Governor's Cup (Battle for the Bluegrass)
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[edit] Summary
The Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals, the athletic programs of the two largest universities in Kentucky, are part of what is widely considered one of the most intense college rivalries in the U.S. It is also one of the only rivalries to be equally intense in basketball and football, and practically every other sport as well. The men's basketball game is called the Battle for the Bluegrass, and the football game is officially called the Governor's Cup.
[edit] History
Despite their geographical proximity, the histories of the two schools are radically different. Kentucky was founded in 1865 as the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Kentucky, a public component of the otherwise private Kentucky University, now known as Transylvania University. Kentucky A&M split from Kentucky University in 1878 and adopted its current name in 1916. UK has historically been the "flagship" of the state's public university system.
Louisville actually predates UK by several decades. The university traces its roots to a school chartered in 1798, but not opened until 1813; in that era, it was effectively a municipal institution, which closed in 1829. The modern University of Louisville was founded in 1846 explicitly as a municipally supported institution by the combination of two medical schools and a newly established law school. It joined the state university system in 1970 but remained largely a local commuter institution until well into the 1990s. As recently as 1990, almost three-fourths of UofL's students were from the school's home county of Jefferson County. In 2000, for the first time, UofL enrolled at least one student from every Kentucky county, and 2005 marked the first year in which a majority of students came from outside Jefferson County.
Unlike many in-state rivalries in which the teams have faced each other continuously for many decades, these two schools rarely faced each other from the 1930s to the 1980s. They did play frequently prior to that time from the 1900s to 1920s, with UK dominating in both basketball and football. The results have been mixed since the renewal of the men's basketball rivalry in 1983 and football in 1994, with UK winning the basketball rivalry (16 of 23 or 69.5%) and UofL ahead in the football rivalry (9 of 12 or 69.2%) by almost identical percentages.
Much of UofL's recent success in football has been aided by UK alumni who are now on the UofL side, such as former football coach Howard Schnellenberger, defensive coordinator Mike Cassidy, assistant coach Mike Nord, and Lexington area players such as Eric Shelton, David Akers, Frank Minnifield, and Travis Leffew. A similar situation has occurred with the basketball team since former UK coach Rick Pitino took over and brought in UK transfer Marvin Stone and assistant coach and former UK player Steve Masiello. The Lexington media often refers to such people as the "Cat-birds".
In 2004, the two schools began a "media war" by placing ads in each others home news papers and using billboards to advertise. This was begun by UK's top of the sport's page ad in the Courier-Journal edition containing the results of the 2003 UK/UofL basketball game, in an effort to "rub in" UK's "win". (UK lost). The ad proclaimed "There's a wildcat loose in Freedom Hall", to advertise UK's upcoming annual non-conference game in Freedom Hall, which wasn't against UofL. UofL then infuriated University of Kentucky officials and fans by running a statewide billboard campaign with the phrase, "Louisville Football, Kentucky's finest". UofL also countered with ads on the Herald Leader's online sports page. Further, a billboard along I-64 on the way from Lexington to Louisville shows the Cards' logo with the slogan "Louisville... We're Miles Ahead." Along with a nearly identical billboard on a smaller connecting highway between Frankfort, and Versailles Two cities near Lexington, well within "Cat Country".
The rivalry has taken another interesting turn in recent years, with each team making in-roads in the respective team's core fan base; with UK drawing more African-American fans since the hiring of African-American head coach Tubby Smith, and UofL gaining more fans in areas outside the Metro Area as the school has become less of an "urban, commuter school" and is now drawing many traditional students from across the state. This is evidenced by the fact that over 1/3 of Kentucky counties have more enrolled UofL students than living UofL alumni.[citation needed] In 1990, 74% of UofL students where from Jefferson County, and by 2005 that number had fallen to 50%, while surrounding counties have remained steady.[citation needed]
In 2006, UK President Lee Todd added further fuel to the already overheated rivalry when he spoke on July 28 at the annual UK Football Kickoff Luncheon. He told a partisan Cats crowd: “ We need to kick some Cardinals. I'm tired of listening to them. Some places over-market and under-perform, and others under-market and over-perform. You can pick which you want to apply with. ”
While accepting the award for athletics director of the year after a banner 06-07 season which including UofL's first BCS Bowl win, Track and Field National Championships, and College World Series appearance, Tom Jurich jokingly referenced Todd's statement's by saying: “ I just hope we can underperform like this next year. ”
[edit] Results
Early Years
1. Oct 28, 1912 Kentucky 41, Louisville 0 2. Nov 22, 1913 Kentucky 20, Louisville 0 3. Nov 14, 1914 Kentucky 42, Louisville 0 4. Nov 6, 1915 Kentucky 15, Louisville 0 5. Oct 14, 1922 Kentucky 63, Louisville 0 6. Oct 4, 1924 Kentucky 29, Louisville 0
Modern Era
1. Sept 3, 1994 Kentucky 20, Louisville 14 2. Sept 2, 1995 Louisville 13, Kentucky 10 3. Aug 31, 1996 Louisville 38, Kentucky 14 4. Aug 30, 1997 Kentucky 38, Louisville 24 5. Sept 5, 1998 Kentucky 68, Louisville 34 6. Sept 4, 1999 Louisville 56, Kentucky 28 7. Sept 2, 2000 Louisville 40, Kentucky 34 (OT) 8. Sept 1, 2001 Louisville 36, Kentucky 10 9. Sept 1, 2002 Kentucky 22, Louisville 17 10. Aug 31, 2003 Louisville 40, Kentucky 24 11. Sept 4, 2004 Louisville 28, Kentucky 0 12. Sept 4, 2005 Louisville 31, Kentucky 24 13. Sept 3, 2006 Louisville 59, Kentucky 28
