By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Louisville will display the Governor’s Cup in its trophy case for another year.
The Cardinals ended a three-game losing streak and handed Kentucky its most lopsided setback in the history of the instate rivalry with a 41-0 shutout on Saturday. The loss was Kentucky’s largest margin of defeat since a 49-0 loss at LSU in 2006 and Louisville’s first shutout in the series since 2004.
“It’s been a rough couple of weeks without question,” Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said. “Losing is not very fun, and it’s not supposed to be fun. Our guys have handled it well, and it’s something you have to work through, and they’ve continued to work hard and put in the effort … they understand that all of the small things matter and if you don’t do the small things, you’re not going to win.”
The Wildcats ended the season with two straight losses by a combined margin of 81-17 after piecing together three straight victories and finished with a 5-7 mark and will miss the postseason for the second straight year. Louisville (8-4) will await word of its postseason destination following next weekend’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
“Not very proud of our effort today, obviously,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “I want to give Louisville and Jeff a bunch of credit. They played one heck of a game, regrouped and played extremely well. I’m not pleased with the way we finished the season, obviously. Felt like we made some improvements throughout the middle of the season there and then towards the end just couldn’t hang out. Didn’t play very good, didn’t coach very good and got our butts kicked.”
The Cardinals were shorthanded and used a makeshift backfield to carry the team to victory. Louisville also welcomed the return of quarterback Miller Moss, who missed last week’s 38-6 loss to SMU because of a leg injury. Moss threw for 182 yards and three touchdowns in his return to the lineup. Moss also rushed for another score as the Cardinals amassed 440 total yards, including 258 yards on the ground.
Playing without its top three running backs, Louisville true freshman running back Braxton Jennings, a walk-on, and converted wide receiver Shaun Boykins Sr., a redshirt freshman, each rushed for more than 100 yards to carry the team’s offense in the absence of its scholarship backfield.
A former standout at Ashland Blazer, Jennings rushed for a career-high 113 yards, while Boykins added 101 yards and one touchdown to wear down Kentucky’s defense, which was outscored 86-17 in losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville, respectively.
Jennings was awarded the Schnellenberger Trophy as the game’s Most Valuable Player.
“He works hard and he runs strong,” Brohm said of Jennings. “Early on, he didn’t know which way to run – right or left – or what the play was (but) we saw in time, this guy can play for us. His time came earlier than we thought.”
Kentucky struggled in all phases and managed just 147 total yards, including a paltry 40 yards on the ground in the loss. Quarterback Cutter Boley threw for 107 yards but had two interceptions and two turnovers that led to 14 points for the hosts.
The Louisville defense sacked Boley six times for a loss ot 48 yards and had eight tackles for a loss of 51 yards. The Cardinals made big plays in special teams, and a blocked punt led to the team’s first touchdown in the first quarter. The Wildcats missed a field goal attempt in the first half.
“It doesn’t feel great, I’m not going to lie,” Brohm said. “I take losing hard, and it’s not fun, but sometimes that drives you to figure it out. If you have enough people who can figure it out, you can get things done. I credit our team. They stuck together. … When you get a blocked out that early, it sets the tone.”
Stoops, who has been on and off the proverbial hot seat this season, reiterated his plans to return for a 14th season next year and said has no plans of walking away from the program.
“I can’t control the decision,” Stoops said. “If you’re asking me (about walking away on my own), zero means zero. Zero percent chance.”