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Louisville football: How the Cards will beat Kentucky in the Governor’s Cup

By Will Reddington

LOUISVILLE, KY - NOVEMBER 24: Lynn Bowden Jr #1 of the Kentucky Wildcats runs with the ball while defended by C.J. Avery #9 of the Louisville Cardinals on November 24, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - NOVEMBER 24: Lynn Bowden Jr #1 of the Kentucky Wildcats runs with the ball while defended by C.J. Avery #9 of the Louisville Cardinals on November 24, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Louisville football will look to get to eight wins on Saturday when they travel 80 miles down I-64 to battle arch-rival Kentucky in the annual Governor’s Cup.

Louisville football’s regular season concludes this Saturday in Lexington. After a highly successful year so far, the Cardinals have a chance to make it all that more impressive with a road victory over the Kentucky Wildcats.

If Louisville can win this weekend, they will have then beaten six teams this season that beat them by 18 or more last season. That’s a pretty drastic turnaround, so drastic that so far, it’s the most that a team has improved in all of college football this year.

Kentucky is a very interesting opponent. Their number one receiver on the season, Lynn Bowden Jr., is now their quarterback. While they haven’t been able to find much success throwing the football, they’ve had about as much success running the ball as anyone.

They are 12th in the nation in total rushing offense, averaging 252.4 yards per game. This team is going run and only run. In last weeks game against Tennessee Martin, a game where it was great time to test the passing game, given that Kentucky won 50-7. They were able to complete just one pass, Bowden also threw an interception.

So when I say they are going to run the ball I mean it. They are really only going to run. After the season-ending injury to quarterback Terry Wilson in the first month of the season, it took them a while to find their identity. A three-game slide with Sawyer Smith at the helm eventually resulted in them going with Bowden for the Arkansas game. Since he took over, Kentucky is 4-2 with three of those being SEC victories.

This game always seems to mean a little more than the others every year. Even though the Cardinals have already secured bowl eligibility, this is a great time to avenge a very tough blowout loss at home last year. Kentucky won 56-10 last time they met the Cards, here’s how Louisville will make this meeting much different.

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