Louisville's Defense Presents Yet Another 'Huge Challenge' For Kentucky

The Cardinals will stack the box as much as possible on Saturday afternoon in Lexington. Kentucky will hope to combat that with another good showing from its offensive line.

Southeastern Conference play may be over for Kentucky, but that doesn't mean the tough defensive challenges for the Wildcats and offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello are going anywhere. 

Insert the Louisville Cardinals, who will enter the Governor's Cup battle having won five of their last six games. Across that stretch, UofL has allowed an average of 16.5 points-per-game. 

"They're playing very confident, they're playing together, they've got a lot of veteran players that have played together for a while on that front, so I do think that they're playing very well," Scangarello said on Tuesday. "They've really smothered some good offenses in recent weeks ... I just feel like they're tied together."

Across 11 games this season, Louisville leads the country with a grand total of 41 sacks, accumulating 269 yards. That kind of stat provides a monumental mismatch for Kentucky's offensive line, which has allowed 40 sacks in 2022, the seventh worst mark in the nation. 

"It's a huge challenge, i've been very impressed watching them on tape ... we got to be at our best," Scangarello said. "To me, the defense is much more connected and tied down this year, it's very tight. And they gained some confidence, so it's our job to go out there and take that away and play our best and get after them early like last year, and if you can do that, that's great. But if not, you're going to be in a dog fight ...we got to match that intensity in every way."

That experience for the Cards comes in the form of six starting seniors. Scangarello went as far as saying that the obstacles UofL presents far succeed what Kentucky had to face last weekend in Lexington against No. 1 Georgia:  

"This week, it's a far greater challenge, in the sense that they're gonna blitz from all over, they're gonna move constantly ... they have a really exotic third down package with their dime stuff that they do a really good job, that's really how they've caused some real problems for teams in the ACC."

Plenty of issues may face the Cats at Kroger Field this weekend, including actually getting into the end zone. Kentucky's 54.8 percent red zone touchdown percentage is 98th in the country, while Louisville's red zone defense percentage checks in as 19th best in the land. 

Scangarello put it best on Tuesday, giving his offense and Kentucky some straightforward keys to victory if it wishes to win the Governor's Cup for the fourth year in a row:

"It comes down to protection, having a good plan and being smart with how we distribute the football." 

Will Levis didn't commit to playing in Kentucky's bowl game. More here.

Kentucky's latest depth chart can be found here.

More on Mark Stoops' new contract extension here.

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