Not a lot of Kentucky fans were left at the end of Saturday's game. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Louisville coach Jeff Brohm called it a “really good day for us” after his Cardinals dismantled Kentucky 41-14 Saturday to win the Governor’s Cup and end a five-year losing streak to host UK.
“I am fully aware of this rivalry, what it means to the fan base, to the university, and to two really good programs, and we came ready to play. I thought our guys wanted it,” Brohm said.
That was obvious because the Cardinals were the more focused, more physical team from start to finish.
“We worked really hard. We knew the importance of finishing the season. We talked about finishing as strong as we could, that every game matters, so to come through on the road in a pretty convincing fashion, it was a really good win,” Brohm said.
Louisville ran for 358 yards and had two 100-yard rushers and Brohm felt his team had to be able to run “to keep them honest” overall.
“A lot of teams that have not done well try to throw a little bit. We wanted to establish the run. We have got good runners, and our quarterback got us in the right place when we needed to check here and there, and we had huge plays,” Brohm said. “When you can take pressure off the passing game, it really makes the team and things go much better. So just a great rushing attack today, credit to our running backs.
“Isaac (Brown) is tremendous, and Duke (Watson) is a tremendous young running back and all our guys work hard. Our O-line really works hard, and our tight ends did a really good job blocking, so that is all important for coming out with a rushing attack like that for sure.”
Louisville defensive lineman Ramon Puryear knew the Cardinals had to “keep our cool” since UK had nothing to lose in its final game of the year. He also knew the Cardinals had to really get after freshman quarterback Cutter Boley in his first start. He threw two interceptions and was eventually knocked out of the game.
“We knew we were going to have an opportunity to create turnovers, so we had to have great lanes, create pass rush, and give us those opportunities to capitalize on that,” he said.
Ashton Gillotte, one of the nation’s best pass rushers, felt the Cardinals did a good job stopping the run to make UK have to pass. He was also glad to get a win over Kentucky.
“It’s a surreal moment. I think it’s a great team win. I think we needed it as a senior group, just to be able to basically get the last laugh (on UK),” he said. “That’s just something I think we all were anticipating and were preparing ourselves for, and it came to fruition.”
One Response
Louisville is a much better coached team. Yes Brohm lost his first game in the series but Louisville had a better year last year and should have really won the game last year. Brohm has clearly passed Stoops up in the state and it has taken him 2 years. I used to want Brohm as Kentucky’s coach when we hired Stoops. I think if he would have came to Kentucky we would have won a SEC championship by now and I really believe that. He is a offensive mastermind and all he needs to worry about is hiring a great defensive coordinator and he’s going to win win win. Louisville looked like a well prepared team and a very well coached team. They were more physical than us which is what Stoops hangs his hat on. Stoops has lost it and I worry we miss out on Jon Sumrall over Stoops staying another year or 2? Next year Louisville will absolutely embarrass us again because the margin for Brohm against Stoops gets ever wider. I doubt Stoops ever beats Louisville again. They have a great freshman running back who absolutely destroyed us what do you think he’s going to do next year when he’s even better?
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