KSR Today: Preparing for the Louisville Cardinals

Rise and grind, BBN. After a day full of food, family and football, it’s time to focus on the next task at hand: more football, specifically Kentucky’s upcoming rivalry matchup vs. Louisville in the Governor’s Cup on Saturday.

This year’s in-state battle has a different feel going in than recent years, specifically considering the Cardinals aren’t the pushover they were in the schools’ last three head-to-head matchups. Kentucky has won three straight games vs. Louisville, with the Wildcats’ margin of victory totaling 153-44 in that span — blowout wins in all three. This time around, though, the Cardinals enter the matchup ranked at No. 25 overall, with the ESPN Matchup Predictor actually giving UofL a 56.1% chance to win.

What does Vegas think? Kentucky opened as a 4-point favorite, with that line dropping to 2.5 points before jumping back up to -3 in the Wildcats’ favor as of Friday. The money line is set at Kentucky -155, with the over/under coming in at 43 points.

What do you need to know about the Cardinals? They average 28.5 points per game while putting up 414.3 yards of total offense, 217.7 coming through the air and 196.5 on the ground. They’re giving up 347.2 yards per contest, including 208.2 yards passing and 139.0 rushing per game.

As for the Wildcats, they’re only putting up 21.7 points per contest, averaging 335.5 yards total, including 218.6 passing and 116.8 rushing. Like Louisville, they allow 19.6 points per game to go with 321.2 yards given up per contest, 176.0 coming through the air and 145.2 on the ground.

In short, both defenses are solid, while the offenses struggle — a script flip from what we’re used to seeing under Scott Satterfield at Louisville.

Kick-off: Sat., Nov. 26 at 3 p.m. ET
Location: Lexington, KY (Kroger Field)
Television: SEC Network
Odds: Kentucky -3

Will Malik Cunningham play?

Louisville’s most dangerous offensive weapon is “day-to-day” this week, dealing with hand and shoulder injuries going into Saturday’s matchup. Still, though, Satterfield expects the dynamic playmaker to play against the Wildcats.

“Malik [Cunningham] is still going to be listed day-to-day. I think we got a much better chance to have him back this week,” Satterfield told the media on Tuesday. “We’ll see kind of where he stands as the week goes by. He’ll go out today and do some things with us. … I feel good about it. I feel pretty optimistic that he’ll be able to go.”

Cunningham is posting career-low numbers in yards per attempt (7.3), passing touchdowns (8), and QB rating (132.9), but he still leads the team with 633 non-sack rushing yards and 11 scores. He’s got the talent to beat you through the air and on the ground, something Kentucky has struggled with over the years.

Kentucky’s coordinators preview the matchup

What do the Kentucky coaches think of the matchup? Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello and defensive coordinator Brad White spoke to the media earlier this week to discuss how their units were preparing for the Cardinals.

“Any rivalry game, it’s a very emotional game,” White said. “You can throw out records and venues, you just understand there’s going to be very heated, highly contested plays. I don’t think you need to do much motivating in that regard. Both sides are going to want to win this game, they understand how important it is.”

“They’re playing very confidently, they’re playing together,” Scangarello added. “They’ve got a lot of veteran players that have played together for a while on that front, so I do think they’re playing very well. They’ve smothered some good offenses in recent weeks. Outside of Clemson, people have really struggled against them. They’re tied together. … It’s going to be a huge challenge. I’ve been very impressed watching them on tape.”

How are the players preparing?

Three of Kentucky’s senior standouts — all set to participate in Senior Day festivities — previewed the matchup, as well, with Will Levis, Jordan Wright and J.J. Weaver taking the podium this week.

“The fact that it is a rivalry game is as much emotion as we need,” Levis said. “… And then there’s the bowl bit, a win is important for us to get to a higher echelon bowl and that’s something we’re capable of achieving. The rivalry alone, though, it’s fun. That’ll give guys motivation to get after it this week.”

“Just laying everything out on the line because you never know if this is your last game or anything,” Wright added. “I’m putting it all out there for my brothers. This will be my last time playing with some of the older guys here, and the younger guys, so I’m just putting everything on the line for them. … They’ve been playing good ball the last couple weeks, so it’s about not letting them have so many explosive plays and keep that tradition going of us coming out of there with a win.”

“It means a lot to me, especially being an in-state kid,” Weaver said. “We’ve got to win it. The fans care about this game right here. It just means a lot.”

Kroger KSR Game of the Week heads to Louisville

It all came down to this, one final KSR Game of the Week to close out the high school football season. This time around, the matchup will feature two Louisville programs fighting for a trip to Kroger Field and the state championship game, as Ballard is set to host Male on Friday.

The Bruins got the best of the Bulldogs in late August, with the latter going on to earn quality wins over Trinity, Manual, and St. X later in the season. A regular participant in the 6A playoffs, Male is averaging 27 points per game and giving up just 13 on the year. The Bulldogs defeated Henderson County 23-10 to earn a spot in the Final Four, putting them in position to earn the program’s ninth state title, the last coming in 2018.

As for Ballard, the Bruins enter the matchup with an 11-2 record and are coming off a strong 43-7 win over Madison Central. They are averaging nearly 30 points per game while sporting the top-ranked defense in 6A, allowing just 9.5 points per game.

Should be a good one.