Miller Moss Posts Gritty Bounce-Back Performance in Governor's Cup

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For the Louisville football program, it was a Governor's Cup to remember.

Kentucky marched into L&N Stadium this past Saturday, hoping they could take advantage of a wounded and reeling Cardinals squad. Instead, it was the Wildcats who were humbled, with UofL dealing a 41-0 beatdown upon UK.

With a performance like this, Louisville had a bunch of players step up. Freshmen Braxton Jennings and Shaun Boykins Jr., who started the season as the 4th and 5th string running backs, combined for 214 rushing yards. Led by defensive end Clev Lubin and linebacker T.J. Quinn, their defense held Kentucky to a paltry 147 total yards of offense.

Perhaps, most importantly, Louisville received a gritty bounce-back performance from quarterback Miller Moss.

Against Kentucky, Moss completed 12 of his 20 pass attempts, throwing for 182 yards and three touchdowns in the process. He also added a fourth touchdown on a one-yard tush push at the goal line.

This came while dealing with a foot injury that he suffered in the week of preparation ahead of last weekend's game at SMU. In fact, Moss was unable to start or play at all in the contest against the Mustangs, leading Deuce Adams and Brady Allen to split reps.

"It was super frustrating, honestly, to not be able to play (vs. SMU)," Moss said. "It was frustrating to sit there and not be able to help your team, and go out there and sacrifice with those guys. But I give a ton of credit to our our training staff. They did a great job helping me get right. Just couldn't be more grateful to work with them. and had me feeling very, very confident with the foot going out there."

Even before the SMU game, Moss had been trending downwards. Over the first six games of the season, he completed 66.2 percent of his attempts and averaged 267.7 passing yards per game, while having nine touchdowns against four interceptions. But over the next four, he completed only 60.8 percent of his throws, averaged just 184.5 passing yards per game, and had two touchdowns against three interceptions.

There's no doubt that Moss has had an up-and-down 2025 season, and his recent play had been a role as to why Louisville entered the Govenor's Cup on a three-game losing streak. But even with that being the case, he saved his best performance for last, with his 185.9 QBR being a season-high. He helped the offense put up 440 total yards on the 'Cats, and credits the entire team for their ability to have that much offensive success.

"It's hard to point to one thing," he said. "Offensive football is the ultimate team sport, so when you have a bunch of guys doing their job at a high level, I think that's what it looks like. I think we were really aggressive early on, which I enjoyed and was happy about. I think that that paid dividends, and obviously allowed us to build the lead. And I was really proud of how we played in the second half, especially up front. ... I give a ton of credit to the offensive line, and then to our two backs that played today and stepped up."

Moss also stepped up as a leader for Louisville and their offense. Due to the depth issues at running back, Kentucky's defense spent most of the day dropping back into coverage with the anticipation of a pass-happy attack. Moss noticed this, and relayed this to head coach Jeff Brohm, imploring him to take what the defense was giving them and run the ball.

"I thought, with our personnel, they were going to try to defend the pass - and they did," Brohm said. "But we wanted to still try to throw it early on, and kind of just set the tone like, 'Hey, we're at least going to take some strikes down the field, and hopefully make some plays.' Then the combination of the both, it opened up some things.

"As we got going, our quarterback was seeing it well, our line and running backs were seeing it well. I think we have a good package to run the ball when we have those type of looks, and just move the chains and control the clock. That's been a strength of ours. Miller has a good feel for that. He's smart, he's played a lot of football, and did a great job for us, coach."

Between his actual play on the field and his leadership intangibles, Moss helped set the tone for a bounce-back performance. Just a couple weeks after his comments regarding culture raised some eyebrows, he was the primary example on Saturday as to why Louisville's locker room culture, despite some bumps in the road, is still thriving.

"Teams can go one of two ways: you can fold and succumb to that adversity, or you can continue to go out there and put your best foot forward. I think that's what we did today. ... I'm super proud of the character and integrity of this group, and couldn't be more proud to be a part of this team.

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