Louisville football: Cards can’t handle UK rushing attack in blowout loss

Louisville football had their worst defensive showing of the season as Kentucky rides Lynn Bowden Jr. and high-powered rushing attack to major blow out victory.

Louisville football’s regular season concluded at Kroger Field in Lexington today.

The Cardinals entered the game as a three-point underdog and with high hopes. A cold, rainy atmosphere seemed to favor the rushing based home team, which turned out to be exactly the case.

Louisville made a late uniform switch to the Muhammad Ali alternates, hoping to bring a fighter’s mentality into this matchup.

They did basically anything but, they did, however, start with an early lead after a huge 4th down touchdown pass from Micale Cunningham to Tutu Atwell.

Kentucky answered right away, they ran the ball straight through, around and all over the Louisville defense for a full 60 minutes. Kentucky quarterback Lynn Bowden Jr. had eclipsed the 200-yard rushing mark before the fourth quarter even began. He ran for Kentucky’s second touchdown of the game after AJ Rose had run for the first. Kentucky also added a huge field goal in very tough conditions to give them a 17-6 lead, an 11 point margin that the Wildcats expected to bring into the half.

The best moment of the game for the Cardinals came with under 40 seconds to go in the first half. The Cardinals desperately needed points, as the Cats were set to receive the second-half kickoff. Who better than Javian Hawkins? A simple speed option resulted in a huge score for the Cardinals, putting them back within the striking distance after one half of football.

The second half was as abysmal as anything we’ve seen from Louisville this decade, including last season. Kentucky ran one pass play all game and the Cardinals still looked completely befuddled by what they were doing offensively. A questionable squib kick-started the UK drive at the 40, then Bowden quickly showed why he was the best player on the field today.

Bowden wasn’t done, he followed his 60-yard touchdown run with a 46-yard touchdown run to end the third quarter. Which put the Cats up 31-13 and effectively ended the contest.

Kentucky added on another 64-yard touchdown run from Chris Rodriguez to go up 38-13 shortly after, the Cardinals really never had a chance in the second half. Bowden even added a third second-half rushing touchdown to make it 45-13, one where Louisville’s effort was at an all-time low.

This was an absolute beat down on all levels. There were some questionable calls that hurt the Cards, timely holding calls and unfortunate personal fouls stalled some possibly successful drives. But overall Louisville was just drastically outplayed today. Kentucky was more physical, more determined, and after that, it’s fair to say, just a better football team.

It is remarkable that a team can run the ball every single play and score as much as Kentucky did against a power five defense. Louisville’s effort today was non-existent, especially when they went down by two scores in the second half. Very sad to see from a team that had been deemed one of the most improved in the nation.

The one positive thing to take from today, Javian Hawkins is unbelievable. Louisville fans still get to watch this guy for several more years and he wanted a win today. Hawkins ran for over 140 yards on a very tough Wildcat defense. His athleticism stood out and without him, Louisville probably would’ve been held scoreless today.

Kentucky basically did the same thing offensively all game and not only were the Cardinals unable to successfully stop it, they didn’t even try to change anything.

They never were able to get penetration, were almost never able to make the first tackle and absolutely were not able to keep the Cats out of the end zone. This Louisville team has been a pleasant surprise this season, there’s no doubt about that. But a 28-0 margin in the second half against Kentucky drastically changes the narrative on this entire season.