Why Ole Miss, Pete Golding are Approaching Louisville ‘Like an SEC Team’

OXFORD | It’s officially game week inside the Manning Center. Ole Miss is just six days away from kickoff against Louisville at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

All eyes will be on the No. 9 Rebels and No. 24 Cardinals on Sunday, as the two square off as the only ranked Week 1 matchup at 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC. Both teams believe they have College Football Playoff caliber squads. Winning their season-opener will be a sizable first step to get to meaningful postseason play.

Starting under center for the Cardinals is junior Lincoln Keinholz. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound signal-caller transferred to Louisville following three seasons as a backup at Ohio State, appearing in nine games during his time with the Buckeyes.

There aren’t a lot of knowns about Kienholz as a college quarterback up to this point, but it is worth mentioning that he had just about every offer one could want coming out of high school as he was a top-ranked national recruit during the 2023 cycle. As far as scouting, Pete Golding has his teams looking back at a mix of his college and high school tape.

What Golding Said

Head coach Pete Golding of Mississippi makes final pregame comments before their matchup at the Fiesta Bowl during a news conference at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn Resort on Jan. 7, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“I think it's a combination of both those. Obviously from an athletic standpoint, skill set standpoint you’re looking at previous tape where you actually get to see him play the game. ‘Is he a dual-threat guy?’ and arm strength and all those types of things,” Golding said Monday. “But I think also you go back ‘Okay, when Brohm’s had a first-year starter at the position, what’s that kind of look like early in the season? Is it the full menu for them?’. We know he’s a super talented kid, so he was recruited by everybody in the country coming out of high school, was at a really good program and coached really well where he’s at.

I got a lot of respect for Brohm and I have for a long time. He does a really good job on offense of sequencing plays and playing to his players’ strengths. I think one of the best things they do is they’re so multiple and they get the guys the ball early. He puts guys in good spots. I think he knows what he has. He’s done this for a long time so there’s going to be some things that we’re going to try to do to obviously affect their quarterback — like we do every week. I do think when you have an athletic quarterback, sometimes you gotta be careful what you wish for — you start changing pitchers and it’s not there then guys are going to start running. Then we gotta be able to account for his legs as well.”

Sticking along with the offensive side of the ball, Kienholz has a reliable run game to lean on to help stabilize balance for the Cardinals’ approach.

Over the last two seasons with Louisville, junior running back Isaac Brown has totaled 2,057 rushing yards and 18 rushing touchdowns (19 total) on 266 carries (7.7 YPC). Obviously the 5-foot-9, 190-pounder has the Rebels’ full attention on the defensive side of the ball.

“I think the number one thing in any football game, you better stop the run,” Golding explained. “When you’re playing a really good player, especially early in the season where there hasn’t been a ton of live reps of tackling — Obviously try to structure that in practice where there’s tackling circuits or certain drills, but there’s nothing like getting out there in 11-on-11 having a responsibility to run and pass. That’s always your concern going into Week 1 — ball security on offense and then the ability to get guys on the ground on defense.”

Fortunately for Ole Miss’ defense, the unit gets to practice against a pretty good running back itself on a daily basis.

“I think it’s really good for us (that) we go against an elite running back every day. Thank goodness, because this kid is special. (Brown’s) explosive on tape, really good in space and he’s got top-end speed to be able to finish,” Golding said of Louisville’s top back. “Super impressed. I think he’s one of the best backs we’ll actually see all year when you really watch it on tape. That offense kind of goes as he goes and that’s one thing I think when you watch in the games — Brohm does a really good job of staying patient and they never lose control. He’s shown to be really explosive (and) really competitive. Very dynamic. They do a lot of unique things in the run game…Gang tackling, keeping edges, not losing leverage is going to be really critical in the run game.”

Defensively, Louisville’s defense generated over 30 sacks and 20 takeaways during its 9-4 campaign last season. Golding believes his offense will have their hands full and will rely on his two new starting tackles to be key factors in controlling Louisville’s threatening edge rushers.

Louisville boasted one of the best pass defenses in the ACC during 2025, but it's the Cardinals defensive line that has Ole Miss’ attention the most.

For Golding, Louisville might as well be looked at as Ole Miss’ tenth SEC game on the schedule.

“I think number one, the way they affect the quarterback,” Ole Miss’ head coach said of the initial standout of Louisville’s defense. “I think they’re really athletic and long on the edges. Both of those coming back combined had double-digit sacks last year. They play the game really violent. I think their nickel is a really good player (and) does a really good job in the run game. I think they’re very versatile on defense — give you a lot of different looks while keeping it still simple. Their guys play extremely fast and they’re physical. We gotta protect the football, number one, game one that’s always your biggest concern when a lot of these guys haven't been live. These edges in the run game and pass game, we gotta control the edges (and) got to be able to get the ball in space to our guys.”

Also gotta be able to slow the game down and the run the football effectively when we need to run the football. They were really good against the pass last year. We’ll have our work cut out for us, but I would say the length on the edges and the athletic ability up front. They’re going to challenge you with how they line up, the run pressures and things like that. They were really good against the pass last year. I think they led the ACC in pass defense. We’ll have our work cut out for us. The length on the edges and the athletic ability up front stand out. They look like an SEC football team.”

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