Kentucky Runs All Over Louisville in Governor's Cup Victory

The Governor’s Cup will stay in Lexington.

Louisville had absolutely no answer for Kentucky’s powerful rushing attack as the Cats cruised to a 45-13 victory at Kroger Field. Mark Stoops picked up his fourth-straight seven win season with a beautiful display of power football.

Kentucky rushed for an astounding 517 yards (12.9 yards per carry) behind big plays from Lynn Bowden. The future Paul Hornung Award winner tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns to pick up 284 yards, his second 200-rushing yard performance of the season and the most by an SEC player in 2019. Kavosiey Smoke added a 60-yard run and Chris Rodriguez joined the fun with a 64-yard touchdown.

As much as Kentucky dominated the Cards, Louisville was the first to strike. On fourth and ten Micale Cunningham let a deep ball sail into Tutu Atwell’s hands 33 yards for a touchdown. After a UK response, Scott Satterfield got too froggy too early. A fake punt was stuffed, giving UK a field goal opportunity. The game never got closer than four.

For the first time in ten years Kentucky won the Battle for the Governor’s Cup in Lexington, the last time UK won consecutive games in the series. Kentucky has beat Louisville by a combined 78 points over the last two seasons. That’s an average of 39 points per game.

Kentucky owns the Commonwealth.