<\/p>\n
Louisville running back Keyjuan Brown (5) runs from a tackle-attempt by SMU cornerback Marcellus Barnes Jr. (8) during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
Timothy D. Easley\/AP Photo\/Timothy D. Easley<\/p>\n
Louisville running back Isaac Brown, right, is grabbed by SMU safety Jarvis Lee, second from right, during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
Timothy D. Easley\/AP Photo\/Timothy D. Easley<\/p>\n
SMU safety Jimmy Wyrick (21) tackles Louisville running back Isaac Brown (1) during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
Timothy D. Easley\/AP Photo\/Timothy D. Easley<\/p>\n
Louisville running back Keyjuan Brown (5) is chased by SMU defensive end Aakil Washington, left, during the first half of an NCAA college football game in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026.<\/p>\n
Timothy D. Easley\/AP Photo\/Timothy D. Easley<\/p>\n
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) \u2014 Keyjuan Brown ran for a career-high 163 yards and a pair of long touchdowns on 10 carries to guide No. 23 Louisville to a 41-31 victory over 16th-ranked SMU on Saturday.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The preseason media picks to finish second (SMU) and third (Louisville) in the Atlantic Coast Conference put on a back-and-forth affair, trading the lead eight times before the Cardinals sealed it on Isaac Brown\u2019s 27-yard touchdown with 5:32 remaining to finish the scoring.<\/p>\n
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The Cardinals (2-1, 1-0 ACC) then stripped SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings of the ball just before the goal line on the Mustangs\u2019 ensuing drive, turning what would have been a 19-yard touchdown into a touchback as the ball rolled out of the end zone with 2:43 remaining.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe scrapped, and we played hard to the end and found a way to make more plays than them,\u201d Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said. \u201cThat shows the toughness and the makeup of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Louisville\u2019s Lincoln Kienholz threw for 177 yards on 14-for-23 passing. He threw for two scores and added another on the ground as Louisville amassed 442 yards of offense.<\/p>\n
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Trailing 17-14 at halftime, Louisville regained the lead in the opening minute of the third quarter on Keyjuan Brown\u2019s 58-yard run. His 53-yarder with 10:02 left put the Cardinals ahead for good, 35-31.<\/p>\n
Kendrick Raphael rushed for a career-best 197 yards and tied a personal high with three scores to lead the Mustangs (2-1, 1-1). His 12-yard touchdown run with 11:33 left put SMU ahead 31-28.<\/p>\n
Jennings completed 24 of 35 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown, but he also threw a pair of interceptions, both by Kaleb Beasley.<\/p>\n
The takeaway<\/p>\n
SMU: The Mustangs had 479 yards, ran 20 more plays and held the ball for nearly four minutes longer than Louisville. However, several mistakes cost them dearly. Louisville stopped them twice on fourth downs, and both times the Cardinals countered with touchdowns. SMU also lost the turnover battle 3-0.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe won everything but the score and the turnover battle, and that\u2019s kind of the story today,\u201d SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said.<\/p>\n
Louisville: The Cardinals\u2019 running game wasn\u2019t nonexistent in their first two games of the season, but it lacked the big-play explosiveness it had shown in recent seasons. That finally emerged Saturday as Louisville finished with 265 yards on 37 carries, with eight plays of at least 12 yards.<\/p>\n
Hot, hot, hot<\/p>\n
The temperature at kickoff in Louisville was 95 degrees Fahrenheit, making it the second hottest Cardinals home game in history behind only the Sept. 1, 2011, contest against Murray State when the temperature reached 98 degrees.<\/p>\n
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Give and take<\/p>\n
Penalties continue to be an issue for the Cardinals, who committed 11 for 110 yards, the most yardage they\u2019ve surrendered since losing 121 in a loss at Miami on Nov. 9, 2019. Seven of the flags were for personal fouls, unsportsmanlike conduct or unnecessary roughness.<\/p>\n
On the brighter side, Louisville matched the 2024 squad by starting the season with three turnover-free games.<\/p>\n
Rare loss for SMU<\/p>\n
Before Saturday, SMU was 16-1 in games under Lashlee where it amassed at least 475 yards and outgained its opponent. The only other defeat happened on last Nov. 29 at California.<\/p>\n
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Up next<\/p>\n
SMU hosts Missouri State next Saturday.<\/p>\n
Louisville hosts Wake Forest next Saturday.<\/p>\n
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Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP\u2019s full college football coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Louisville running back Keyjuan Brown (5) runs from a tackle-attempt by SMU cornerback Marcellus Barnes Jr. (8) during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[129890,26527,152791,18312,3143,23681,202,196,42838,42094,1721,942,20515,82,84,83,152790],"class_list":["post-441567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-isaac-brown","tag-jeff-brohm","tag-kaleb-beasley","tag-kevin-jennings","tag-louisville","tag-package-100024-ap-online","tag-package-100502-member-choice-sports-option","tag-product-30599-ap-sports-news-s-wire-only","tag-product-32556-ap-online-college-game-stories","tag-product-32562-ap-online-other-sports-news","tag-product-40788-ap-kentucky-sports-only","tag-product-40815-ap-texas-sports-only","tag-rhett-lashlee","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-smu-louisville-score-top-25"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}