The Kentucky Wildcats (5-6, 2-6 SEC) face in-state rival Louisville (8-3, 5-3 ACC) Saturday at Papa John’s Cardinals Stadium. The Wildcats look to end their three-year bowl drought and a five-game losing streak. The Cardinals are a 13-point favorite and rank No. 7 overall defense.

The Bluegrass State teams will play for the Governor’s Cup, a trophy awarded to the winner of the annual game. This marks the first season that the Governor’s Cup will have bowl game implications. From 1994-2006, the rivalry game took place during Week 1 of the college football season. In 2007, the game was moved to the third game of the season when played in Lexington, but remained the opening game when played in Louisville.

The game also marks the return of Louisville coach Bobby Petrino, who went 4-0 against Kentucky during his previous tenure from 2003-06. Kentucky won four consecutive games after Petrino left the program.

Louisville has defeated Kentucky in each of the last three seasons, including a 27-13 win last season. The Wildcats hold a 14-12 advantage in the all-time series, although the Cardinals are 12-8 in the modern series.

Date Site Winning team Losing team Series
1912-10-28  Lexington Kentucky 41 Louisville 0 UK 1–0
1913-11-22 Louisville Kentucky 20 Louisville 0 UK 2–0
1914-11-14 Lexington Kentucky 42 Louisville 0 UK 3–0
1915-11-06 Louisville Kentucky 15 Louisville 0 UK 4–0
1922-10-14 Lexington Kentucky 63 Louisville 0 UK 5–0
1924-10-04 Lexington Kentucky 29 Louisville 0 UK 6–0
1994-09-03 Lexington Kentucky 20 Louisville 14 UK 7–0
1995-09-02 Lexington Louisville 13 Kentucky 10 UK 7–1
1996-08-31 Lexington Louisville 38 Kentucky 14 UK 7–2
1997-08-30 Lexington Kentucky 38 Louisville 24 UK 8–2
1998-09-05 Louisville Kentucky 68 Louisville 34 UK 9–2
1999-09-04 Lexington Louisville 56 Kentucky 28 UK 9–3
  2000-09-02† Louisville Louisville 40 Kentucky 34 UK 9–4
 2001-09-01 Lexington Louisville 36 Kentucky 10 UK 9–5
 2002-09-01 Louisville Kentucky 22 Louisville (17) 17   UK 10–5
 2003-08-31 Lexington Louisville 40 Kentucky 24 UK 10–6
 2004-09-04 Louisville Louisville 28 Kentucky 0 UK 10–7
 2005-09-04 Lexington Louisville (12) 31 Kentucky 24 UK 10–8
 2006-09-03 Louisville Louisville (13) 59 Kentucky 28 UK 10–9
 2007-09-15 Lexington Kentucky 40 Louisville (9) 34 UK 11–9
 2008-08-31 Louisville Kentucky 27 Louisville 2 UK 12–9
 2009-09-19 Lexington Kentucky 31 Louisville 27 UK 13–9
 2010-09-04 Louisville Kentucky 23 Louisville 16 UK 14–9
 2011-09-17 Lexington Louisville 24 Kentucky 17 UK 14–10
 2012-09-02 Louisville Louisville (25) 32 Kentucky 14 UK 14–11
 2013-09-14 Lexington Louisville (7) 27 Kentucky 13 UK 14–12

In 2010, the Louisville Sports Commission began rewarding the Most Valuable Player on the winning team the Howard Schnellenberger Award. Schnellenberger played for Kentucky under Bear Bryant and coached at Louisville from 1985-94.