By Sam Draut–

Louisville fell behind 21-0 and 24-7 to in-state rival Kentucky in the annual Governor’s Cup, but the Cardinals put together a dominating second half performance and defeated Kentucky 38-24 at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, KY.

Scoring 31 unanswered points in the second half, 17 in the third quarter, Louisville pulled out one of best comebacks in head coach Bobby Petrino’s coaching career and the biggest come-from-behind win in program history since 1989.

“It might be the sweetest (comeback), I can tell you that,” Petrino said. “It was a great being able to come back down like that and see our guys grow up.”

Rough start: Kyle Bolin threw two interceptions, and one was returned for an 81-yard touchdown. Louisville fell behind ten minutes into the first quarter 21-0. Kentucky tacked on a field goal in the closing seconds of the first half to take a 24-7 lead into halftime. Kentucky scored 17 points off three Louisville turnovers in the first half.

Bolin was benched after his second interception was returned for a touchdown.

Kentucky tacked on a 20-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter after Lamar Jackson threw an interception after Louisville reached the 13-yard line.

Lambo: Freshman Lamar Jackson replaced starting quarterback Kyle Bolin and finished with his best career game. Jackson rushed for 186 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns. The freshman completed eight of 21 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown. After the game, Jackson was named the Most Valuable Player.

“He really grew up. He made some great plays running the ball, throwing it,” Petrino said. “He really just concentrated on reading the plays, not guess and not making a predetermined decision. That’s when you start to mature as a quarterback.”

Jackson is the first FBS quarterback this season to record multiple games with 150 or more rushing yards with his performance on Saturday.

During the comeback effort, Jackson said he took his time and tried to keep moving the chains.

“There was no doubt in the huddle,” Jackson said. “I just told them, ‘It’s game time lets go.'”

Rushing attack: Along with Jackson’s running ability, Brandon Radcliff rushed for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Louisville ended the game with 314 rushing yards.

After rushing for 67 yards in the first half, Louisville churned out 247 yards on the ground in the second half.

“We knew that it was going to be on us to run the ball because of what was going on at the time,” senior offensive lineman Aaron Epps said. “As offensive line, we got to run the ball. There is nothing else to it. We can protect but we got to run the ball.”

While Jackson and Radcliff carried the load, sophomore L.J. Scott added to the rushing attack with 56 yards on four carries.

Quick drives: Louisville’s four touchdown drives in the second half didn’t take long to develop. The Cardinals first touchdown drive of the second half went 66 yards in 2:01 capped off by a six-yard touchdown by Radcliff. The following drive went 68 yards in four plays that ended with a 35 yard touchdown catch by James Quick that took up just 1:19 to tie the score at 24. After a defensive stop and kick-catch interference that set Louisville up on the 34 yard line, the Cardinals scored in 41 seconds to take their first lead of the game with 10:17 left in the fourth quarter. Louisville’s final scoring drive was a one-play, seven second, 13 yard touchdown run by Jackson after Jaire Alexander returned a punt for 33 yards.

Defense: After giving up 208 total yards of offense in the first half, Louisville’s defense dominated in the second half. The Cardinals held Kentucky to 83 yards of total offense and two first downs in the second half. Safeties Josh Harvey-Clemons and Chucky Williams ended with a team high eight tackles.

Louisville’s defense held Kentucky scoreless in the second half and dominated the line of scrimmage. Kentucky quarterback Drew Barker completed one of 14 passes for negative-one yard in the second half.

Petrino said defense didn’t make any adjustments at halftime, and defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said his unit stuck to the game plan despite the early deficit.

Grantham called the effort an example of “true grit” and said he told his players that he didn’t want Kentucky to score again.

“We always stick together through everything,” outside linebacker Devonte Fields said. “No matter what even today, we just stick together.”

Before the game, Louisville announced that outside linebacker Trevon Young and defensive lineman James Hearns were suspended for violation of team rules. Young is the team leader in sacks this season with 8.5 and Hearns had added three tackles for a loss on the year.

What it means: After starting the season 0-3, Louisville finished the year winning seven of their final nine games to end the 2015 regular season 7-5.

Even though Petrino said the 7-5 record wasn’t the type of season that anyone wanted, he was excited for Louisville to capture its fifth consecutive win over Kentucky in the annual Governor’s Cup.

“It’s awesome. Like I said, I couldn’t be more proud of our football team, the assistant coaches, the fans,” Petrino said. “It’s great. It’s a great, great feeling.”

Petrino is 6-0 all-time against Kentucky as a head coach at Louisville with an average margin of victory of 16.7 points.

What’s next: Louisville will await a postseason bowl bid, which is the program’s sixth consecutive bowl game.

With 17 of 22 starters set to return next year, the thirteen practices leading up to the bowl game will be beneficial for a young team.