Kentucky ran for only 40.
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 consecutive 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 short-handed 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 of 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.”
12 Responses
Stoops getting back to work isn't working. He's over his head and has been for a while now. We need some leadership in the upper levels at UK. The cooperate model coming out of the President's office isn't working either. UK athletics is broken.
At what point do players feel embarrassed and compelled to give it everything? Stoops needs to go now , thats a fact but wtf is going on with the desire to beat the guy across from you? Other teams have that. Why not us? If we are truly that bad at football and that was maximum effort who is responsible for that? The coach .. He's responsible. Or should be. He's gotta go man.. We need a new culture here. This is shameful.
Are people going to pay for a ticket to watch this?
No Grant, they won't. They can stay home and watch some of the games on TV and then turn the channel if they choose to.
Stoops needs to do the right thing and work out a negotiated buy-out with the administration ASAP if he has any hope of saving his career in the future. To this set of lenses the last two weeks has been the ugliest UK FB in a very long time. I don't care what a few players said about wanting to stand and play for Stoops. Did it look like that product on the field yesterday really even wanted to be there at all let alone make any attempt to want to beat heated Rival? Look at what Auburn almost did to their in-state hated Rival. It wasn't just the fact that we got beat, it was the fact that we got embarrassed and humiliated AGAIN on the national stage by a team that had as many, if not more, walking wounded than we did. To hold most quality RB's in the SEC to under 3 YPC for most of the year and then allow a freshman walk-on to get 5 YPC is beyond comprehension. Our players were not ready to play and our coaches were not ready to coach. We need a total REGIME change on the staff!! Stoops knows he is DMW here and no longer welcome by at least 80% of BBN. We are still the major laughing stock in all of major college FB for inepitude and giving his employer R.O.I. I will ask the question once again. Is there any other coach that looks as lost or less engaged with the players than Stoops on the sidelines?
Are Dan Mullen or Will Stein legit UK coaching targets provided Stoops is canned?
This is an honest question that I don't know the answer to, so maybe someone on here can tell me.
I know the players are supposed to be tested for drugs every-so-often. Does this also include the coaches???
I don't think they do, but it might be something that needs to be done. We might get some surprises.
These Kentucky players have got to look at themselves in the mirror and own up to such blatant lack of effort. The Louisville loss yesterday was this program's worst loss in decades , torture and painful to watch.The UK coaches yesterday had zero answers, and looked out of their element, lost! UK football is a disaster now. That UK team yesterday quit, plain and simple. Coach has to know that if he's honest. Time he take his millions and move on, life's to short to stay at a place where you are no longer wanted by many fans. The UK brass and decision makers need to figure this out quick and hire a "Football Coach" who will make Louisville's GM, one UK fans affectionately called the "big dog" not so long ago, eat his words and actions after the humiliation from a team like Louisvjlle. By the way, he looks weird in cardinal red. No loyalty with that dude for sure. I said when Louisville hired Jeff Brohm that Coach Stoops and Kentucky football was in big trouble. Louisville owns UK now. That will continue if changes are not made very soon. Coach Stoops is not good in rivalry games, or program ascending wins. He chokes on game day for whatever reason. That has been proven time and time again since he was hired in 2013. He has done some incredible things in the past, but it's time to make a change IMO.
Great news….STOOPS IS GONE!!!..too bad that Barney bobbled the Sumrall opportunity but 1 out of 2 sometimes not too bad.
No wonder it's so damn cold…hell just froze over! Barnhart fired Stoops this evening and Barnhart himself may be the next to go. Sumrall went to Florida, so start from scratch. The next coach should be familiar with working the transfer portal, be committed to developing depth, and plays to win versus not to lose. I think Boley will stay. Focus on getting OL, RB, and WR help. Nothing demoralizes a team like getting shut out. Defense will be a 2027 priority.
As Barry said: HELL HATH FROZEN OVER!!! I can't believe it—THANK GOD. But this is only half the battle: U GOTTA MAKE THE RIGHT HIRE! And we actually have a chance now, the timing is set to where we have a shot at getting a good hire, we have a solid pool of candidates to choose from, which alot of years is not always the case. So I think you have to seize that opportunity of timing and options being on your side, and take advantage of this chance to re-elevate this football program, specifically where it comes to the OFFENSIVE side of the ball, and specifically within THAT, the PASSING GAME, QB play, and WR play. We are in DIRE need of help in all of those areas, and have been for years now–Stoops had what I would consider one good QB in his entire career here, and that was Will Levis. Towles had flashes of it, but was never consistent and didn't end up panning out all the way, plus at the time, Stoops still didn't have all of the talent around Towles yet to make it completely where Towles had a lot of help. Stephen Johnson was all guts and grit, he played hard and did whatever he had to do to try and win, whether that was running or throwing, and he actually had a pretty good arm, but physically he wasn't in the shape to handle that league as a regular QB, and not super-talented, and actually it's a miracle that he accomplished what he did here. Lynn Bowden–that 8-game run with him at QB was an outlier, but u could make the case that he provided the best "QB production" out of all the QBs of the Stoops era. I could honestly line Bowden up as my QB every day of the week and take my chances, I truly admire him as an athlete and what he accomplished that season, but that isn't a long-term answer. And Terry Wilson–he perfectly captured the essence of the problem with Stoops and the offensive side of the ball his entire career here, specifically with QB play and the passing game overall. A guy who honestly had no business being a starter in the SEC for 3 years. Not physically capable, not talented enough, not a passer, not good at running, scared of the pressure, not a good leader, mentally not sound enough for the position–and then on top of that, the coaches and play-callers making the situation worse by calling for passing plays when he should have been running, and running plays when he should have been passing. All of that combined with Wilson plagued this program and the Stoops era for 3 years, then mercifully, after COVID, the QB surprise of the Stoops era when Levis came here in 2021. But that only lasted two years, and in reality, only a year-and-a-half for when Levis was not injured. He was never the same after everything that happened to him down at Ole Miss in 2022. And then ever since then, it has been a Godawful attempt at trying to keep the position going with only Devin Leary as even remotely an answer to the problem. If not for Ray Davis, they do not even win 6 or 7 games in 2023, and that was the first year that you could really see a significant slide downward in all phases of the program. Remarkably, they still managed to keep positive momentum going that year with their record, beating LOU and FLA, and making a bowl–but you could see ON THE FIELD the slide in all phases. The last two years were the first steps into the "death spiral" portion of the Stoops era. Thankfully, that era ends at two years. And we should ALL be down on our knees giving thanks for the way the last two games against Vandy and LOU went–because even if one of them had been a win, or even if both of them had been losses that were close or competitive, Stoops would still be here. Those two blowouts, meltdowns, however u want to lable those games, truly paved the way for this to HAPPEN! And I'm thankful. I'm gonna be worried until the new coach is named because anytime Brain-fart is the one choosing a coach, I worry—WITH GOOD REASON!! But I sincerely believe this is the opportunity to get a good up-and-comer, a good, young, hotshot like a Brian Hartline or a Will Stein. Honestly, it would probably be too good to be true to end up with either one of them. But damn, I look at the age of both of those guys, and I look at the point they are at in their own personal careers, and I look at what they have accomplished and WHERE they have accomplished it. We know both of these guys KNOW and BREATHE OFFENSE! and damn, do we need that! Other than Levis, we have NOT had an SEC-caliber QB at this program since Andre Woodson. That was 2005-2007. It has been 20 years, man. 20 years. I don't think people realize that. One solid QB in 20 years' time just doesn't cut it. And we also have not had a young up-and-comer type of coaching candidate since Hal Mumme came here way back in 1997. 20 years. Now is exactly the perfect time to go after that. Hartline and Stein are both at the perfect age for beginning a first head coaching gig at a level and a job like KY. They are at the age where they could come here and actually BUILD something here–long-term and long-standing. I really really hope that UK takes advantage of this golden opportunity. We haven't had a consistent passing game, or consistent QB and WR production, in so long I have forgotten what it all looks like. Yet u could turn on about any other college football game in the country, and see two other random teams seem to have, at the very least, a SEMBLANCE, of all of that! UK cannot afford to get this one wrong. The long-term survival and sustainability of this program depends on it. And I see Mitch riding off into the sunset by next summer, so we can only hope that it doesnt end up with a situation of "stick us with some scrub, and then leave us to suffer and die with it after u are gone" type deal. But you just never know wth Mitch. Let's just hope that the fact that the correct FIRST step has been taken will lead into the correct SECOND step being taken. Like that one guy hollered at Mitch at the stadium on SAT as Mitch was walking off the field into the tunnel: "U KNOW WHAT TO DO, MITCH! U KNOW WHAT TO DO"!!
On3, the Associated Press, and the Courier Journal reported that Stoops had actually been fired yesterday. Paul Finebaum on ESPN confirms it this morning. Then I see another report saying that Stoops is on the chopping block but hasn't been fired…yet. Does anyone know for sure?