Preview: Louisville vs. Kentucky in the Governor's Cup

Kentucky Wildcats (5-6, 2-6 SEC) at Louisville Cardinals (7-4, 4-4 ACC)

- Kickoff: Saturday, November 29 at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Location: L&N Stadium in Louisville, Ky.
- Weather Conditions: Showers and thunderstorms. High 67F. S winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
- How To Watch: ACC Network
- How To Listen: 93.9 FM
- Betting Favorite: Louisville -3.0
- All-Time Series: Kentucky Leads 19-16
- Last Meeting: Louisville won 41-14 on Nov. 30, 2024 (Kroger Field)

Game Notes

Louisville

Louisville concludes the regular season by hosting in-state rival Kentucky on Saturday, Nov. 29, with kickoff set for Noon at L&N Stadium. The game will be televised live on the ACC Network. This marks the 11th time the match-up has served as the season finale.
Kentucky holds a 20-16 edge in the all-time series, winning five of the last six meetings, including four straight at L&N Stadium. Louisville’s last home win in the series was a 44-40 victory to close the 2014 campaign.
The Cardinals dropped their third straight game with a 38–6 loss at SMU last Saturday. Louisville was limited to a season-low 228 yards on 49 plays. The defeat marked the program’s largest margin of loss since a 45–13 setback at Kentucky in 2019.
Filling in for the injured Miller Moss, Deuce Adams made his first career start against the Mustangs. He completed 12 of 17 passes for 94 yards in the defeat.
The Cards were limited to just 100 passing yards, their lowest output since managing 79 in a loss to Kentucky in 2018. It also marked the first time Louisville was held without a touchdown since falling 16–6 to Florida State in the 2023 ACC Championship Game.
Playing without two of their starting running backs, the Cardinals rushed for 128 yards in the loss, with Shaun Boykins leading the way with 52 yards on eight carries. Duke Watson added six carries for 36 yards.
SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings completed 29 of 37 passes for 303 yards and three touchdowns, becoming just the second player to eclipse 300 passing yards against Louisville this season. The Mustangs finished with 485 yards of total offense against the nation’s 16th ranked defense.
Safety D’Angelo Hutchinson recorded 10 tackles in the loss while Corey Gordon, starting in place of Antonio Watts, totaled a season-high nine tackles.
Placekicker Cooper Ranvier booted to field goals to extend his freshman record of field goals made to 19.
The Cardinals are looking to win at least eight games for the 25th time in school history and the 17th time since 2000.
Wide receiver Chris Bell needs 83 yards to become the school’s ninth different player to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
The Cardinals will say goodbye to 26 seniors during Senior Day festivities on Saturday

Kentucky

Kentucky plays at Louisville in the final regular season game of the season for the Governor’s
Cup, at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 29 at noon ET UK has won four of the past five meetings overall and each of the past four in Louisville.
Despite coming off a loss at Vanderbilt on Saturday, Kentucky won three consecutive games
before that, including defeating a pair of league foes in Auburn and Florida. Kentucky allowed only three points at Auburn and seven against Florida, the first time in five years that it has limited consecutive SEC opponents to seven points or less. Also at Auburn, Kentucky’s defense totaled 12 tackles for loss (-63 yards), seven quarterback sacks (-49), one interception, four pass breakups and nine QB hurries. Also against Florida, Kentucky’s defense generated four turnovers, most in a game since 2020, while adding seven TFL, four pass breakups and four quarterback hurries .
QB Cutter Boley has brought a recent spark to the passing game. In his last six games, Boley has ccompleted 137-191-7 for 1,433 yards and 11 touchdowns, adding two touchdowns rushing. His pass completion percentage in those six games is 71.7 percent. He is the first UK QB with a completion percentage of at least 74.0 percent in four games (min. 20 attempts) in one season (vs. Texas, vs. Tennessee, vs. Florida, vs. Tennessee Tech) since Tim Couch in 1998. Boley has been named the SEC Freshman of the Week for three straight weeks (Weeks
10-12). With 12 touchdown passes against SEC opponents this season, Boley set the UK freshman record for most TD passes against SEC opponents. He also is on pace to shatter Jared Lorenzen’s school record for a freshman (min. 100 completions - 57.4%, 2000).
Over those six games, UK has had receiving by committee with nine wide receivers, three tight
ends and three running backs all making contributions. WR Kendrick Law has led the charge with 50 catches for 524 yards and three touchdowns.
UK’s rushing is led by a “2-3” punch - RBs Donte Dowdell (jersey #2) and Seth McGowan (#3). • Dowdell recently rushed for 104 yards on only seven carries against Florida on Nov. 8, highlighted by a 65-yard touchdown jaunt. McGowan, is tied for third in the SEC and 21st in the nation in TDs rushing (12) and seventh in the SEC in rushing yardage (72.0 yards per game).
UK has one of the most experienced offensive lines in FBS, with 166 career starts between
them prior to the start of the season, which ranked as the third-most in FBS. UK has started
the same five linemen in every game this season.
DB Ty Bryant has four interceptions, which leads the SEC and is 10th in the nation. He also is
second on the team in tackles with 64 stops.
Mark Stoops is the SEC’s longest-tenured coach, currently in his 13th season at the helm of the Wildcats in 2025. He also is UK’s all-time winningest head coach with 72 wins. • Kentucky had the nation’s fifth-toughest schedule at the start of 2025, according to USA Today, and currently is fifth-most difficult according to the Sagarin computer ratings.
Going into Week 14, UK has five opponents ranked in the current Associated Press Top 25 poll, including (4) Georgia, (6) Ole Miss, (12) Vanderbilt, (16) Texas and (18) Tennessee. In addition, Tennessee Tech was eighth in last week’s FCS poll.

Depth Charts

Here are the depth charts for both teams ahead of their matchup: Louisville vs. Kentucky

Comparison

See how the Cardinals stack up against the Wildcats, and who the statistical models favor: Tale of the Tape, Predictions: Louisville vs. Kentucky

Uniform Report

Louisville will be wearing all red, while Kentucky will be wearing all white.

🔴🔴🔴

Wearing red for our seniors #GoCards pic.twitter.com/6ca9taoZEq
— Louisville Football (@LouisvilleFB) November 26, 2025

This Caturday's threads 🥶🧊

🙋‍♂️ @jager_burton pic.twitter.com/cOV2Q3k2ta
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 26, 2025