College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Kentucky 52, Louisville 21
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, November 27, 2021
Where: Cardinal Stadium, Louisville, Kentucky
Temperature: 48°
Head Official: Matt Loeffler
Attendance: 55018

Will Levis threw for 149 yards and ran for a school-record-tying four touchdowns to lead Kentucky to a 52-21 victory over host Louisville in a nonconference game on Saturday.

Levis went 14-for-18 passing and ran for 113 yards, including scoring runs of 29, 7, 5 and 1 yards.

His four rushing touchdowns tied the school record for the university's modern era (1946- present) that's shared by six other Wildcats, most recently by Lynn Bowden against Louisville in 2019.

Kentucky (9-3) posted just its second nine-win regular season since 1984 and first since 2018. Louisville dropped to 6-6.

Chris Rodriguez ran for 121 yards and a score on 16 carries for Kentucky, while Wan'Dale Robinson had nine receptions for 97 yards and Josh Ali added four catches for 48 yards. Kentucky outgained Louisville 511-352.

Louisville quarterback Malik Cunningham went 12-for-20 passing for 145 yards, in addition for rushing for 35 yards and a touchdown. Jalen Mitchell rushed for a team-high 53 yards on 11 carries.

Leading 14-7 after the first quarter, Kentucky put the game away in the second quarter.

After Matt Ruffolo connected on a 43-yard field goal with 8:46 left in the quarter, Levis scored on a five-yard run with 1:53 remaining to extend the lead to 24-7 at halftime.

Kentucky opened the third quarter by going 75 yards in seven plays, capped by Levis' 1-yard run that extended the Wildcats' lead to 31-7. Rodriguez's two-yard run pushed the lead to 38-7 with 3:18 left in the quarter.

Kavosiey Smoke's 13-yard touchdown run up the middle made it 45-7 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter.

After Louisville's Josh Johnson caught an eight-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Evan Conley, La'Vell Wright answered for Kentucky with a 41-yard touchdown run with 3:54 remaining to make it 52-14.

Kentucky needed just six plays to open the scoring, as Levis burst up the middle for a 29-yard touchdown run and a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the game.

The Cardinals tied the game 10 plays later, when Cunningham scored on a two-yard run to cap a 75-yard drive with 7:30 left in the first quarter.

But Levis answered on Kentucky's ensuing possession, as his seven-yard run capped a 12-play, 75-yard drive with 1:18 left in the opening quarter.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
Rushing
Kentucky   Louisville
Christopher Rodriguez Jr. Player Jalen Mitchell
16 Attempts 11
121 Yards 53
7.6 Avg Yards 4.8
1 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Receiving
Kentucky   Louisville
Wan'Dale Robinson Player Marshon Ford
9 Receptions 6
97 Yards 68
10.8 Avg Yards 11.3
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Kentucky 511 362 149 7 1 1 1.0 0
Louisville 352 144 208 3 0 0 0.0 0