Mark Stoops shares what Top 10 win means for Kentucky

Mark Stoops gave fans the best possible ending to Kentucky football’s 2023 regular season, beating Louisville for the fifth straight year in a rivalry game that the head coach cares about just as much as the fans.

Kentucky’s success vs. Louisville is a staple of Stoops’ best run with the ‘Cats. Starting with 2018 and extending through this season, blue has bested red on the football field. A blowout of the Cards in ’18 earned Stoops his second win in the rivalry and earned Kentucky its ninth win of the regular season, their highest mark of the century at the time.

Other matchups included Lynn Bowden’s finest hour in 2019, when he had 284 rushing yards en route to another blowout win for UK, 45-13. In 2021, Will Levis rushed for 100+ yards and four touchdowns as he plastered L’s Down all over the TV cameras, then picked up another W in 2022 in The Cup. Of course, 2023 was more dramatic, but again a victory for Kentucky over a No. 10 ranked Louisville team that was 10-1 — one that really helped turn around a Wildcat season that had featured losses in five of the previous six games.

For Mark Stoops, the Governor’s Cup has long been a game that means quite a bit around the Kentucky football facility.

“I mean, it means a lot, just for a lot of reasons, you know,” shared Stoops ahead of the bowl game when asked to reflect on the Louisville win from a couple weekends ago. “We have expectations, we understand that. And you know, again, nobody cares about the schedule you play and who, what… I mean, nobody worries about that.”

Because in a college football rivalry, records and conference championships and that sort of thing don’t really matter. Mark Stoops’ team forgot about that poor end to conference play rebounded to score an emotional win to end the year.

“But, you know, I was just happy for our team and finishing like they did, and they deserve it,” Stoops said. “They grinded through the whole year. We had some ups and some downs, and you know that, and we’ve been far from perfect, but to finish off the regular season against our rivals, a top 10 team, you know, it’s important.”

Of course, while celebrating the victory, Stoops won’t downplay the achievements of Louisville’s 2023 team. Merely, he’s just glad his players, and importantly, the fans get an opportunity to enjoy one final and huge accomplishment in the regular season.

“I take no gratification in knocking them down, but I just want to win this game because it’s important to our fans and it’s important to our team,” Stoops added.