Louisville Edges Tar Heels, 16-14 - University of North Carolina Athletics

Saturday, November 14

Chapel Hill

7 P.M.

North Carolina

5-5 , 2-4

Louisville

7-3 , 6-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
Louisville	3	10	0	3	16
North Carolina	7	0	0	7	14

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FB huddle
University of North Carolina Football v Louisville
Kenan Stadium
Chapel Hill, NC
Saturday, November 14, 2026

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 14, 2026 | Football

Box Score Final Stats (.pdf)Quotes Postgame Notes Photo Gallery

By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Louisville scored 13 consecutive points in the first half, held North Carolina scoreless in the second and third quarters and beat the Tar Heels, 16-14, on Saturday night at Kenan Stadium.

The Cardinals won their fifth consecutive game, all in Atlantic Coast Conference play, and improved to 7-3 this season and 6-2 in the ACC. Carolina fell to 5-5 and 2-4, missing an opportunity to become bowl-eligible with a victory.

The Tar Heels, who had scored at least 30 points in each of their previous three games, scored a season-low 14 points.

"Hard-fought game that came down to a handful of plays and we just weren't able to make enough of them tonight," Tar Heel head coach Bill Belichick said. "Louisville's a good team, good offense, hard to stop, but they still moved the ball and it was challenging. I thought Travis [Burgess] stepped in there and did a good job on the opportunity that he got, gave us some spark and made some plays. But in the end, we could get enough done."

Louisville quarterback Lincoln Kienholz completed 23 of 31 passing attempts, but only compiled 154 yards with a touchdown. Keyjuan Brown ran it 11 times for 78 yards (7.1 yards per carry) and Isaac Brown added 12 carries for 50 yards (4.9 yards per attempt) to lead the Cardinal ground attack. Lawayne McCoy led seven Card receivers with six catches for 64 yards.

Billy Edwards Jr. started under center and completed 10 of 14 passing attempts for 120 yards before leaving the game with an apparent upper-body injury in the third quarter. Third-string, true freshman Travis Burgess replaced Edwards midway through the third quarter in his first college appearance. He connected on 6 of 11 attempts for 59 yards with a hard-luck interception and eight carries for 35 yards on the ground.

Benjamin Hall ran it 10 times for 48 yards and both Tar Heel touchdowns. Demon June added seven carries for 44 yards. Jordan Shipp caught seven passes for 61 yards. Jelani Thurman was questionable to play prior to the game but still caught five passes for 72 yards, averaging 14.4 yards per reception.

The Cardinals led, 13-7, at halftime after blanking Carolina, 10-0, in the second quarter. Louisville more than doubled the Tar Heels' first-half offensive output, compiling 75 yards on the ground, 130 through the air and 214 total yards in the opening two periods. Carolina had 27 rushing yards, 62 yards passing and 89 overall. The Cards dominated time of possession, 19:18 to 10:42.

"Defense really stepped up and made a lot of big plays in the second half," said Cardinal head coach Jeff Brohm. "I thought they played really good the whole game. We were able to pressure at times and get some key stops. Of course, the four plays and out and the interception at the end was huge, so great job by them. Offensively, we moved in the first half, then we started to have some penalties, knocked us back, got us off rhythm."

Both teams turned to the running game as the offenses slowed in the second half.

Carson Hilbert hit a 36-yard field goal for Louisville halfway through the fourth quarter to give the Cardinals a 16-7 lead. Four minutes later, Hall scored on a six-yard run, but the Cards intercepted the Tar Heels on their final drive of the game and ran out the clock to ensure the win.

How It Happened
First Quarter
• The Cardinals took the opening kickoff and slowly but surely marched down the field in 10 plays for a 46-yard Ryan Zimmerman field goal at the 10:26 mark to go ahead 3-0.
• Benjamin Hall ran around the left side from 11 yards out to give Carolina a 7-3 lead, marking the Tar Heels' 14th consecutive scoring drive when they've reached the red zone.

Second Quarter
• The Cards took the ball late in the first quarter and moved 60 yards in 10 plays over 5:38 before kicking another field goal to pull within a point at 7-6 with 14:16 remaining in the half.
• On UNC's ensuing drive, Louisville 's Koen Entringer came in unblocked from the right side and forced an Edwards fumble that Joshua McDonald recovered at the Tar Heel 21 to give the Cardinals ideal field position less than a minute into the second period.
• Four plays later, Louisville ran it three times before Kienholz hit a wide-open Jaleel Skinner in the left side of the end zone for a three-yard touchdown pass to put the Cardinals ahead, 13-7.

Third Quarter
• Neither team could create much offense throughout a scoreless third quarter, then T.J. Capers sacked Edwards, forcing the Tar Heel QB out of the game with an injury with 9:20 left in the period. Burgess then replaced Edwards under center at that point.

Fourth Quarter
• On a Tar Heel possession that started with 5:58 left in the third quarter, Carolina ran the ball 11 times on a methodical, 12-play drive. Carolina went for it on a fourth-and-four play from the Louisville 21-yard line, but Burgess' pass went incomplete for a turnover on downs.
• The Cardinals took over and ran it seven times during a 10-play drive, culminated by a 36-yard field goal by Carson Hilbert to make the score 16-7 Louisville.
• Hall ran it into the end zone off right tackle from six yards out, capping a nine-play, 75-yard drive in 3:45 for UNC's first points since its first drive of the game. The score made it 16-14 Louisville with 3:43 on the clock.
• Louisville then held the ball for two minutes before punting it back to Carolina.
• UNC took over at its own 30-yard line with 1:41 on the clock. After an incompletion from Burgess to Hall on third-and-12, Burgess' fourth-down pass hit the hands of Shipp, who bobbled the ball. Jabari Mack grabbed it for an interception and returned it 32 yards to the Carolina 12.
• Louisville ran out the clock from there to pick up the win.

Up Next
Carolina will play its final road game of the 2026 season next Saturday (November 21) at Virginia. Game time is set for 12:30 p.m. on The CW.

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