LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (1-1) AT KENTUCKY WILDCATS (2-0)


Game Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Commonwealth Stadium: Lexington, Ky.
Television: ESPNU
Announcers: Clay Matvick (play-by-play), Brian Griese (color analyst), Allison Williams (sidelines).
Favorite: Kentucky by 5.5
All-Time Series: Kentucky leads 14-9
Modern Series: Louisville leads 9-8
Complete Series History
Date | Site | Winning team | Losing team | Series |
1912-10-28 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
41 |
Louisville |
0 |
UK 1-0 |
1913-11-22 |
Louisville |
Kentucky |
20 |
Louisville |
0 |
UK 2-0 |
1914-11-14 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
42 |
Louisville |
0 |
UK 3-0 |
1915-11-06 |
Louisville |
Kentucky |
15 |
Louisville |
0 |
UK 4-0 |
1922-10-14 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
63 |
Louisville |
0 |
UK 5-0 |
1924-10-04 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
29 |
Louisville |
0 |
UK 6-0 |
1994-09-03 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
20 |
Louisville |
14 |
UK 7-0 |
1995-09-02 |
Lexington |
Louisville |
13 |
Kentucky |
10 |
UK 7-1 |
1996-08-31 |
Lexington |
Louisville |
38 |
Kentucky |
14 |
UK 7-2 |
1997-08-30 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
38 |
Louisville |
24 |
UK 8-2 |
1998-09-05 |
Louisville |
Kentucky |
68 |
Louisville |
34 |
UK 9-2 |
1999-09-04 |
Lexington |
Louisville |
56 |
Kentucky |
28 |
UK 9-3 |
2000-09-02† |
Louisville |
Louisville |
40 |
Kentucky |
34 |
UK 9-4 |
2001-09-01 |
Lexington |
Louisville |
36 |
Kentucky |
10 |
UK 9-5 |
2002-09-01 |
Louisville |
Kentucky |
22 |
Louisville (17)
|
17 |
UK 10-5 |
2003-08-31 |
Lexington |
Louisville |
40 |
Kentucky |
24 |
UK 10-6 |
2004-09-04 |
Louisville |
Louisville |
28 |
Kentucky |
0 |
UK 10-7 |
2005-09-04 |
Lexington |
Louisville (12)
|
31 |
Kentucky |
24 |
UK 10-8 |
2006-09-03 |
Louisville |
Louisville (13)
|
59 |
Kentucky |
28 |
UK 10-9 |
2007-09-15 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
40 |
Louisville (9)
|
34 |
UK 11-9 |
2008-08-31 |
Louisville |
Kentucky |
27 |
Louisville |
2 |
UK 12-9 |
2009-09-19 |
Lexington |
Kentucky |
31 |
Louisville |
27 |
UK 13-9 |
2010-09-04 |
Louisville |
Kentucky |
23 |
Louisville |
16 |
UK 14-9 |
About 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 sup- porting academic pursuits at the schools. Kroger is donating $10,000 to each school for each year the game is played. Kroger’s donations now total $360,000 - $180,000 to each school.
Statistics

Excitement Level: 9.7.
Louisville/Kentucky games are a lot like Christmas; Regardless of the surrounding circumstances, it's still a feeling unlike any other you get during the calendar year.
Sky-high, baby.
Game Attire: Art Carmody Game Jersey
The time has come.
Side Note: Pregame warm-up will be my "Kentucky's State Bird" shirt. It has a Cardinal on it. It's sweet. I'll tweet a pic.
Pregame Meal: Assorted tailgating foods. Pulled-pork sandwiches, buffalo chicken dip (big ups, Becker), boat dip, cookie cake (AKA "Mike Rutherford Special"). Also, beer.
Bold Prediction: Josh Chichester scores more than one touchdown.
Titus Teague Playing Alert Level: Cerulean (low)
Predicted Star of the Game: Josh Chichester
Because he's going to score more than one touchdown...and there aren't going to be that many touchdowns.
NOTABLE
--The team that has scored first has gone on to win the last ten times Louisville and Kentucky have met.
--The team that has rushed for more yards has won the last 12 meeting between these two.
--In nine of the last 11 years, the leading rusher on the victorious team has outrushed the entire losing squad. The exceptions have come in the previous two years, when Vic Anderson was the game's leading rusher in 2009, and Bilal Powell got loose for 153 yards last season.
--At four games, Kentucky is riding its longest winning streak since the renewal of the series in 1994. U of L owned a three-game winning streak from 1999-2001 and then beat the Wildcats four straight times between 2003-2006. In the modern era, neither team has defeated the other in five consecutive seasons.
--The team that has produced the least turnovers has won 10 of the last 12 meetings.
--UK enters the Louisville game having won a school-record 21 consecutive regular season non-conference games, dating back to 2006.
--Kentucky has won 18 consecutive games against non-conference opponents at home, dating back to 2005.
--Louisville is 6-4 against Kentucky in games played at Commonwealth Stadium, and 6-8 against the Cats in Lexington overall.
--Louisville and Kentucky have never played on Sept. 17 (feel free to wow your tailgate with that one).
--Home teams are 7-10 in the modern era of the series.
--The favorite is just 10-7 straight up in the modern era of the series.
--The Kentucky defense has not allowed a point in the second half this season.
--With sophomore Raymond Sanders out 2-3 weeks after having his right knee scoped yesterday, true freshman Josh Clemons will get the start at running back for Kentucky and sophomore Jonathan George (with 9 career carries for 25 yards) will be his backup.
--Louisville center Mario Benavides is out for the third straight week with a staph infection in his foot.
--Senior defensive tackle Mark Crawford remains suspended for Kentucky.
--UK center Matt Smith will not start but is expected to play. Smith missed the first two games of the season because of injury.
--UK linebacker Danny Trevathan's 26 tackles lead the SEC.
--Today is Marques Maybin's birthday.
Quotable
--"We don’t want to be that team that lost to Louisville, and we’re not going to let it happen." --UK LB Ronnie Sneed
--"I know what it means to win in this rivalry. It’s a big momentum game for us. If we win it can catapult us for the rest season." --Will Stein
--"You can throw the records out, the statistics out, throw everything out the window in rivalries like us and Louisville." --Joker Phillips
--"Yes sir, we are beating Louisville this year. And Tennessee. Those are two guaranteed wins. Guarantee it." --UK DL Collins Ukwu
--"A victory right now to this program would definitely mean a lot. It could be a turning point. It burns me up every year I’ve witnessed not winning those four games. This year I feel like we’re coming along and we’re going to make things happen." --Josh Chichester
--"You're talking about two in-state programs less than a hundred miles apart from one another. More than anything for the fans, it's bragging rights. It's a big-time game and it's a rival game." --Charlie Strong
--"There won’t be any surprises. Like I say, it’s an in‑state game that will be old‑fashioned, no surprises, just two teams that will try to bloody each other’s nose." --UK head coach Joker Phillips
--"I don’t know if we can beat Kentucky right now. They return ten starters on defense. Their whole offensive line is back and that is the nucleus of their football team right now. They’ve beaten us four straight years. They’ve been to five straight bowl games. We’ve been to one bowl game in four years. They have out-recruited us. We still have a ways to go. We have to go catch that program because within this state right now, Kentucky leads the series. We have a long ways to go." --Charlie Strong
-- "We've been practicing like it’s our last game. Every year we play Louisville, it’s going to be a swing game. We’re going to need that game every year. We want that Governor’s Cup." --UK LB Danny Trevathan
--"Once you know our assignments, you play faster and won’t have to worry about making mistakes. That’s what’s going on right now. We're confident in the offensive line. They can get the job done. We’re ready for this game. Last week is last week. We know what we did wrong, and hopefully we can showcase the corrections for the next game." --Josh Chichester
--"It’s a must-win game for us and I’m sure it’s a must-win game for them. We want to start off on the right foot going into our SEC teams." --UK DB Winston Guy
--"We want to show we're a good team. It would say a lot to the fans and the coaches to go out and win this game. This game is a national championship game for this city. We don’t have any professional teams, so a win over Kentucky will help our team out in a big way." --Shenard Holton
--"Who knows how well we would have done against Murray State and FIU? Who knows how well they would have done against Western Kentucky and Central Michigan? The way to judge that is play each other. We do play each other this week so we'll be able to know after this game." --Joker Phillips
--"This is a big step as far as achieving our goal of winning the SEC East and winning a national championship." --UK LB Ridge Wilson
"We’re not a very good football team right now. The coaches aren’t doing a good job coaching and the players and playing (well). Our players have to stay focused and lock in for a 60 minute game. We’re still a young football team, but it’s no excuse. We’re 1-1 so we need to win. Playing hard isn’t good enough. We need to go win the game." --Charlie Strong
--"It’s going to be a lot of emotions, a lot of things that’ll go on during the game. I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a lot of trash-talking. Coach Phillips always talks to us about, ‘Don’t talk with your mouth; talk with your pads.’ So I’m sure some people’s emotions might get into the game and I’m pretty sure some flags might be thrown. We don’t want to be the team that gets dumb penalties like that. Everybody’s gotta be focused." --Winston Guy
--"It means a lot, the instate rivalry. The one thing you don’t want to do is give too much emotion to it because then your emotions start to take over and you won’t pay attention to the details and the things you need to work on as far as the scheme and the technique. It is a big game with the rivalry and the history that it has, but you want to do your best not to make it more than what it is." --Greg Scruggs
--"(Will Stein)'s a champion, he’s a winner. He appears to be a hell of a team guy, he’s very good as far as not making the foolish throws that some people might make. He’s a guy that has great feet so he can beat you, he can get first downs he can get things with his feet and his arm. He’s shown a lot of really, really good things and it’s going to be a testament to us to not only cover the guys, his receivers, but also when we are rushing the quarterback to make sure we keep him contained." --UK DB Coach Steve Brown
--"The opportunity that I have now to be in my hometown and leading the Cardinals in Commonwealth, it's a dream come true. Even though I never would have thought of this probably six or seven years ago, I'm so happy where I'm at right now." --Will Stein
--"The only thing you can do is tell (freshmen) how it is. I’m pretty sure (they’ll understand) once they get in that stadium and see how many people’s in there and … how crazy loud it’s going to be. I remember when I came here (as a recruit) when they beat Louisville when they were ranked, man, it was crazy. I’ve never heard Kentucky’s stadium be so loud like that." --Winston Guy
Card Chronicle Prediction: Louisville 23, Kentucky 20 (OT)
Louisville gets a late TD to force overtime, Cats settle for a field goal, and then the Cards punch it in and take back the Governor's Cup.
I've picked against Louisville the last three years and I picked us to lose this game before the season, but...I've just got a feeling. I would have never thought that I'd be more confident about this game after a loss to Florida International than I was before the season, but that's exactly what's happened.
Let's bring it back home.
GO CARDS.