ESPN Big East Blog

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- ESPN originally offered to air this year's Louisville-Kentucky game on Monday night in primetime. Louisville loved the idea. Kentucky declined.

Turns out the Wildcats did their in-state rival a rare favor. The Cardinals would have been better off playing at 3 a.m. on a Tuesday, so no one would have watched them play.

If Louisville fans thought last year was bad, well, they hadn't seen anything yet. The Cardinals failed to score any offensive points for the first time in eight years and lost by the ignoble score of 27-2 to drop this rivalry game for the second straight year.

It was one of the ugliest and most inept losses in recent program history. Revlon doesn't make enough lipstick to gloss up this pig.

"At a time like this," senior center Eric Wood said, "it's hard to see the positives."

For nearly two decades, Louisville has built its reputation on the back of a high-flying, high scoring attack. That's what made the Cardinals attractive to national TV audiences in the first place.

And now? The 2008 team opened with just 205 total yards, its lowest total in almost six years. That included 53 rushing yards despite an offseason of re-emphasizing the rushing game.

The offense didn't just fail to score, either; its five turnovers led directly to 21 Kentucky points.

"We felt like we had pretty a good offense coming out of camp," senior quarterback Hunter Cantwell said. "But we didn't play up to expectations."

Cantwell waited three years to succeed Brian Brohm, who watched from the sidelines while on a break from the Green Bay Packers. The waiting, it seems, was not the hardest part.

Cantwell completed just 20 of his 43 passes for 152 yards. He threw three interceptions and fumbled once. The fumble and one of the picks were both returned for scores.

"I'm very disappointed in myself," he said. "Obviously, a lot of fingers will be pointed in the coming days, not by us but by other people. I myself probably deserve that."

He got no breaks from his receiving unit, which was decimated by the training camp foot injury to No. 1 wideout Scott Long and the summer shooting of Trent Guy, who played sparingly Sunday. But Cantwell also missed targets early and forced throws late. Kentucky stacked the box and often left its cornerbacks on an island, and David Jones and Trevard Lindley mostly shut down the inexperienced Louisville receivers. The Wildcats have an experienced defense and played exceptionally well on Sunday. But this is basically the same unit that gave up 36.5 points a game last year.

"It was a combination of everything," Wood said. "We're a young team at a lot of positions, but so was the 2005 team that went to the Gator Bowl. We've got to grow up fast."

The offense wasn't solely to blame. The Cardinals had a field goal blocked and twice were penalized for having 12 men on the field in crucial situations that kept Kentucky drives alive.

But the offense penetrated the red zone only once and often watched the ball go the wrong way. A Bilal Powell fumble turned into a touchdown for cornerback Ashton Cobb. A Cantwell interception in the fourth quarter led to Kentucky's only offensive touchdown of the game, which made the score 20-2. Moments later, Cantwell fumbled while being sacked, and defensive lineman Myron Pryor rumbled 72 yards for the score.

Adding to the ignobility was the fact that Pryor is from Louisville, as is Corey Peters, another standout Kentucky defensive lineman who helped lock down the Cards rushing game. Several Louisville-born Wildcats, including starting offensive linemen Justin Jeffries and Garry Williams, lingered on the Papa John's Cardinal Stadium turf to savor the victory, sensing a real shift in this state's balance of power.

The Cardinals must now regroup for their game in six days against Tennessee Tech. Good seats are surely available at low, low prices. Several Louisville players talked after the game about not letting the season spiral out of control like it did last year.

"When you get beat this way by an in-state rival, it's going to be to be tough to get back up," head coach Steve Kragthorpe said. "But I like the character of this football team. I like that locker room, and I'm confident we'll be able to do that. We don't have a choice."