By Catherine Laroche

While many people across the country look at this Sunday as just another day, the majority of the Bluegrass state has had this date circled since the University of Louisville and University of Kentucky released their football schedules.

After suffering a 40-34 loss to the Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium last season, the Cardinals are ready to take back the Governor’s Cup in the season opener at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

“UK is a huge game for us, as far as rivalry,” Scott Long, senior wide receiver, said. “The first game is always the most important game, no matter who we’re playing. But just the fact that it’s UK spices it up a little bit. We just need to go out there and make it a victory.”

Last season the game was the third of the year for both teams. The Cardinals are happy to see the game as the season-opener this year.

“We’re all real excited for it,” Eric Wood, senior offensive lineman, said. “It’s good playing them as the first game of the year, because we can focus on them all summer and through camp. It’s hard starting off the year and then having a rivalry game third game of the year.”

Like many of his teammates, when Wood stepped on campus he didn’t know how big of a deal this game was to the state of Kentucky.

“When I first got here, I didn’t understand the rivalry,” Wood said. “There are a lot of UK fans in Louisville and they’re always willing to voice their opinions and it seems like there’s always a U of L fan there to voice them back. It’s a great rivalry. Everyone’s real enthusiastic about this game.”

But the Cards know the Wildcats aren’t going to simply hand over the Governor’s Cup.

“I think UK is a very good football team, especially since they’re going to build off their success from last year,” said Hunter Cantwell, senior quarterback. “It’s the state championship, so to speak. We respect how good they’re going to be this year, but we’re going to be ready and do everything we can to play a very good football game.”

The Cardinals are confident in Cantwell as he makes his premiere as U of L’s starting quarterback.

“We’re really excited for Hunter,” said Jeff Brohm, offensive coordinator. “We think he’s going to do a great job for us this year. He’s worked extremely hard this summer. He’s paid his dues, being in the system for four years now going on his fifth year. He’s somebody who likes to throw the ball down the field and he’s got a great arm.”

U of L first-year defensive coordinator Ron English, who joined the Cardinals after spending five seasons with the University of Michigan, said defensively the Cardinals have been working very hard throughout the off-season.

“They’re trying hard to do the things we ask them to do,” he said. “They are being physical and learning the package and we expect them to be ready to go.”

For the Wildcats side, defense seemed to be more dominant in a recent scrimmage. UK defensive tackle Corey Peters showed up repeatedly in their backfield, making it hard to block him in pass protection.

“We need to bring our best game because we know they’re going to be ready to play. Certainly, there’s a lot of questions on both sides, particularly a lot of new faces on the offensive side for both teams,” said UK Head Coach Rich Brooks.

Win or lose, head coach Steve Kragthorpe knows that this game will have some effect on the rest of the season.

“It’s absolutely a huge game,” he said. “In fact, most of the time you play your rival it’s on the last weekend, but the Governor’s Cup is unique. It’s even more unique because we start the season with it.”

Fans are encouraged to wear red to the game, as the Cards will look to “Red Out the Wildcats” at 3:30 p.m. at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.