First Scouting Report: Can UK continue its recent mastery of archrival U of L?
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Game day: Kentucky 56, New Mexico State 16
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-New Mexico State football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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An early look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next football game:
The opponent
Kentucky (8-3, 5-3 SEC) will face Louisville (6-5, 4-4 ACC) on Saturday, Nov. 27, at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville.
The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and be telecast on ESPN2.
Coach Scott Satterfield’s Cardinals blitzed Duke 62-22 Thursday night in Durham, N.C., to gain bowl eligibility.
Series history
Kentucky leads 17-15 and the Wildcats have won three of the past four meetings.
The Governor’s Cup rivalry was not played in 2020 after the Southeastern Conference forbid its teams from playing non-league games amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Most recent meeting
Kentucky quarterback Lynn Bowden ran for 284 yards and four touchdowns and running back Christopher Rodriguez added 125 rushing yards and a score as UK dominated Louisville 45-13 on Nov. 30, 2019, at Kroger Field.
Know your foe
1. Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham is one of the hottest players in the country.
In Thursday night’s decimation of Duke, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound redshirt junior completed 18 of 25 passes for 303 yards and five touchdowns — and ran for 224 yards and two scores.
The prior week, Cunningham completed 13 of 18 passes for 209 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-3 strafing of Syracuse.
In his career, Cunningham is 0-2 as a starter vs. UK.
The Montgomery, Ala., product is 11-of-19 passing for 142 yards with one touchdown and one interception vs. Kentucky and has run 16 times for 116 yards and a TD.
2. Former Lexington Catholic standout safety Jack Fagot is fourth on the Louisville team with 58 tackles.
An undersized 6-foot, 195-pound linebacker, Fagot has 6.5 tackles for loss, two quarterback sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup
One surmises that a victory over his hometown school would carry extra meaning for Fagot.
3. Louisville has been snake-bitten in big games in 2021.
U of L lost 37-34 at Wake Forest when the Demon Deacons’ Nick Sciba booted a 29-yard field goal with 22 seconds left.
Louisville led Virginia 30-13 entering the fourth quarter — but gave up three, fourth-quarter touchdowns and fell 34-33.
The Cardinals lost to Clemson 30-24 when Cunningham was stopped at the Tigers’ 4-yard line on a fourth-down play with 10 seconds left in the game.
Obviously, if those three outcomes are reversed, the tenor of the Louisville season is very different.
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 3:24 PM.
