Rivalry Week Brings UK to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

It's rivalry week, and that means the University of Louisville hosts intra-state rival Kentucky on Saturday at noon in the Kroger's Governor's Cup match-up at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

It's the 29th meeting in the series, and the winner will break the 14-14 series tie.

For the third time in the history of the rivalry, the Cardinals will face the Wildcats in the final game of the regular season – this time at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium with the Cards looking for their 10th win of the season for only the seventh time in school history.

The Cardinals, who are coming off a loss to Houston on Thursday, will look to send their 21 seniors off with a win for the final time for the seventh time under head coach Bobby Petrino, who is 11-0 all-time in Senior Day games.

Poised to finish as one the winningest classes in school history, Petrino is proud of what his seniors have done during their four or five years in the program.

"We've got a good group of seniors that we send out," Petrino said. "Their last game here in Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium and everybody on the team - all the coaches, all the seniors - need to make a commitment to make sure we send them out with the win."

"They've done a lot for this program. They've put a lot into it. They made the adjustment. Very, very easy for me when I came in and took over the program, and then we've added some to it."

However, it won't be easy for the senior to earn a win as Kentucky became bowl eligible last week with a win over Austin Peay, and are playing good football heading into the regular-season finale.

"Kentucky is playing good football," Petrino said. "They're doing a good job defensively. They're secondary is very impressive. They're covering well. They're offense has been running the ball really well."

"They've got two 1,000-yard rushers, they've made a commitment to running the football, and we know going into the game that we're going to need to stop the run and we're going to need run the football to win the game. It should be a good matchup."

Luckily, stopping the run is what the Cards do best. The No. 6 run defense in the country, the Cardinals are allowing just 99.2 yards on the ground and have yielded just four rushing touchdowns.

In the loss to Houston, the Cards gave up 64 yards – the fifth-straight game of holding an opponent to less than 100 yards rushing.

The 'Cats will be pose a different challenge with the No. 17 rushing offense in the nation averaging 242.4 yards per game, while averaging 275.1 rushing yards over
its past nine games, during which it is 6-3.

Running backs Boom Williams and Benny Snell Jr. are the first pair of single-season 1,000-yard rushers in school history.

"They now have a quarterback that can also run the ball and throw the ball deep and then they are running a lot of the wildcat game," said Petrino. "So, they switch it up and I think that the installation of the quarterback has really helped because he has a strong arm and he can throw the deep ball. We need to do a good job of getting off blocks and recognize what they are trying to do."

The Cards have enjoyed five wins in a row and look to keep the Kroger's Governor's Cup right where it is – in the trophy case in the Howard Schnellenberger Complex.

"We take a lot of pride winning the game, and I think it is good," Petrino said of playing UK. "I enjoy it. I think our players enjoy it, and it is nice to play them here at home. I think our fans will be excited to come out and support us and get ready to go and help us you know make sure it is loud for third down for our defense, and I think it is a fun game."

University of Louisville Athletics

Rivalry Week Brings UK to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium

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