Louisville @ Kentucky preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 24, 2018 ) Kentucky 56, Louisville 10

Louisville will look to keep alive its winning streak over Kentucky in Lexington when the rivals meet Saturday for the 32nd time in the Governor's Cup. The Cardinals have won four straight games at Kroger Field and six of the last eight overall meetings with the Wildcats.

The Cardinals and quarterback Micale Cunningham come in hot off back-to-back victories, including 56-point outburst against Syracuse. Cunningham isn't the runner that his counterpart Lynn Bowden, Jr. of Kentucky has been this season, but is a far superior passer and is coming off a game in which he threw five touchdown passes. "They've had a lot explosive plays and not just in the passing game," Kentucky coach Mark Stoops told the media of Louisville, which has outscored Kentucky 133-71 in the last four games in Lexington, including 82-41 in the last two such contests. "You're going to be in some one-on-one situations and you have to make competitive plays down the field. That will be important again in this game." Bowden put up another 100-yard rushing day in Kentucky's 50-7 thrashing of Tennessee-Martin last week and has churned out 852 yards on the ground in the last six games - the most for the Wildcats over that span since Moe Williams, a running back and the second leading rusher in school history, amassed 926 yards during the last six games of the 1995 season.

TV: Noon ET, SEC Network. LINE: Kentucky -3

ABOUT LOUISVILLE (7-4): Javian Hawkins, who owns freshman school records for rushing yards in a game (233), rushing yards in a season (1,278) and 100-yard rushing games (six), will provide a solid test for the Kentucky defense, which just held Tennessee-Martin to -12 rushing yards thanks in part to six sacks. Hawkins' 233-yard game, which he accomplished last week against Syracuse, is the seventh-most overall in school history and the most for the Cardinals since Lamar Jackson ran for 226 yards in 2015. Cunningham has added 374 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns for Louisville, who will be out to avenge last season's 56-10 thrashing at home at the hands of the Wildcats.

ABOUT KENTUCKY (6-5): While Bowden, who needs 49 rushing yards to become the ninth Kentucky player with 1,000 in the season, will be the focal point of Louisville's defense, the Wildcats have several other runners who can make them pay. Just as Christopher Rodriguez did two games ago, Asim Rose joined Bowden with a 100-yard game against Tennessee-Martin and the unit is averaging 5.8 yards per carry. Travis Tisdale and Tyler Markray are the lesser-known parts of the rushing attack, which also includes Kavosiey Smoke, who took a back seat last week but was close to breaking the 100-yard barrier against Vanderbilt.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Kentucky's defense ranks 56th nationally in rushing yards allowed per game (146.4).

2. WR Tutu Atwell has 1,072 yards receiving - the first to go over that mark for Louisville since Harry Douglas in 2017 - and 11 receiving touchdowns.

3. Bowden, a junior from Youngstown, Ohio, ranks second in the nation in yards per rushing attempt (7.37) and 14th in all-purpose yards per game (141.1).

PREDICTION: Louisville 35, Kentucky 31