Louisville football may be planning a shocking schedule shake-up

Louisville Cardinals Athletic Director Josh Heird was recently on ESPN Louisville's radio show, and the Cardinals' AD teased a massive change in the football program's future schedule.

One of the biggest games on the Cardinals' schedule every year is the Governor's Cup, which consists of the Louisville Cardinals and the Kentucky Wildcats. The in-state rivalry goes back to 1912 when Kentucky and Louisville played in their first game. The Wildcats defeated the Cardinals in a 41-0 victory, sparking a decades-long rivalry.

The two programs have now played each other 36 total times, with Kentucky leading the series with a 20-16 record against the Cardinals. These two programs have played every year since 1994, except 2020, because of COVID-19, making the Governor's Cup one of the best rivalries in all of college football.

However, on the radio show, the Cardinals' Athletic Director hinted at a shocking change to this rivalry, a change that would make the Cardinals' schedule extremely exciting.

Louisville football may be planning a shocking schedule shake-up

One of the most thrilling weeks in college football is the last weekend of the regular season, well known as "Rivalry Week." This exciting weekend showcases some of the season's best games as in-state rivalries go head-to-head, even some rivalries from different conferences.

Some of the best rivalries are played during Rivalry Week: Michigan vs. Ohio State, Alabama vs Auburn, Florida State vs Florida, Georgia Tech vs Georgia, and many more. Well, the Cardinals and Wildcats Governor's Cup has been a staple for Rivalry Week, but in a recent interview, Heird hinted that maybe it is time to move the rivalry game.

"But there still are a handful of those rivalry games at the beginning of the year," Louisville Athletic Director, Josh Heird stated. "CU, CSU, I know is always at the beginning of the year. I do think it creates more excitement, because everybody has hope at the beginning of the year."

Heird hinted that he thinks moving the rivalry showdown back to the beginning of the year could be a change that would make this game even better. Everyone has hope at the beginning of the year, and if the Governor's Cup were one of the first games of the year for Louisville, it would make the season start with a bang.

"I think that's one where, let's continue to have those conversations as far as where it makes the most sense for Louisville-Kentucky to be, as opposed just, 'Well, that's rivalry week. Everybody plays on the last week of the year." Heird stated. "Continue to explore everything. Fortunately, we're at a time in this industry where we can just rethink everything that we're doing."

The first weekend of College Football is always exciting for fans, but it usually consists of blowouts and maybe one or two thrilling games. The Governor's Cup being played on Labor Day Weekend would be a big change for the Cardinals' football schedule, but starting the season against Kentucky would make fans much more interested in the offseason, as the two programs' fan bases would have all offseason to talk trash to each other and hype up the game.

"I would tell you, we've had some conversations, we want to play on that Sunday." Heird stated.

Starting the season with a win over Kentucky means much more and gives the team a spark moving forward. This would be a shocking shake-up, but it would be exciting to see the two fan bases hype up the matchup in the offseason.

For all the latest on Louisville football's offseason, stay tuned.