The Kentucky Wildcats square off against in state rivals the Louisville Cardinals to wrap up the season. For the Wildcats this game has a ton riding on it including taking home the Governor’s Cup trophy and more importantly a sixth win making the club bowl eligible.
This Wildcats-Cardinals rivalry goes back over 100 years as the two teams faced off for the first time back in 1912. The Wildcats would control the series early on winning the first seven contest including six straight shutouts before allowing 14 points in the team’s win in 1994. Since 1994, these two clubs have faced off in every season since that point with the Cardinals winning the last three contests.
Overall the Wildcats hold a 14-12 lead heading into their 27th game of the series. Kentucky enters this game riding a five game losing streak after starting the season 5-1. That included a heart breaking loss in triple overtime to the Florida Gators and a big win at home against South Carolina. As far as the losing streak the team had a string of games against LSU, Mississippi St., Missouri, Georgia and Tennessee.
When you break down the two clubs they stack up pretty close on the offensive side of the ball. The Wildcats enter this game ranked 59th in passing yards per game at 236.2, 80th in rushing yards per game at 153.5 and 72nd in points per game at 28.2. The Cardinals on the other hand come in ranked 55th in passing yards per game at 239.3, 86th in rushing yards per game at 148.1 and 51st in points per game with 31.6 per contest.
The only thing keeping these two apart in wins is the fact the Wildcats is their strength of schedule and how dominate the SEC is overall. Two of those losses came at the hands of ranked teams including a Mississippi State team that was ranked number one in the country. Louisville’s only top 25 matchup came against number two ranked Florida State.
These two teams will come out ready to play on November 29th!
by Peter Tebin
