Final Thoughts and Observations on Louisville vs. Kentucky

The Cardinals blasted the Wildcats for their first win in the Battle for the Governor's Cup since 2017.

Nov 30, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals running back Duke Watson (26) celebrates a touchdown with wide receiver Ja'Corey Brooks (1) during the second quarter against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the first time since 2017, the Governor's Cup resides in the hands of the Louisville football program. The Cardinals thoroughly embarrassed Kentucky this past Saturday, leaving Kroger Field with an emphatic 41-14 win.

Before we close the book on the game and transition to the to-be-announced bowl game, I wanted to provide some closing thoughts and observations from the game against the Wildcats:

• First of all, *in my The Rock voice* finally... the Governor's Cup has come back to Louisville. It seemed like it was never going to happen again based on some of the bad breaks the Cardinals had been dealt in the last few meetings between them and the Wildcats (and really, ever since this losing streak got started). Even watching in real time, especially when Kentucky had a brief spark of life early in the second half, I - along with many other UofL fans watching - couldn't help but start to envision how Louisville would fumble the bag this time against Kentucky. But to the team's credit, even when moments came up where they could have hung their head, they kept their focus and got the job done. Similar to the men's basketball program's game vs. Indiana last week (and Battle 4 Atlantis showing as a whole), this was a cathartic moment for everyone involved on the Louisville sideline and for their fanbase.
• For as high stakes as this game was, the coaching staff did a great job of preparing these players - and not just for the X's and O's reasons. There's obviously an emotional angle to this game, and over the years, we've seen Louisville's players fall victim to this and cost their team in the form of penalties. All game long, Kentucky tried to bait Louisville into starting a fight, and (up until the very end) they did not take it. With the actual game plan itself, on the offensive side of things, Jeff Brohm and Co. did a good job. They definitely saw a weakness in Kentucky's defensive line/front seven, and crafted some fantastic blocking schemes for the offensive line to take advantage of them. The only real complaint I have was when Brohm tried to get too cute in the third quarter, with a trick play actually leading to a turnover. Outside of that, Brohm saw that the run game was working, and for the most part he stuck to it. On the other side of the line of scrimmage, English put together a game plan that was pretty similar to the one against Pitt. There were plenty of downs where they were lined up in their base package, but they also did a solid job of mixing in odd fronts and dialing up blitzes that might not have been exotic - but were effective. It wasn't the most complex scheme, but it didn't need to be considering they were facing a true freshman quarterback for the majority of the game.
• Onto the players, and I'm going to highlight the defense first. It was clear from the jump that Kentucky was going to try to lean heavily on their rushing attack, and Louisville's front seven answered the call almost immediately. They didn't allow a single back-breaking run, and when you take out the six runs that did go for over 10 yards, the Wildcats were held to a measly 2.6 yards per attempt. The defensive line did a great job at not allowing massive holes to form, and the linebackers and secondary did a fantastic job of swarming to the football when the running back did have a chance to get to the second level. The coaches put the players in good position, but this unit excelled because they executed the plan at a very high level.
• The pass coverage, barring a couple bad busts, was pretty good as well. Sure, they weren't exactly going up against quarterback who were masters of reading defense, but for majority of the day, the secondary played pretty sound coverage both in man and zone coverage.
• A handful of defensive players deserve recognition for their performance. Tamarion McDonald was actually my vote for the game's MVP, considering he set the tone early with his two forced turnovers in the first 16 minutes of the game. M.J. Griffin led the team in tackles, and made two crucial early plays - the shoestring tackle on the second play of the game that prevented a touchdown (and set up McDonald's fumble on the next play), and his third down PBU on UK's third drive. Ashton Gillotte was in the backfield with regularity and made both QBs very uncomfortable. Stanquan Clark's forced fumble returned by Ramon Puryear for a touchdown was a massive shift after Kentucky started getting a little but of momentum. Tahveon Nicholson made a big time play in the end zone for a pick, and Quincy Riley's pick reminded me of the legendary OBJ catch.
• Now for the offense. As great as both Isaac Brown and Duke Watson played, and they were fantastic, the offensive line deserves recognition first. Brohm and Richard Owens did put together a great game plan for this unit, but they went out there and executed it to near perfection. The blocking on Watson's first touchdown run was simply beautiful. On top of that, they once again had a game where they didn't allow a sack (although they came really close to one - credit to Shough for dodging three defenders on a single play). Just a phenomenal outing by this crew.
• Of course, complementary football is the name of the game, and Louisville's star running back duo took full advantage of the excellent offensive line play. I've said it many times already this season, but Isaac Brown has already vaulted himself into stardom. He's one of the fastest players I've ever seen in Louisville uniform, and he continues to grow in terms of both his ability to read/navigate rushing lanes, as well as his physicality. But lets not forget how Duke Watson looked as well. Rushing for over 100 yards is hard. Doing so on just SIX carries is absolutely absurd. The future of the running back position is the brightest of any spot on Louisville's roster.
• It's hard to have a definitive opinion on how Louisville's passing attack performed simply because they didn't have to utilize this facet of their offense much. While Tyler Shough did have a couple offline throws (mainly his attempt to Brown who was wide open on a wheel route), he took care of the football and didn't do anything to put the team in a bad position.
• The only aspect of Louisville's performance against Kentucky that left some to be desired was the play from their pass catchers. Chris Bell had a good game (and props to him for keeping his cool when Kentucky routinely tried to instigate him), but even he had the touchdown called back because he barely stepped out of bounds. Ahmari Huggins-Bruce had a drop short of the goal line that would have been a catch-and-run for a touchdown. Cataurus Hicks couldn't gain much separation. The tight end spot, once again wasn't much of a factor. This was probably impacted by the fact that Ja'Corey Brooks got banged up and Kentucky actually has a good one-two punch at cornerback, but still.
• Before closing this one out, Louisville's efforts on special teams played an underrated role in this as well. It was a great call by Karl Maslowski to pooch kick it on kickoffs, and not kick it directly to Barion Brown, who is an incredibly dangerous return man (as Louisville fans know from the 2023 showdown vs. Kentucky). Brady Hodges also pinned the 'Cats inside the 20 on four of his five punts, and placekicker Brock Travelstead didn't miss a kick of any kind - and have looked fairly consistent over the last month. Winning in all three phases of the game is key to winning the game itself, and Louisville faired very well in thir department.
• I'll close with this thought: While this season is certainly filled with "what if's?" and "what the hell's?," I'd still venture to call it a successful one. Sure, there's the Stanford debacle and the midseason slump. But Louisville also snapped their losing streak to Kentucky, earned their first win over Clemson, and are heading into their bowl game on a winning streak vs. a losing streak. Yes, I think they'll have to have a good showing in their bowl to keep momentum rolling, but it's hard to deny that the program is trending in a positive direction.
• Bonus thought: Hey Matt Jones, how's this for a team picture?

Nov 30, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Louisville Cardinals defensive lineman Ramon Puryear (41) and Louisville Cardinals defensive back Jathan Hatch (31) hold up the Governor’s Cup trophy after winning against the Kentucky Wildcats at Kroger Field. / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

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