Kentucky Seeks Best Regular Season Mark in 41 Years

The 25th edition of the Governor’s Cup game will have a little more on the line for Kentucky this week as the Wildcats seek their ninth win, which would be the most in a regular season since 1977, a span of 41 years. The game is set for a 7 p.m. kickoff and will air on ESPN2.

Kentucky shocked Louisville in its last trip to Cardinal Stadium, hitting a field goal in the final seconds for a 41-38 win over the No. 11 Cardinals. The Cats will be the hunted this time as it caps a regular season filled with accomplishments not seen in the program in decades. Coach Mark Stoops will be looking for his second win over the Cardinals.
 

Kentucky at Louisville
Sat., Nov. 24 – 7 p.m. ET Cardinal Stadium Louisville, Ky. Game Notes: UK | UL Digital Gameday Program Gameday App
Coverage
TV: ESPN2 Radio: UK Sports Network Watch Listen Live Stats
UK	Team Stats	UL
8-3	Record	2-9
5-3	Conference Record	0-8
23.9	Scoring/game	20.6
344.8	Total offense/game	356.9
188.7	Rushing yards/game	133.8
156.1	Passing yards/game	223.1
20.8	Kickoff returns (avg)	22.8
10.8	Punt returns (avg)	15.2
44.8	Punting (avg)	40.1
30:22	Time of possession/game	29:57
41.0%	Third down conversion	36.8%
50.0%	Fourth down conversion	40.0%
16.8	Points allowed/game	43.0
327.3	Total yards allowed/game	472.8
136.6	Rush yards allowed/game	271.5
190.6	Pass yards allowed/game	201.3

The UK defense is led by senior pass rusher extraordinaire Josh Allen, who has set a UK single-season record with 13.0 sacks to go along with 17.5 TFL this season. Allen is the most visible player on a unit stacked with seniors, including linebacker Jordan Jones, safeties Mike Edwards and Darius West, cornerbacks Derrick Baity, Jr., Chris Westry and Lonnie Johnson, Jr., lineman Adrian Middleton and more. Running back Benny Snell, Jr., a 1000-yard rusher, wide receiver Lynn Bowden, Jr., tight end C.J. Conrad and quarterback Terry Wilson have been key playmakers for the Wildcat offense. 

Cat Scratches: UK Focusing on Task at Hand after Emotional Home Finale

Saturday felt like a conclusion of sorts, the end of a season-long – and in some cases, career-long – journey.
 
From an emotional Senior Day ceremony during which Bunchy Stallings held up a picture of his late mother to Josh Paschal making his return to Josh Allen sealing a win in his final home game with a pair of record-breaking sacks, there was plenty of reason to get swept up in the moment.
 
The win over Middle Tennessee, of course, was by no means a conclusion. The Wildcats have two games to play and plenty to play for in them, but even Mark Stoops had to remind himself of that.
 
“They were teasing me and said, ‘Coach, you’re going to get all sappy and cry on us,’ or whatever,” Stoops said. “I had to play it off because if I really thought about it I could. Those guys mean that much to me. They are a special group, but I really didn’t want to get swept up with it last week knowing we had a big week here this week.”
 
There will be plenty of time for reflection come January once Kentucky has played its bowl game. All the Cats can afford to do right now is focus on the task at hand: going to Louisville to face the archrival Cardinals in both teams’ regular-season finale 7 p.m. Saturday at Cardinal Stadium.
 
“We just worry about us and our execution and playing a disciplined football game,” Stoops said. “They beat us last time here. I wasn’t very proud of that after a year ago and we’re looking to just improve and we have a lot to play for. We got our eighth victory this past week and trying to play for nine. That’s our concentration on obviously preparing for them, but control the things we can control and that’s us and how we play.”
 
Kentucky has come a long way since that matchup with Louisville this time last year, when Lamar Jackson led the Cardinals to a 44-17 victory and the Cats allowed the intensity of the rivalry to get the better of them. Now, UK has been ranked for nine straight weeks and has its first eight-win regular season in more than three decades, having overcome obstacle after obstacle…Read More

Scouting Louisville

• Louisville is 2-9 on the season overall and completed ACC play at 0-8.
• Lorenzo Ward is serving as the Cardinals’ interim head coach for the final two games of the season.
• Offensively, the Cardinals have used a committee approach with seven players have at least 22 rushing attempts and one touchdown on the ground.
• Quarterback Jawon Pass has thrown for 1,960 yards and eight touchdowns. Malik Cunningham also has seen time at quarterback and is a dangerous runner as well.
• Six different Cardinals have caught 20 or more passes, with three having broken the 400-yard barrier for receiving yards.
• The big playmakers on defense have been defensive ends Tabarius Peterson (6.0 TFL, 2.0 sacks) and Amonte Caban (5.0 TFL, 2.0 sacks). Safety Dee Smith leads the unit in tackles with 65 stops.
• Kicker Blanton Creque has made 88 percent of his field goal attempts this season.

Series vs. Louisville

• The state rivals play for the Governor’s Cup trophy.
• The all-time series is tied at 15. Kentucky leads 7-5 in games played in Louisville.
• In Kentucky’s last trip to Louisville (2016) the Cats’ stormed into Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium and secured a thrilling 41-38 last-second victory over the No. 11 Cardinals, ending a five-game losing streak to Louisville in the process.
• At the time, the win was the Cats’ first road win over a ranked team since 2002, which also came against Louisville.
• UK kicker Austin MacGinnis nailed the game-winning 47-yard field goal with 12 seconds left.
• Last season, Louisville left Lexington with a 44-17 victory.
• UK running back Benny Snell, Jr. rushed for a career-high 211 yards on 29 carries in that game, including two touchdowns.
• In two games vs. the Cardinals he has 262 yards and three touchdowns on 40 carries.
• The modern version of the Governor’s Cup rivalry began in 1994 after a 70-year hiatus and has been played each of the past 24 seasons.
 
The Governor’s Cup

• The Governor’s Cup was created in 1994 as the trophy for the winner of the Kentucky-Louisville game. Donated by The Kroger Company at a cost of $23,000, the Governor’s Cup stands 33 inches tall and weighs 110 pounds. The trophy’s base and upright columns are hand-milled black marble. The glass components are optic-grade crystal. All metal parts are 23-karat, gold-plated brass. The cup itself is made of pewter with a 23-karat gold-plated finish.
• The cup was designed by Kendall Costner and sculpted by James Corcoran of Bruce Fox, Inc. The Kroger Company also is involved in supporting academic pursuits at the schools. Kroger is donating $10,000 to each school for each year the game is played. Including this year, Kroger’s donations now total $500,000 — $250,000 to each school.

Kentucky-Louisville Connections

• Kentucky has just one player from the city of Louisville on its current roster: WR Will Crum.
• Louisville has three players from the city of Lexington on its roster: QB Clay Bolin, S Jack Fagot and WR Jordan Thomas.
• Louisville co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Mike Summers is a Lexington native and played at nearby Georgetown (Ky.) College.
• Summers had two coaching stints at UK: 2010-12 (Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line); 1980-81 (Graduate Assistant – Offensive Line).

A Kentucky Win Would…

• Improve Kentucky to 9-3, the best regular season mark since 1977 (10-1).
• Be just the second time the Cats have won nine regular-season games in the past 68 years, also 1977 (10-1).
• Give the current senior class (2015-18) the most wins (28) in their career since the class from (2007-10) won 28. The class from 2006-2009 won 30 total games.

Cats Ranked in National Polls, CFB Playoff Poll

• Kentucky entered the national polls on Sept. 23 after defeating Mississippi State. It is the first time the Cats have been ranked since the 2007 season.
• The Cats now are No. 17 in the Associated Press poll and No. 18 in the coaches’ poll.
• UK has been ranked nine consecutive weeks for the first time since the 1977 team appeared in the polls for 10 consecutive weeks from Oct. 3 through the final AP poll of the season on Jan. 3, 1978.
• The Cats were ranked ninth in the first College Football Playoff poll released on Oct. 30 and should remain in the top 20 this week. 

Don Franklin Auto Countdown to Kickoff Show

All-Southeastern Conference defensive end Jeremy Jarmon and former quarterback Dusty Bonner will be alongside host Christi Thomas for the Don Franklin Auto Countdown To Kickoff, the two-hour pregame show that airs prior to each UK football game in 2018.

A live video broadcast of Countdown to Kickoff will air on UKAthletics.com, the UK Athletics mobile app and the Kentucky Football Facebook page.
 
For home games, Countdown to Kickoff will broadcast live in front of Nutter Field House outside Gate 1 of Kroger Field with special guests and giveaways. The set of the show is conveniently located near the Coke Fan Zone in Nutter Field House and the Cat Walk presented by Chevy.
 
When the Wildcats are on the road, the show will broadcast from Kroger at the Tates Creek Centre in Lexington.