Much-maligned Kentucky football kicker Matt Ruffolo is unlikely star of Governor's Cup
LEXINGTON, Ky. — When Kentucky football players come off the turf and into the tunnel at Kroger Field, there’s a walkway between two barriers; after a win, fans are packed in on either side, a sort of tunnel of Big Blue love.
They shout for selfies and autographs and spare pieces of equipment to keep as souvenirs.
And normally, kicker Matt Ruffolo gets through it all without much fuss.
“Usually when you go out there, there’s always that one little kid that wants every player's autograph, right?” Ruffolo said. “So you're just like, 'He probably has no clue who I am.’”
After Kentucky’s 26-13 win over Louisville on Saturday, everybody knew Ruffolo’s name.
Heck, a handful of them chanted it.
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That’s the kind of treatment you get when your team wins the Governor’s Cup game and you take home the Howard Schnellenberger Award as the game’s top player.
Ruffolo won a media vote Saturday on the strength of a perfect night — 4 for 4 field goals, 2 for 2 extra points — to become the first kicker to win the 12-game history of the award.
It took Ruffolo some time to get off the field. He won’t soon forget the experience.
He shook hands and got some hugs. He paused so fans could pose for photos. At one point, a guy in a Louisville basketball jersey insisted Ruffolo take a picture with him and the UK senior agreed — conditionally.
“I was like, 'All right, I'll make a deal with you: I’ll take a picture but you got to throw the L's down.’ And he threw the L's down so I took a picture with him,” Ruffolo said. “I'm not just going to take a picture with a Louisville fan. Come on.”
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Forget cross-rivalry kudos; for much of the season, it was hard enough just to find Ruffolo fans in blue and white.
“If we’re being completely honest, it hasn’t been the best year on the field,” Ruffolo said, showing a gift for understatement.
He entered Saturday 23 for 25 on extra points but 12 for 20 on field goals. He’d missed three of his past seven field goals prior to the Louisville game, going 0 for 2 at Missouri, 3 for 4 against Vanderbilt and 0 for 1 against Georgia.
Already maligned for early-season struggles, he’d further dropped in popularity in the latter half of the season. But Ruffolo didn’t lose faith. And he didn’t lose UK coach Mark Stoops.
Stoops isn’t the type to “berate me or yell at me” after a kick, Ruffolo said, but the coach conceded after Saturday’s game that he was “concerned” this season about Kentucky’s kicking game.
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He just never thought he had a better option than Ruffolo to fix the kicks.
“I had confidence in him. The team did,” Stoops said. “And I treated him like we always (do). He missed a kick or two. It's a snap, it's a hold, it's laces. There are a lot of things that go into it.”
All those things went right against the Cardinals.
The snaps and holds were “perfect,” Ruffolo said, and he made kicks from 43, 29, 35 and 40 yards.
It was a salve of sorts on a difficult season. Levis called Ruffolo “an incredible dude” for handling the flak that came special teams’ way, and he wasn’t the only Wildcat saluting his kicker after his career game.
“That’s my boy,” UK linebacker J.J. Weaver said. “I told him I’m so proud of him, every time he kicked it. He had an amazing game. Amazing.”
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It was hard to see that coming.
Ruffolo’s opposite number in the Governor’s Cup, Louisville kicker James Turner, entered the game 19 of 21 on field goals, and special teams was considered a significant Cardinal advantage.
But Ruffolo remained confident despite his struggles. He believes in his process.
On Saturday, it was rewarded. With a win. With an award. With some rare postgame fanfare on the highlight night of his season.
“I think Levis told me that I’m perfect against Louisville,” Ruffolo said. “I haven’t missed against them. So I know when it matters I can’t miss.”
Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brett Dawson at mdawson@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @BDawsonWrites.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football kicker Matt Ruffolo wins Governor's Cup MVP
