble getting off the field...... and after the FSU failed 4th down in the 2nd quarter: FIVE CONSECUTIVE PUNTS.

Louisville's defense got THREE "3 & OUTS" in its final 8 FSU possessions and got an Interception. The Noles managed just 6 points the rest of the game.

That's the same defense that fans have been frustrated with for its breakdowns. After the first 3 possessions of the game FSU's offense only managed 8 plays of 10+ or more and NONE of those went into the endzone. Bend, don't break.

Jeff Brohm Hands Over Play Calling

Jeff Brohm said this was the 1st time in 14 years that he hasn't called plays for the offense. Instead, Jeff turned over playcalling to his younger brother Brian Brohm against Florida State.

Brian Brohm is in his 11th season as an offensive coordinator. Today was the 1st time Jeff handed him the call sheet. No one else knows this offense better than Brian.

Jeff Brohm said: 'It was needed. When you lose two games it is not fun. I felt like we could play a lot better overall. I felt like we could play a lot better on defense. They embraced it. We made a plan and went over and over it and over it and over it.'

Jeff Brohm handed the offense to his brother so he could spend more time with his new defensive coordinator Mark Ivey and generally be more hands on with his team. Will this new approach last? That remains to be seen. But we did see a team more effectively adjust and rally tonight.

What we did see was an offense that exploded, and it didn't need Jeff directly calling the plays to still feel like it was "The Jeff Brohm Offense".

The Season Saved?

The mood certainly shifted in Card Nation tonight. Louisville is sitting at 3-3, just blew out Florida State. It's losses are all frustrating (all by 3) but they are all in the rearview mirror. The only thing Louisville Football and its fans can do is to move forward.

Did tonight save Louisville's season? That's hard to say. But the overall mood and attitude around the program certainly shifted as the Cards reeled off 35 unanswered points against Florida State.

In 2024 Louisville Football lost 3 one score games and were slowly climbing back up the College Football Playoff Poll. An upset loss to Stanford halted any back door entry to the playoff for Tyler Shough and company, but two years ago Louisville showed that it was possible.

All the Cards can do now is go out and handle its business. Next up is Syracuse in the Dome. Then BYE week. Then Stanford. Louisville should be heavily favored through October. What does the rest of college football do to itself in that time? UofL can't control any of that.

The season may not be solely in the hands of the Cards, they'll need some help along the way. But maybe its head coach found something with Brian Brohm calling plays, a roughneck run game, and a defense that played with confidence with a little more input from its head coach.