Kickoff: Sunday, September 6 at 6:30 PM CT
Location: Nissan Stadium
TV: ABC
DraftKings line (Aug. 30): MISS -6.5
Over/under: 55.5

The setup

Louisville-Ole Miss is Week 1’s only ranked-versus-ranked game. Sunday night gets the one matchup where both teams enter with a number beside the logo.

What I’m watching

This is the cleanest strength-on-strength part of the game. Ole Miss finished No. 13 nationally at 6.9 yards each time it snapped the ball; Louisville was No. 7 at stopping offenses, allowing 5.0. 5 starters from the offense and 5 from the defense return. Whichever side still looks like its 2025 version probably controls the game.

Personnel snapshot

• Louisville: Jeff Brohm enters Year 4 as head coach. 9 starters return—4 on offense and 5 on defense. Key defenders back include T.J. Capers, Clev Lubin, and Tayon Holloway. Louisville’s defense allowed 303.1 yards and 23.5 points per game last season.
• Louisville quarterback: Lincoln Kienholz is projected to start for Louisville. Last season, he threw for 139 yards, 1 TD and 0 INT.
• Ole Miss: Pete Golding enters Year 2 as head coach. 10 starters return—5 on offense and 5 on defense. Key defenders back include Will Echoles, Kam Franklin, and Suntarine Perkins. Ole Miss’ defense allowed 348.0 yards and 21.2 points per game last season.
• Ole Miss quarterback: Trinidad Chambliss returns as Ole Miss’s starting quarterback. Last season, he threw for 3,016 yards, 18 TD and 3 INT.

Three quick analysis points

• The recent trend: Louisville starts No. 24, its first preseason AP ranking since 2017. Jeff Brohm also owns three straight nine-win seasons, so the poll finally caught up to the results.
• The matchup wrinkle: Louisville back Isaac Brown averaged 8.8 yards per carry, best in the country by more than a full yard. A normal two-yard run and one Brown carry averaged out to a first down.
• Trinidad Chambliss was willing to test the deep part of the field: On passes thrown at least 20 yards downfield, Trinidad Chambliss went 28-for-55 for 987 yards, 5 TD and 2 INT. Deep throws made up 12.3% of his attempts—about one in every 8.1 throws.

Prediction

I make final predictions on my TikTok/YouTube/Instagram/Facebook pages @uthinkuknowsports.

Full disclosure: I use AI tools to format my research into an article encompassing all of the information.