It doesn’t seem to matter whether Louisville has Eric Shelton, Anthony Allen, Lionel Gates, or Michael Bush. If Bobby Petrino is coaching the Cardinals, they’re going to beat Kentucky.

At least that’s been the case since 2003, and one reason why Kentucky fans wanted Petrino to come to Lexington to replace Joker Phillips in 2012. And prior to last year, the Cardinals won in a series of routs.

During the four wins, Louisville won 14 of 16 quarters and outscored the Wildcats by 82 points. The Cardinals never trailed, had 36 more first downs and outgained Kentucky by 711 yards.

Last year, Petrino exploited one-on-one matchups with WR DeVante Parker, who caught six passes for 180 yards and three touchdowns. That improved Petrino’s Louisville record against Kentucky to 5-0. Overall, he’s 6-1 against the Wildcats.

Petrino downplayed the success at Monday’s weekly news conference.

“I’ve never really thought one game defines a season,” he said. “You play one game at a time. Then when the season’s over, then you go back and evaluate everything and see where we could have done things better. What we did well. What the issues are for next year. We’re just going to play one game at a time. This is a big game.”

Petrino’s success can be traced to an influx of talent — the Cardinals had 10 players chosen in this past spring’s NFL draft — and a potent offense. In Petrino’s first stint at Louisville, the Cardinals scored at least 40 points in more than half its games. But in the current era, the Cardinals have hit 40 in just four of 24 games, and just two against FBS opponents.

The Cardinals are still unsure who they will start at quarterback, at least publicly, as this week’s depth chart revealed true freshman Lamar Jackson and Kyle Bolin, the star of last year’s game, are even. Bolin was 21-for-31 passing last year for 381 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.

More recently, Bolin, who started the last three games, was pulled from last week’s Pittsburgh game after he threw an interception returned for a touchdown as Louisville trailed 42-17. Jackson, meanwhile, has started six games and played in all 10. If Jackson starts against UK, it’ll be the fifth time this season the Cardinals have a different quarterback than the previous week.

A Jackson start could exploit a UK defense that’s proven vulnerable against mobile quarterbacks. Mississippi State’s Dak Prescott and Tennessee’s Joshua Dobbs rushed for a combined 408 yards and 10 TDs against UK.

Petrino said the starter would be chosen based on performance in practice.