Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm is known for not only having success at all levels of football, but is also known for running an extremely complex, multi-level offense. A scheme that only someone with an elevated understanding of the game can stomach and make functional. That’s how we knew Lincol n Kienholz was the real deal, when Brohm snagged him from Ohio State and listed him as the Cardinal starter on day one. Folks around central South Dakota knew of Lincoln’s legitimacy back when he was winning State Championships under Steve Steele and the Govs. Sunday night, however, is when Lincoln Kienholz introduced his game to the entire country. And it did not disappoint. The #24-ranked Cardinals played the #9 Ole Miss Rebels in a stand-alone game on ESPN Sunday night, losing in a heartbreaker by a final score of 41-38. The Rebels put together a two-minute drive that ended the back-and-forth affair with a game-winning field goal. Though for a guy in Lincoln Kienholz who was making his first career collegiate start, it was an overwhelming success after overcoming a two-score deficit in the fourth quarter. Kienholz put on a performance that, while in a loss, will have Cardinal contingent extremely excited for what is to come over the next few weeks with their program. The night did not start in a promising fashion for Kienholz. He only completed around half of his passes for a little over 4o yards in the first half. A first and second quarter that saw Kienholz missing some wide-open, routine throws on multiple occasions. One of which coming on a busted Ole Miss defensive coverage that would have certainly led to six for Louisville had Kienholz been able to target the pass. Not only was Kienholz a bit shaky with his throws, he also had difficulty managing the clock as they had to use multiple timeouts to avoid delay of the game penalties. The good news for head coach Brohm and his quarterback, all of those things are coachable. Other good news for Kienholz and his coach? What he did in the second half was simply all resilience, grit and talent. Traits that you simply can’t teach. Kienholz first half showing had many wondering if Jeff Brohm might go a different direction at quarterback in the second half. His defense was keeping his team in the game, the offense just couldn’t get going. But whatever was said to Kienholz at halftime helped him flip a switch, and finish with five-star stat line. Lincoln would go on to end the night completing 18 of 29 passes with over 300 yards through the air and 2 touchdowns. His biggest play of the game came on his biggest drive of the night on the Cardinals last possession. Under all of the games pressure, Kienholz maneuvered the Cardinals down the field and capped off an impressive sequence with a game-tying rushing touchdown to knot the game at 38-38. Within that drive (and the entirety of the second half), Kienholz not only showed off his legs, but displayed his innate ability to throw on the move. Kienholz finished with three total scores for his team, and gave Louisville a real shot at pulling the upset over the top-10 Rebels. Kienholz, who spent his first few college years backing up Julian Sayin at Ohio State, only able to show his stuff in cleanup time when the Buckeyes were cruising to victory. This was his first true chance to play on the national stage and prove he belongs amongst the best, and he passed the test with flying colors. The night did not go without vast chatter about the great state of South Dakota. Some of Lincoln’s game film from a championship victory with Pierre inside the DakotaDome was shown on the broadcast, and play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough even got the pronunciation of ‘Pierre’ correct. Something I am sure many wondered if he would pronounce like a Frenchman. All-in-all, it was a great night for Kienholz, even with Louisville dropping to 0-1 on the year. It was also a good night for all of those from Pierre who watched him grow from a young and budding star all the way to the limelight on national television. Louisville will host Villanova Friday night, September 11th, on the ACC Network at 6:00 PM CT. ...read more read less