For the first time since 2017, the Governor’s Cup is going back to Louisville.

The Cardinals dominated the Kentucky Wildcats from start to finish Saturday in Lexington. They ran up 486 yards of offense and 41 total points in a 41-14 beatdown.

Here are 3 takeaways from the game.

Uncomfortable questions

With 9 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, Louisville tailback Isaac Brown burst through the line and sprinted down the sideline for his second touchdown of the game. After going 67 yards without being touched, Brown stopped, looked into the Kentucky stands, and put his head on his hands.

Kentucky was dead before that score, to be clear. The Cardinals put the game to bed in the first half. They had a 20-0 lead on the home side and had Wildcat fans calling for Mark Stoops’ head. Gavin Wimsatt replaced Cutter Boley in the second half and got the Wildcats into the endzone a couple of times, but nothing worked to stop the Louisville offense.

Instead, I wonder if Brown’s “go to sleep” celebration at the end of a dominant day might be the last image we see from Stoops’ Kentucky program.

At 4-8, Kentucky has its worst season since 2013. The program might actually be back to the state it was in when Stoops inherited it. Kentucky is going to finish with the worst scoring offense in the SEC for the second time in 3 years. The answer there has still not been found. The quarterback position is a massive question mark. And, perhaps more importantly, the physicality just hasn’t consistently been there this season.

Louisville dominated the line of scrimmage. It ran for 7 yards per carry. Seven! In a rivalry game! Kentucky didn’t get up for the game, which makes you question if the voice is still being heard.

And by the end of the game, frustration was all that was left. Kentucky turned it over 5 times, went 0-for-9 on third down, and then, with 68 seconds left in a 27-point game, a fight broke out after a play.

Saturday’s result checked all the boxes in the worst way. And it sends the ‘Cats into an uncomfortable offseason. Stoops’ buyout is huge — north of $40 million, per the USA Today salary database — and that limits what the athletic department can do. In the face of looming change in college athletics, Kentucky risks falling further behind its peers, though.

One thing is clear: Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart cannot ignore the conversation.

Louisville’s backs ATE

The Thanksgiving food must have been exquisite this week at the homes of Isaac Brown and Duke Watson. They were outstanding. Brown ran for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns on 26 carries, becoming the first true freshman in school history to run for 1,000 yards in a season. Watson went for 104 yards and 2 scores on just 6 carries.

For the third straight year, Louisville will finish with multiple 500-yard running backs. Both Watson and Brown are true freshmen. The future of this Louisville backfield is bright.

But that also now means it’ll be expensive. Louisville will have to step up to keep both of these backs in town this offseason, because it desperately needs to keep them both. On the road, Louisville had 8 explosive run plays. Seven of them came from Brown and Watson. Brown hit the 67-yarder. Watson hit a 58-yarder.

Ja’Morie Maclin needs help

As Kentucky embarks on its offseason rebuild of the offense, retaining Ja’Mori Maclin will be important. The former North Texas receiver had his best game of the year on Saturday. A week after catching 2 balls for 52 yards against Texas, Maclin brought in 3 receptions for 121 yards and 2 scores against Louisville.

Yeah, he was responsible for Kentucky’s only points on the day. Kentucky needs to keep Maclin and add more players like him.