LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The scoreboard says 1,823 days have passed since Louisville last won a football game in the Governor’s Cup rivalry.
We know the Who, What and Where. Kentucky has won three games at Kroger Field (twice) and Cardinal Stadium (once).
What we don’t know is the Why.
Why have the Wildcats won by a combined margin of 109 points when they were only favored by a combined 17 points in the 2018, 2019 and 2021 games?
A gap in talent certainly leads the conversation. In the last four NFL Drafts, 17 Wildcats have been selected, while only 3 Cards have been called.
But the games were all expected to be closer than four, five or more touchdowns.
The fact is that when Kentucky won by 46 points in 2018, the Wildcats were only favored by 17 in the aftermath of Bobby Petrino’s firing.
In 2019, Las Vegas said UK by 3. The scoreboard said Kentucky 45-13.
In 2021, Las Vegas said U of L by 3. The scoreboard said Kentucky 52-21.
Why?
I asked Satterfield if the Wildcats were clearly more talented, or if they were a bad matchup for Louisville, or if Kentucky had simply played better.
“Yeah, it's a great question,” Satterfield said.
“You know, I think a little of (all of that) probably. You know, last year, coming back and looking at it, particularly on defense, you know, we never did slow them down much at all.
“Loose coverages. The Q (runs by quarterback Will Levis) really hurt. Nothing went right.
“It was just one of those days nothing went right. Even early in the game it’s 14-7 and we're driving and we get in a little bit of a scuffle on the sidelines and we kind of lost our composure, I felt. And from that point forward it was straight down hill.
“Then the first year (2019), you know, down there, it was one of the nastiest weather days I've been a part of, raining and cold, and at halftime, I think it was a four-point game, maybe. It was close.
“In the second half we just didn't slow them down.
“So I think, you know, we’ve certainly got to play really good football. We have to, we have to play good in all three (offense, defense, special teams) aspects.
“We're not good enough just to go show up. I mean, we got to go play. We got to play great football. Complimentary football in all three phases to have an opportunity to win this game. We recognize that and again, we’ve got to have a great week of prep.”
The 2018 game was a write-off. The Cards had lost seven in a row before the Wildcats came to Louisville. U of L was coached by Lorenzo Ward, who replaced Petrino for the final two games. (Ward, for the record, is in his fourth season as the defensive coordinator at Chattanooga.)
The Wildcats led, 35-10 at halftime and outgained U of L, 601-305. Malik Cunningham, a freshman, completed 5 of 8 passes for 64 yards while leading the Cards with 89 yards on five carries.
The 2019 game was precisely as Satterfield remembered. Kentucky led, 17-13, after three quarters. Then it became the Lynn Bowden Show. On a day when he completed only one of two pass attempts, Bowden ran for 284 yards and four touchdowns.
Hey, Bowden did the same thing against Missouri, Arkansas, Virginia Tech and others that season.
But last season?
Last season was an embarrassment. A Kentucky team that averaged 32 points per game hung 52 on the Cardinals.
Levis ran for 113 yards and 4 touchdowns. That remains the only 100-yard rushing game of Levis’s career at UK. For an assortment of reasons, mainly injuries, Levis has 2 rushing touchdowns and has not scored since Sept. 17. His best running game in 2022 was last Saturday against Georgia, when he ran five times for 26 yards.
Bryan Brown, the Cards’ defensive coordinator, said there was nothing magical that his defense needed to do to stop Levis on Saturday. Just play the way the Cards have played since early October.
“We’ve got to tackle,” Brown said. “That’s the first and foremost thing. We’ve got to do a good job of eye control and when we’re supposed to stay in the box (near the line of scrimmage), we need to stay in the box and just execute.
“We didn’t execute a lot last year, especially in the quarterback run game. That’s what we’ve got to do a lot better job with this year.”
Five players have rushed for 100 yards against Louisville this season in 11 games. None were quarterbacks.
The last rushing quarterback to punish the Cards was Garrett Shrader of Syracuse who ran for 94 yards when the Orange won the season opener, 31-7.
Brown’s defense has fixed its issues since an Oct. 1 loss to Boston College, carrying the Cards to five wins in six games. The ability of Louisville’s defense to deal with Will Levis will determine if the Governor’s Cup becomes a legitimate rivalry again.
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