Three things we learned: Governor's Cup edition

In the last edition of this Cats Illustrated postgame feature, we're breaking down three things we learned about Kentucky and its players in Saturday's 45-13 dominating win against Louisville.

Lynn Bowden is an all-timer at Kentucky ... Kentucky's receiver turned quarterback has lived up to the lofty expectations that he carried to Lexington from his home in Youngstown more than three years ago. After a transition year as he learned the receiver position following a prep career at quarterback, Bowden has been one of the nation's best players. From his late game heroics to help Kentucky beat Missouri to his breaking the Citrus Bowl open against Penn State with a punt return for a touchdown, and finally rescuing Kentucky's season from the brink of disaster and almost assuredly earning the Paul Hornung Award, there is no more versatile player in college football than UK's junior all-purpose star. He plays bigger than he is and you won't find a more fierce competitor who seems to cherish every snap in every game. Bowden rushed for more yards in a single game against Louisville than any quarterback in the history of the Southeastern Conference and in the process he topped the 1,000-yard mark on the ground even though he played nearly half the season at receiver. Louisville had absolutely no answer for Bowden and while he won't have the career touchdowns of someone like Randall Cobb, or an all-time mark like Benny Snell, he is clearly an all-time who will go down in UK lore. Hope you enjoyed him while he lasted in a UK uniform, Big Blue Nation.

There is an enormous talent gap between Kentucky and Louisville ... Scott Satterfield was outcoached by Mark Stoops on Saturday, from the game plan and execution to the ill-advised and failed fake punt. But maybe what we saw should make what Satterfield did at Louisville over the season even more impressive. It's also an indictment of the ACC, because in terms of talent and physicality the Cardinals are not close to Kentucky. At nearly every position on the field Kentucky was bigger, faster, and nastier. Their ability to blow the Cardinals off the ball and dominate both sides of the line of scrimmage was a four-quarter masterpiece that was no fluke, simply a result of bigger, better players doing what they should have done. Mark Stoops' recruit and develop mantra has paid dividends and UofL has a lot of catching up to do.

There are no questions about Kentucky's defense ... Going into Saturday's game Kentucky was in or around the Top-25 in most of the important national defensive categories, including pass defense, total defense, and scoring defense. But there was a reasonable and lingering question: How much of that was because of bad weather games and backup quarterbacks? It's true, Kentucky hadn't faced many stellar offenses. Louisville's offense, in hindsight, may not be as good as we thought. The ACC is the weakest Power Five conference and the Cardinals didn't put up a lot of points against Clemson or Notre Dame, the two best teams it had played going into the Governor's Cup. But even with the bad weather, there is no doubting the strength of Kentucky's defense. The secondary gave up just one touchdown pass on the day, meaning they've surrendered seven all season in a dozen games, and after giving up a floater of a touchdown pass on 4th and 11 early the only other glitch was losing track of Javian Hawkins just before the half. Other than that they dominated one of the most statistically explosive offenses in college football. And most of that defense returns next year. It should be the most hyped Kentucky defense in the modern era.