Las Vegas Line Fueled Kentucky ahead of Governor's Cup

Kentucky entered the 2021 Governor’s Cup with eight wins, a winning record in the SEC, a second place finish in the Eastern Division and a No. 25 ranking in the Coaches’ Poll. Louisville just clinched a bowl berth with a win over Duke. When the Las Vegas line opened, the Cardinals were favored.

“Who picked us to be a three-point underdog?”

Vince Marrow asked that question from the UK sideline at Cardinal Stadium as the final seconds ticked off a 52-21 Kentucky victory, UK’s third straight in the rivalry.

Dang we were a 3 point underdog lol. Go Big Blue.

— CoachMarrowUK (@vincemarrow) November 28, 2021

Typically mum’s the word when it comes to point spreads. There’s an unspoken sanctity that forces athletes to publicly ignore gambling lines. That was not the case ahead of the 2021 Governor’s Cup.

“The minute I knew we were underdogs, I knew we were going to win this game,” said super senior center Luke Fortner. “We just come to play as underdogs, we really do. It was a really great performance all around and we were ready to play this week.”

Mark Stoops did not directly quote Michael Jordan from The Last Dance, but he definitely took that personally.

“I didn’t understand it. Yeah, it pissed me off,” Stoops said. “I don’t get it, but I don’t care. Take a look at the score.”

Wan’Dale Robinson had a much different reaction when he heard his Wildcats were underdogs.

“I just laughed, laughed and said ‘We’ll see Saturday.’ We obviously saw what that outcome was,” Robinson chuckled.

His quarterback, Will Levis, was much more diplomatic. He did not directly cite the power rankings like ESPN’s FPI and SP+ that played a significant factor in the three-point spread, but he was willing to give them a little credit for picking up six wins.

“It’s just a little extra motivation,” said Kentucky’s quarterback. “They’ve had a good year, they’ve played some really good teams and have come up short against a couple really good teams and still had six wins coming into the game. I could see why outsiders could think they were favored, but I know our team. I knew we were going to come in here and play the way we did today.”

Imposed his Will. @will_levis is MVP of the #GovernorsCup 🍌.#ForTheTeam 😼🏈 pic.twitter.com/6bPMH6ljbh

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 28, 2021

Levis played exceptionally well, rushing for four touchdowns to earn Howard Schnellenberger MVP honors. The Kentucky offense essentially did whatever they wanted, gaining 511 yards and only punting once. Entering the game the onus was on the defense to contain Malik Cunningham. Even though Brad White’s unit had not played well as of late, they had all the motivation they needed to limit him to 180 yards of total offense.

“It was so disrespectful,” said J.J. Weaver. “I told my team, ‘They got us as underdogs against the ACC? We supposed to be big dogs.’ I told my team, they took it and we did what we did on the field.”

The win over Louisville extends Kentucky’s winning streak against non-conference opponents to 15. It’s the second-longest streak in the FBS. The Wildcats have not lost a non-conference game since the 2017 Music City Bowl. If Las Vegas makes the Wildcats underdogs against another ACC team, that streak will surely be extended another game while lining the BBN’s pockets with cold hard cash.