Published September 1, 2010 - 5:56am
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The Kentucky Wildcats play their first game this Saturday under new head coach Joker Phillips. It will be for the Governor’s Cup as they take on in-state rival, the Louisville Cardinals. The game will be played at Louisville in Papa John’s Stadium. Below are 5 things you need to know about this big rivalry matchup:
2. Starting Quarterbacks: The quarterback situation will be interesting to watch for both teams. Louisville waited until recently to name their starting QB, Adam Froman. They went with experience and named the senior. As you know from our previous articles on Kentucky’s quarterback decision, the Cats chose senior Mike Hartline. Our writers think all Kentucky fans should embrace Mike. I doubt that either of these quarterbacks will take all the snaps in this game. For Kentucky, it will be interesting to see if Morgan Newton and Ryan Mossakowski get much playing time. How will the quarterbacks for both teams play?
3. Kentucky’s Offensive Line: This will be the big question mark for the Cats this year. Losing 4 offensive starters on the O-Line will hurt any team, especially one that plays in the SEC. The offensive line this season will be: Billy Joe Murphy and Chandler Burden at Tackles, Stuart Hines and Larry Warford at Guards, and Matt Smith at Center. While UK is not going against NFL caliber talent on the Cards’ defensive front, it will be a big first test for this group. Will they allow any sacks? What about holding penalties? And the main question is: will they open holes for Derrick Locke? If they do their job, he’ll be off to the races and this game will be over at halftime.
4. The Randall Cobb Train: This young man has been carrying the team since his freshman year. He does it all and has a knack for finding the endzone. Sports Illustrated ran a great article on Randall Cobb as the face of Kentucky football, and in it he said, “I feel like I’ve gained some respect from some of the coaches around the league, but I still haven’t been that impact player that I need to be. If I want to get their respect, I have to go out and earn it, I have to take it. That’s left me with a lot of hunger going into this season.” I’m excited to see that hunger out on the field this Saturday. How many times will he score against the Cards?
5. Kentucky Winning Streak: Kentucky has 3 straight wins against Louisville, beginning with clutch play in 2007 when the Cardinals were ranked #9 in the country. I had the privilege of being on the field for that game as a scout for the Capital One Bowl. It was the best football experience of my life. Here’s a photo before all the excitement happened. To read more about this streak and the storylines heading into this matchup, check out this article from A Sea of Blue. Also, below the picture is a chart of all 19 meetings between these two teams. Kentucky leads the series with 10 wins.
Individual Game Results of Kentucky (vs Louisville), 1915-2009
| Date | Opponent (record) | Result | Score | ||
| 9/19/2009 | vs. | Louisville (4-8) | W | 31 | 27 |
| 8/31/2008 | @ | Louisville (5-7) | W | 27 | 2 |
| 9/15/2007 | vs. | Louisville (6-6) | W | 40 | 34 |
| 9/3/2006 | @ | Louisville (12-1) | L | 28 | 59 |
| 9/4/2005 | vs. | Louisville (9-3) | L | 24 | 31 |
| 9/5/2004 | @ | Louisville (11-1) | L | 0 | 28 |
| 8/31/2003 | vs. | Louisville (9-4) | L | 24 | 40 |
| 9/1/2002 | @ | Louisville (7-6) | W | 22 | 17 |
| 9/1/2001 | vs. | Louisville (11-2) | L | 10 | 36 |
| 9/2/2000 | @ | Louisville (9-3) | L | 34 | 40 |
| 9/4/1999 | vs. | Louisville (7-5) | L | 28 | 56 |
| 9/5/1998 | @ | Louisville (7-5) | W | 68 | 34 |
| 8/30/1997 | vs. | Louisville (1-10) | W | 38 | 24 |
| 8/31/1996 | vs. | Louisville (5-6) | L | 14 | 38 |
| 9/2/1995 | vs. | Louisville (7-4) | L | 10 | 13 |
| 9/3/1994 | vs. | Louisville (6-5) | W | 20 | 14 |
| 10/4/1924 | vs. | Louisville (non-IA) | W | 29 | 0 |
| 10/14/1922 | vs. | Louisville (non-IA) | W | 73 | 0 |
| 11/6/1915 | @ | Louisville (non-IA) | W | 15 | 0 |
Nice Five Points on the game. The running game has been a tell-all for the games in the new era of the UK-UL rivalry, but I am excited to see who steps up as the third wideout for the Cats. All reports coming from Tee Martin say that Williams is really playing well and putting in the extra work. No doubt, Willaims has the build and the speed to be a stud, and we all know what Cobb is capable of, but who will take control of the third wideout position. If Joker gets a solid third wideout this would make it much more difficult for teams to defend Kentucky. No more packing the box, and they will have to slide coverage to defend Cobb and Williams leaving this third wide receiver to take advantage of weak zones and man coverage. Mc Caskill is out, Fields and Harper both were hurt last year and Boyd had only 5 catches last season. Brian Adams could be a nice surprise… 6’4″, fast, and he displayed his athleticism starting for the baseball team in Left Field.
T.White, excellent point. I should change this article to “SIX things you need to know about UK vs UofL” and add your analysis. The Cats have plenty of weapons this year. Joker needs this first win against the Cards and it should be a great game.
Yeah there is a lot to learn in this game. A lot of people just keep saying we are going to blow em out. I do think we will win by two scores, but this is a learning game for everyone. Hard to prepare for Louisville with Strong coming in, can’t compare Louisville talent to Florida talent in film. Need our linebackers to step up. As you mentioned rushing yards are key and our backers need to plug running lanes, but we don’t have the experience in those positions. Trevathan played linebacker only when the package called for it, Jacob Dufrene is a big ol Louisiana boy but he really only saw action when we had some injuries before the Music City Bowl last year. Sneed? Huzzie? Wilson? Guess we will see. Good game all around.
Travis White, ladies and gentlemen.