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Louisville’s Petrino no stranger to University of Kentucky

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Saturday will not be Petrino's first rodeo against Kentucky. Photo courtesy of wdrb.com.

Louisville head football coach, Bobby Petrino, is no stranger to big games against the University of Kentucky. When Petrino’s Cardinals suit up this Saturday to face the Wildcats, he’ll do so with a 5-1 all-time record against the school.

In a game set to be played for the first time during college football’s "Rivalry Week," the Cardinals (8-3, 5-3 ACC) and the Wildcats (5-6, 2-6 SEC) each have big goals that rest on the outcome of the latest installment of the "Governor’s Cup." Kentucky, in its 2nd year of head coach Mark Stoops’ tenure, will seek to gain bowl eligibility for the first time since the 2010 season, an accomplishment far exceeding most analysts’ preseason predictions after last seaons’s 2-10 performance. Louisville, with a win this weekend, will remain in contention for a bid to the 2014 Capital One Orange Bowl, the highest ranking bowl game for ACC teams not included in the inaugural College Football Playoff, and a chance to finish a third straight season with 10 or more wins.

Petrino has coached against Kentucky at 3 schools and has been victorious in marquee games at 2 of them. His latest victory was in last year’s season opener as his Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers, in their last season in the Sun Belt Conference, took down Kentucky, 35-26. His only loss to Kentucky took place in his first season at the University of Arkansas, where the Razorbacks fell to a Kentucky team that would end the year 2-6 in the SEC.

In 2014, Petrino faces another 2-6 (SEC) Kentucky team, hoping to extend his record as Louisville’s head coach against UK to 5-0. The game airs this Saturday at noon on ESPN2 from Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.

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