Kentucky put the finishing touches on a 9-3 regular season with a 52-21 beatdown of in-state rival Louisville on Saturday.

Consecutive losses to Georgia, Mississippi State and Tennessee will likely keep Kentucky out of the New Year’s 6 bowl picture, but the Wildcats’ 6th consecutive season with a bowl bid should still end up in a warm climate after a 3-game winning streak to end the season.

The Wildcats harassed Louisville (6-6) defensively and rode a big game from QB Will Levis to victory.

Levis set a career high with 4 rushing touchdowns and surpassed 100 rushing yards on a day when transfer WR Wan’Dale Robinson set a program record for most receptions in a season, topping tight end James Whalen’s 90 catches in 1999. Robinson finished with 9 catches for 97 yards, giving him 94 catches for 1,178 yards on the year.

Junior running back Chris Rodriguez chipped in with a touchdown run and easily topped 100 yards on the ground in a season that has seen him remain among the rushing leaders of the SEC.

The game set up as a shootout on the first two possessions. Kentucky received the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards on 6 plays, starting with a 27-yard pass from Levis to Robinson and ending on a 29-yard touchdown run up the middle from Levis, who flashed an “L down” at the Louisville crowd in celebration. Louisville answered with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to tie the game at 7-7 with 7:30 left in the opening quarter. QB Malik Cunningham scored from 2 yards to draw even.

But that was pretty much the end of the good news for the Cardinals, whereas the Wildcats had not punted well into the fourth quarter.

Levis capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive with a 7-yard TD run to give Kentucky a 14-7 edge with 1:18 left in the opening quarter. On the ensuing drive, Louisville tried to convert on 4th and 5 from the Kentucky 39, but Cunningham’s pass sailed incomplete and Kentucky took over. Kentucky’s Matt Ruffolo connected on a 43-yard field goal with 8:46 to go until halftime to stretch the lead to 17-7.

After a 3-and-out for Louisville, Kentucky struck again with a 65-yard drive that culminated on Levis’s third TD run, this time from 5 yards, with 1:53 to go in the half.

Any hopes from Louisville of turning the game around after halftime were short-lived. Trailing 24-7, the Cardinals received the opening kickoff, but earned just one first down before punting. Kentucky needed just 7 plays to go 75 yards and extend the lead to 31-7 with 9:28 to play in the 3rd quarter via a 1-yard QB keeper by Levis. The key play of the drive was a 41-yard run for Rodriguez.

From there, Kentucky poured it on, with an interception from linebacker JJ Weaver giving the offense a short field that ended in a 2-yard scoring run for Rodriguez. After another Louisville 3-and-out, running back Kavosiey Smoke scored from 13 yards to extend UK’s lead to 45-7 with 13:33 left to play. Louisville scored on an 8-yard pass from backup QB Evan Conley to Josh Johnson with 8:49 left.

UK tacked on one more score, on a 41-yard TD run by La’Vell Wright, and the Cardinals reached the end zone in the final seconds.

The Wildcats have won their last 3 bowl games and seem likely to land in Florida, perhaps in the Outback Bowl, where they haven’t played since 1999. Louisville, of the ACC, is also bowl eligible.