Louisville football lets Kentucky run wild for Governor’s Cup

It was a mild night  in Louisville, KY during the matchup between the Cards and Cats for the annual Governor’s Cup clash. Louisville fans expected a tough game, but nothing like what transpired on Saturday night. This game wasn’t at all pleasant for those who anticipated the Louisville offense to continue it’s recent success that has come to fruition in recent weeks.

The Louisville Cardinals lost by a score of 52-21. The final outcome could have been a lot worse if it weren’t for a few late scores by the Cards to end the game.

Catfishin’ Cards

Both teams scored on their opening drive early on in the contest. I thought to myself, “Grab the gun powder boys, because this one has started off with a bang!” Kentucky scored on it’s second drive of the game on a seven yard Will Levis touchdown run to give the Cats a 14-7 lead. Malik Cunningham and the Louisville offense were supposed to even the scoreboard, but a 4th down stop on an incomplete pass to Justin Marshall proved fatal to the Cards momentum for the rest of the game.

The offense had several stalled drives that included a missed field goal just before halftime, and was forced to pun the ball on their opening drive to start the second half. Kentucky marched right down the field for another touchdown to stretch the deficit to 31-7. Like cooked food, the Cards were done.

Wait a minute Wildcats?

Kentucky is known to run the ball a little bit, but Will Levis and the Kentucky offense put on an absolute firework show in what ended up being a route of the hometown team. The Wildcats ran roughshod all over the Cardinal defense for 364 yards rushing. Both Levis and running back Chris Rodriguez each rushed for over 100 yards. Let’s be real, nobody expects a guy who eats bananas with the peel still attached to be able to tote the rock like that! Regardless, that’s never a recipe for success when both the starting quarterback and running back eclipse the century mark on the ground.

This was not an ideal way for Louisville and it’s fanbase to cap off the season, but the good thing is that they were able to handle business down the stretch of the schedule to secure themselves a bowl bid opportunity by managing six wins. The Cardinals finish the regular season 6-6 with plenty of positive things to build on heading into their 2022 campaign.