In the 2022-23 Kentucky vs. Louisville all-sports rivalry, the Big Blue came through

With Kentucky having dominated intrastate rival Louisville in recent years in both football and men’s basketball, the Cardinals have enlisted two of their most-notable alumni to try to turn the rivalry tables.

One year after U of L hired former Cards basketball forward Kenny Payne as men’s hoops head man, Louisville tabbed former Cardinals quarterback Jeff Brohm to run the university’s football program.

The return to the commonwealth by the ex-Purdue head man — a former star player at Trinity High School and U of L and the ex-head coach at Western Kentucky — is easily the most significant event that occurred during 2022-23 in the UK-U of L all-sports rivalry.

Even the man who will fight Brohm for superiority in the Governor’s Cup rivalry — Kentucky head man Mark Stoops — praised the U of L hire.

“It’s tough because I like Jeff,” Stoops said after Brohm’s new deal was announced. “... He’ll do a really good job. I mean, obviously, great connections to the state. A strong impact at Louisville, and he’s a good coach and a good person. So they’ll do very well, and we’ll continue to battle with them.”

As for the on-the-field results between UK and U of L in 2022-23, it was a big bounce-back for the Wildcats. One school year ago, Louisville carved out a 5-4 advantage in head-to-head meetings across all sports with Kentucky.

In 2022-23, the “Big Blue empire” struck back with a 7-4 edge over Louisville.

In men’s sports, Kentucky holds a 4-2 advantage over U of L. The Wildcats won in basketball, football, soccer and tennis. The Cardinals’ sole victories came in baseball and swimming.

On the women’s side, UK went 3-2 vs. Louisville. The Cats swept two games in softball and won in women’s swimming. The Cards were victorious in basketball and volleyball.

(UK has clinched the upper hand for regular-season play with its intrastate rival regardless of what the outcome might be if a Cats-Cards baseball game originally scheduled for April 11 but postponed were to be rescheduled — which seems unlikely).

Over the past six school years combined, UK has gone 31-25-1 vs. U of L in head-to-head matchups across all sports.

Rivalry MVPs

If awards were handed out to the players and coaches who made the most dramatic impact on our state’s marquee college sports rivalry in 2022-23, the winners would be:

▪ Kentucky’s men’s sports rivalry MVP: J.J. Weaver, football. The UK rush end/outside linebacker led a stifling Wildcats defense in the Cats’ 26-13 victory over the Cards at Kroger Field on Nov. 26. The 6-foot-5, 244-pound product of Moore High School in Louisville had seven tackles, a quarterback sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup vs. his hometown team.

▪ Louisville men’s sports rivalry MVP: Dalton Lowe, swimming. The junior from Spring, Texas, had a hand in four event wins — the 100 backstroke (46.92 seconds), the 100 butterfly (46.64) and the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams — to lead U of L to a 200-96 crushing of UK on Jan. 21 in Lexington.

▪ Kentucky women’s sports rivalry MVP: Beth McNeese, swimming. The senior from Katy, Texas, led No. 14 UK to a 168-132 upset of No. 6 U of L on Jan. 21 in Lexington by winning both the 500 freestyle (4:42.39) and the 1,000 free (9:39.54).

▪ Louisville women’s sports rivalry MVP: Claire Chaussee, volleyball. The 6-foot outside hitter, a super-senior from Sun Prairie, Wis., produced 16 kills to lead No. 3 U of L to a 3-2 victory (20-25, 25-15, 26-24, 24-26, 15-11) over No. 13 UK before a raucous Memorial Coliseum crowd on Sept. 14.

▪ Kentucky rivalry coach of the year: Johan Cedergren, men’s soccer. In a rivalry meeting of top 10 foes, Cedergren coached the No. 5 Wildcats to a 3-2 victory over the No. 10 Cardinals on Sept. 6 in Lexington.

▪ Louisville rivalry coach of the year: Dani Busboom Kelly, volleyball. One year after snapping a seven-match UK win streak in the series, the Cardinals head coach and her team backed that up by beating Kentucky again on the Wildcats’ home court.

Tracking the trends in men’s sports

Baseball: Louisville has won 13 of its past 16 meetings with Kentucky.

Basketball: Kentucky has won 12 of its past 15 contests vs. Louisville.

Football: UK has won four straight and five out of six over U of L.

Soccer: Kentucky has won three straight and is 6-4-1 vs. Louisville over the past 11 meetings.

Swimming: Louisville has won 14 of the past 15.

Tennis: UK has beaten U of L in 29 straight head-to-head matches.

Tracking the trends in women’s sports

Basketball: Louisville has defeated Kentucky six straight times.

Soccer: Louisville has won two straight, though the teams have now gone four consecutive years without playing.

Softball: UK has won 11 of the past 13 games vs. U of L.

Swimming: Kentucky has won five of the past six.

Volleyball: The Cardinals have claimed the past two meetings after UK had won the seven previous matches vs. U of L in a row.