Louisville Cardinals vs Kentucky Wildcats Recap

A familiar narrative played out on Saturday in Lexington, Ky., and unfortunately, it did so at a time when a team, program and coach couldn't afford it.

It's a drama that's been known to unfold in the increasingly cutthroat world of college sports: A down-on-its-luck team, thrust into a rivalry game in which it expected to get blown out, competes with uncommon poise and passion, reaching above its abilities to come within inches of a transformative and redemptive upset, the kind of accomplishment that would save a coach's job and restore faith in the current regime. But just when the prize is about to be claimed, the swift stomach punch arrives, victory departs, and a program is left in tatters, its coach left to contemplate his impending ouster.

It's only week three, but more than a few people felt that Louisville and head coach Steve Kragthorpe needed to conquer Kentucky in the Governor's Cup game, played on the Wildcats' home turf at Commonwealth Stadium. Kragthorpe, who has utterly failed in his attempt to maintain UL's place in the top echelon of the Big East after the departure of former boss Bobby Petrino, was viewed to be in a must-win position by certain precincts of the Cardinal cognoscenti. With all the negative momentum that has been flowing against the UL program over the past two years, only a massive jolt could reverse the dark and stormy climate enfolding the program. Kentucky, rival Kentucky, ascendant Kentucky, winner of bowl games this decade under revived (and soon-to-retire) retread Rich Brooks, offered the promise of such a thunderbolt. Kragthorpe had to claim the Cats and put them on his mantelpiece in order to stand tall before his uneasy and agitated constituency; UL Athletic Director Tom Jurich, who hired Kragthorpe when Petrino bolted for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, needed his man to get back on the beam. The UL locker room, and all the players struggling to bear the weight of the Petrino era and the Brian Brohm-based, Michael Bush-built legacy it left behind, needed a win over Kentucky to move forward in their own right.

For most of this contest, it looked as though the lads from Louisville would achieve their aimed-for objective.

With quarterback Justin Burke displaying an impressive mix of pocket passing and improvisational scrambling, the Cardinals kept Kentucky off balance. Yes, Louisville struggled in the red zone, but the Cards picked up more and more tempo as the game continued, particularly in the second half and especially in the fourth quarter. Burke gave UL the lead on two separate occasions in the final stanza, with the second go-ahead touchdown coming on a 66-yard strike to receiver Trent Guy. Minutes later, Guy fumbled a Kentucky punt that led to the Wildcats' go-ahead score, but when Burke piloted his teammates to the UK 21 near the two-minute mark of regulation, it appeared that UL would have the last laugh in a shootout. Such a scenario would have represented a sweetly satisfying turnaround in comparison to the last time the Cardinals invaded Commonwealth Stadium. Kentucky snatched away a triumph from Kragthorpe's first UL squad on a long touchdown pass in the final minute. Now, with Burke 21 yards away from paydirt, the defining win of a new coaching tenure stood in plain sight.

It was not to be.

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Burke threw a pass that was tipped in mid-flight and then picked off by UK's Sam Maxwell. It was hard to come to grips with the wrenching turn of events--it probably still is for the Louisville crew--but once again, fortune cuddled up with Big Blue, and not the Cardinals.

UL gets major points for effort, but after another soul-crushing setback against Kentucky, moral victories don't mean a whole lot. Steve Kragthorpe knows this cold and familiar truth best of all.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer