Cards hold off Cats

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Kentucky didn't quit.

It didn't lay down and die after falling deep into a 21-point hole.

But it didn't have enough time to upend No. 12 Louisville today in front of 70,752 at Commonwealth Stadium.

The 31-24 loss was Kentucky's third straight to its instate rival, but the Cats put a scare into the highly touted Cards, pulling within a touchdown in the fourth quarter and threatening to tie it twice in the final minutes.

Kentucky had several chances, including twice having the ball in Louisville territory in the final 10 minutes but couldn't connect at the end. The Cats' last shot was fumbled away by quarterback Andre Woodson, who lost it near the goal line with 6:21 to play.

The defense held up, but the Cardinals were able to run out the clock and escape with the Governor's Cup.

Tight end Jacob Tamme got the Cats within a touchdown, 31-24, with a 15-yard catch.

Both teams scored on their first possessions, starting with a 1-yard run by Brian Brohm to cap a 76-yard drive by the Cardinals to open the game.

Kentucky responded with an 80-yard drive of its own, leading to a 6-yard touchdown run by senior Arliss Beach. UK looked like it was in trouble during the opening drive, sitting at a third-and-8 at its own 34-yard line before Woodson connected with Keenan Burton on a 34-yard pass to extend the drive.

The opening drive was quite a difference from last year's game when UK didn't cross into Louisville territory until the second half.

That 80-yard bright spot turned out to be the only one in the first half as UK managed just 24 more yards in the half and the Louisville sack attack began.

Another Brohm run, this time for 2 yards, cushioned Louisville's lead to start the second quarter, and then things got ugly for UK. On its next offensive possession, Woodson was sacked twice by senior end Elvis Dumervil, and a personal foul negated a UK 16-yard play.

Hurried, Woodson struggled to complete passes. Dumervil, who finished with a school-record six sacks, wreaked more havoc on Woodson, forcing a fumble later in the second quarter.

Then, with 4:11 left in the second quarter, Dumervil snatched the ball from Woodson's hands, setting up an easy 1-yard TD run by Louisville's Michael Bush. Bush also had a 1-yard scoring run in the final minutes of the half, after returning from being shaken up seven plays before.

Bush, a Mr. Football from Male High School, led Louisville rushers with 86 yards at halftime. The Cardinals had 133 rushing yards, compared to minus-19 for Kentucky.

Kentucky had a reprieve at the end of the first half after a face-mask penalty was called on a punt return by Robert Haskins. But with no time left on the clock, Carmody missed a 21-yard field goal that would have put the Cardinals up 31-7 at halftime.

In the first half, Brohm completed 10 of 11 passes for 96 yards. Woodson, in his first season as the starter for UK, completed nine of 12 for 123 yards.

Kentucky didn't quit, as it had been accused of doing so many times last season. The third quarter wasn't so unkind for UK, which went 58 yards to open the half and pulled to within 28-10 on a Taylor Begley 37-yard field goal.

The Cats forced Louisville to punt on its next possession. Rafael Little took a pitch from Woodson 51 yards to help set up a 21-yard scoring pass to Scott Mitchell that helped UK make it 28-17. U of L gave itself a two-touchdown cushion again with a 19-yard field goal by Carmody.

The 70,752 today was the sixth-largest crowd in Commonwealth Stadium history.

Here is a closer look at the game:

First Quarter: Louisville won the coin flip, elected to receive the football and proceeded to sprint down the field. The Cards began by picking up 20 yards in two plays, grabbed five first downs and watched its sophomore quarterback Brian Brohm go 5-for-5 passing.

The Cards reached the 1-yard line and Brohm scored on a quarterback sneak on a third down. After an Arthur Carmody PAT, the Cards led 7-0. The scoring drive was 76 yards in 14 plays, taking 6 minutes, 36 seconds.

Kentucky answered by showing it has improved its offense from the last two years. The Wildcats took advantage of three offside penalties by Louisville and picked up three first downs. The longest play was a 34-yard pass to Keenan Burton, which came when U of L appeared to quit after it had jumped offsides.

Arliss Beach found the end zone for the Cats on a five-yard run. After Taylor Begleys PAT, the game was tied at 7 with 4:08 left in the first quarter.

On Louisville's second possession, running backs Michael Bush and Kolby Smith made big gains as the Cards reached the UK 2-yard line. Bush gained 12 yards on a run and Smith raced down the sideline for 25 yards. The quarter closed with the Cards knocking on the door again.

Second Quarter: On a third-and-goal at the 2-yard-line, Brohm rolled out and made it into the corner of the end zone, giving the Cards a 14-7 lead with 14:54 left.

Woodson got sacked twice on the Cats' second possession, but moved the ball forward with a lob pass to Keenan Burton, who jumped up and took the pass away from U of L cornerback Gavin Smart for a 20-yard gain.

On a 3rd-and-16, Woodson passed to Arliss Beach over the middle, who fought and muscled his way for a first down, but the ball was moved back on a late-hit penalty called on UK lineman Michael Aitcheson.

The drive stalled and the Cats were the first to punt away.

The Kentucky defense forced the Cards to punt by sacking Brohm twice. After Michael Bush picked up 17 yards on two rushes to put the ball at midfield, the Cards went backwards on two outstanding defensive plays. Trey Mielsch and B. Jay Parsons crunched Brohm for an 8-yard loss for the Cats' first sack of the game. On 3-and-8, safety Muhammad Abdullah blitzed and caught Brohm for another loss and forced the Cards to punt away.

Louisville's defense then came up with the big play of the half. Defensive end Elvis Dumervil sacked Woodson, knocking the ball loose and the Cards recovered on the UK 17-yard line. Two plays later, Bush scored on an 11-yard run for a 21-7 lead.

Dumervil terrorized Woodson again on UK's next possession. On 3rd-and-11, Dumervil sacked Woodson and snatched the ball away, giving the Cards the ball on UK's 43-yard line. It was a career high 4 sacks for Dumervil.

The Cards found themselves in a 4th-and-goal situation and decided to try for a touchdown, rather than settle for a field goal. Brohm handed off to Bush who ran right and fell into the end zone for a 28-7 lead with 1:13 left.

U of L almost increased the lead by three more, but Arthur Carmody's 21-yard attempt with no time left missed right.

Third quarter: On 3rd-and-10 on the opening drive of the second half, Woodson found Tommy Cook wide open downfield for a 53-yard completion. The drive stalled when Dumervil collected his fifth sack of the game, tying a school record.

Taylor Begley kicked a 36-yard field goal to cut the lead to 28-10.

Kentucky appeared to have forced and recovered a Louisville fumble on the ensuing kickoff, but the play was called dead and there was no review.

On their first possession of the second half, the Cards reached mid-field, but the Cats' defense held and forced a punt.

The Cats sensed they were still in the game and capitalized on two bigs plays. First, Rafael Little picked up 51 yards on a running play to put the Cats on the 20-yard line. Then on 3rd-and-9, the Cards blitzed but Woodson escaped and found Scott Mitchell alone in the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown pass. The Cats were back in the game, trailing 28-17 with five minutes left.

Taking notice of the change in momentum, the Cards charged down the field and was threatening to score before the quarter closed.

Fourth quarter: U of L kicker Arthur Carmody kicked a 19-yard field goal to give the Cards a 31-17 lead to start the fourth.

Kentucky, looking like an unstoppable offensive force, marched down the field behind big passing gains to tight end Jacob Tamme and Keenan Burton. The Cats scored on a 15-yard touch pass to Tamme, making it 31-24 with 11:52 left.

Louisville dug itself in a hole with a penalty and only a couple yards on the kickoff return. The Cards, starting on their own 4-yard line, went three-and-out and punted away to the Cats.

After a poor punt by U of L, the Cats took over on the Cards' side of the field. But the Cats stumbled. A poor center snap resulted in a 12-yard loss. Another quarterback sack and the Cats had to punt away.

The Cats' defense held again, then the special teams deflected a punt, putting the ball on U of L's 33-yard line with 7:34 left.

Kentucky's Arliss Beach picked up 20 yards on a powerful run, breaking at least one tackle, reaching the Louisville 7-yard line. Woodson, lined up in the shotgun, took the snap and headed for the end zone but was knocked out of bounds. Before he was dropped, though, he fumbled the ball away to U of L's Brandon Johnson.

The Cards, starting on their own 2-yard line, gained three first downs behind the bruising running of Michael Bush and Kolby Smith.

A costly penalty by the Cats put the ball on UK's 33-yard line with less than 2 minutes left.

Brohm took a knee twice to run the clock out for the victory.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/sports/colleges/university_of_louisville/12561497.htm