First Scouting Report: Can UK salvage something from its season vs. archrival U of L?
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Game day: No. 1 Georgia 16, Kentucky 6
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Georgia 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 (6-5, 3-5 SEC) will play host to intrastate rival Louisville (7-4, 4-4 ACC) next Saturday (Nov. 26) at Kroger Field (capacity 61,000).
The game will kick off at 3 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by the SEC Network.
Coach Scott Satterfield’s Cardinals defeated North Carolina State 25-10 on Saturday on Louisville’s Senior Day.
Series history
Kentucky leads 18-15. The Wildcats have won three in a row and four of the past five meetings.
UK Coach Mark Stoops is 4-4 vs. Louisville.
Cardinals head man Scott Satterfield is 0-2 vs. Kentucky.
UK will be seeking to extend its non-league winning streak to 20 straight games. The Cats have not lost to a non-SEC foe since falling 24-23 to Northwestern of the Big Ten in the 2017 Music City Bowl.
Most recent meeting
Kentucky quarterback Will Levis ran for 113 yards and four touchdowns as the Wildcats dominated Louisville along both lines of scrimmage en route to a 52-21 victory over the Cardinals on Nov. 27, 2021, at Cardinal Stadium.
Know your foe
1. Kentucky’s three-game win streak in the Governor’s Cup has been built around dominant line play. While beating U of L by a combined 153-44 in the past three meetings, the Wildcats have scored 17 rushing touchdowns.
On 10 of those 17 TD runs, the UK rusher went untouched into the end zone.
If that narrative continues in 2022, it will defy how each team has performed this season. UK’s offensive line play has not been close to the level of recent years. Going into Saturday’s games, the Wildcats’ rushing attack ranks a pedestrian 119th in the FBS, averaging only 119.6 yards a game. Meanwhile, Louisville’s run defense ranked 64th in the FBS, giving up 145.2 yards a game.
2. Louisville entered play Saturday ranked No. 2 in the country in quarterback sacks. The Cardinals had sacked opposing QBs 37 times, one behind Pittsburgh for the national lead. The U of L defense ranked 12th in the FBS in tackles for loss with 75.
Senior defensive end YaYa Diaby (6.5 sacks, 10.5 TFL) and senior outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah (5.5 sacks, 10 TFL, four forced fumbles) have been the primary havoc creators for Louisville.
That does not seem a great matchup for a Kentucky offense that entered play Saturday No. 126 out of 131 FBS teams in sacks allowed, having surrendered 39. The Wildcats stood No. 110 in tackles for loss allowed, having given up 70.
3. Louisville Coach Scott Satterfield will be seeking to avoid joining ex-Cardinals head man Steve Kragthorpe as the only Cards head men in the modern history of the Governor’s Cup rivalry to lose their first three games vs. Kentucky.
Kragthorpe lost to the Wildcats 40-34 in 2007, 27-2 in 2008 and 31-27 in 2009.
He did not get a fourth chance vs. the Cats.
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 6:40 PM.
