News and notes from Kentucky's 27-2 win over Louisville:
- Kentucky gained 210 yards, the fewest yards gained in a UK victory since a 13-9 win over South Carolina in 1992. The Cats gained 203 yards that day.
- It's the first time UK has held an opponent without an offensive score since a 25-0 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 16, 1996.
- It was the first time Kentucky has held a team without an offensive touchdown since a 31-5 win over LSU on Oct. 16, 1999.
- It's the first time UK has scored two defensive touchdowns in the same game since Sept. 27, 1986 and a 20-17 win over Cincinnati. Chris Chenault and David Johnson had interception returns for touchdowns that day. Johnson was on the UK sideline today at Papa John's.
- Louisville gained 205 yards, the fewest against a UK defense since Eastern Kentucky gained 202 in last year's opener, a 50-10 Kentucky win.
- The 205 yards is the fewest Louisville has gained in the series since it re-started back in 1994. The previous low was 248 yards in UK's 22-17 win over the Cards in Papa John's in 2002.
- Myron Pryor's 72-yard touchdown return of a fumble was the first TD in his career — at any level.
- Pryor also caused the fumble that Ashton Cobb returned 28 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. It was the fifth forced fumble of Pryor's career.
- UK has won 11 straight non-conference games.
- UK last forced five turnovers in a game in a 31-14 win over Ole Miss in 2006.
- Mike Hartline completed 16 of 31 passes for 147 yards. His passer rating was 91.5.
- Louisville quarterback Hunter Cantwell completed 20 of 43 passes for 152 yards, with three interceptions. His passer rating was 62.2.
- A big play in the game was Tim Masthay's 72-yard kick, from his own 20 to the Louisville 2-yard line, after Louisville had recorded a safety.
- Once again, the team that rushed for the most yards proved victorious. Kentucky gained 63. Louisville gained 53.
- Those are the fewest rushing yards by the winning team in the series.
- U of L coach Steve Kragthorpe, "We didn't get anything going on offense today. We struggled running the football and got ourselves in several third and long situations and it wasn't very favorable for us. Turnovers, you can't turn the ball over. We turned the ball over twice and we gave up points."
- UK's Rich Brooks, "We thought we had a defense and today we sure did."
- Louisville's 53 yards rushing is second fewest by an opponent in the Rich Brooks' Era. Mississippi State rushed for 24 yards in 2006.
- Heading back to Lexington now, will have more in the morning.
For the record, I did predict a defensive TD earlier in the week when you asked about what the Cats needed to do to win. I did not think we’d have two, nor did I think Myron Pryor would go 70-plus yards for one of them. Nostradamas would have been hard pressed to come up with that one.
The next two weeks are critical for the offense to try to get on track. The running game was brutal today.
Still, I’m smiling tonight.
Wow. Just wow. Our defense looked NOTHING like it did during the Mike Archer days. Sure, Louisville helped, but it was a great effort. I’ll take a “grind it out” win over a “spectacular” defeat any time.
Watching Hartline made me appreciate Woodson even more. I think he’ll be a good QB, but there were some passes that simply just weren’t on target.
Good start to the season, though. Go Cats!
uk sucks, Louisville is having a bad year. The cats never do anything spectacular anyways towards the end of the year, the sec is just too tough for them. Maybe the conference USA would for the wildcats better.