The Wildcats made none, and returned two Louisville fumbles for touchdowns to embarrass the Cards at home. There would be no year two redemption for Steve Kragthorpe. Both teams would go on to have losing seasons. Led by star Lynn Bowden, the Wildcats set a school record for rushing yards in a single game with a whopping against an overmatched Cardinal defense.
Dave Ragone lit up the UK secondary to the tune of yards and three touchdowns. Ragone set the tone for the day with an yard strike to Zek Parker just 49 seconds into the game. The game was also significant for Brian Brohm taking a knee inside the Kentucky yard line in the closing seconds.
A year earlier, many at UK had complained that Bobby Petrino ran it up on the Wildcats with an unnecessary late touchdown. His one loss came thanks in large part to yards and four touchdowns from Tim Couch, who delighted the home crowd at Commonwealth Stadium.
Louisville would go on to finish the season with a record, effectively ending the Cooper era. A year after coming off the bench as a true freshman to lead the Cards to their first win over Kentucky in five years, Teddy Bridgewater set a school record for completion percentage by connecting on 19 of 21 passes for yards.
This game, however, will always be significant for the first half fight that involved Jackson and a garbage can thrown by a Kentucky player. Instead, the Cards and Bridgewater jogged figuratively to a two touchdown win that left both sides feeling a bit unsatisfied. Louisville bounced back from a point trouncing at the hands of Tim Couch and the Wildcats the year before by torching a young Kentucky defense to the tune of total yards of offense.
Chris Redman was the star of stars, completing 30 of 40 passes for yards and five touchdowns without an interception. The Cards would use the win as a springboard to a season, while UK would finish the year In what would prove to be a false indicator of how their respective careers in the Commonwealth would go, Joker Phillips bested Charlie Strong in the debuts for both former colleagues. Kentucky welcomed Strong to the rivalry by opening the game with a yard touchdown drive that took just two plays.
Though the final score suggests otherwise, the Wildcats controlled the game from that point forward thanks to the steady play of quarterback Mike Hartline and running back Derrick Locke, who finished with yards on 23 carries. Derek Homer also rushed 19 times for yards, as the Wildcats amassed a school-record total yards of offense, destroying the previous high of set against Tennessee Tech in Louisville led with less than five minutes to play before a fumbled punt by Trent Guy set the stage for Hartline to find Cobb in the back of the endzone for the decisive score.
In a game that featured more next-level talent than any other in the series before it, Louisville rolled to its largest win over its arch-rivals. Still, it was a bitter-sweet evening for the 13th-ranked Cardinals, who lost star running back Michael Bush for the season after he broke his right leg early in the third quarter.
Bush had rushed for yards and three touchdowns to all but put the game away in the first half. The Cards recovered a blocked punt for a touchdown and scored a safety on another botched punt to build a lead in the first half, but saw the Wildcats storm back with consecutive touchdowns to cut the lead to two. U of L answered with a play, yard touchdown drive engineered by Shelton.
First-year coach Bobby Petrino later gave the go-ahead for Lionel Gates to punch in a final touchdown with six seconds remaining, drawing the ire of all Big Blue Nation. For a second straight season, Kentucky faced Louisville with bowl eligibility on the line, and also for a second straight season, the Cards spotted their in-state rivals a huge early advantage. An Andre Woodson fumble at the 2-yard line with just over six minutes to play kept Kentucky from having a shot to pull what would have been at the time the biggest upset in series history.
Post a Comment. They are not only fighting for the Governor's Cup, but state bragging rights, football division. Many Kentucky natives won't accept my answer that I'm neutral and like both teams. They'll spend whatever time I have in their presence extolling the virtues of the Cats or Cards while dissing the other team with the zeal of missionaries. When U of L and UK get together to play any sport, people are passionate about it.
Friends, families, co-workers and sometimes even spouses divide along Cardinal red or Wildcat blue lines. No matter what the sport, it's a highly competitive rivalry played by two teams separated by 73 miles of interstate highway and no love lost on either side. It's so competitive that Kentuckians have already circled Jan 2, on the calendar. What's happening that day you ask? The trash talking this year for this season's football clash has come mostly from the UK fans.
Cards fans are even more anxiety ridden going into this noon showdown at Commonwealth Stadium.
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