Kentucky v. Louisville Wrap-up
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The box score says it was just one pass. The highlights show it was just one pass. But anyone who knows anything about the history of Kentucky football knows it was so much more than just one pass.
With that one pass - a perfectly placed bomb from Andre Woodson to Steve Johnson for a game-winning 57-yard touchdown with 28 seconds remaining - Kentucky erased 30 years of futility against top-10 teams and a half-decade of losses to in-state rival Louisville. With that one pass, Kentucky declared itself a player again in the Governor's Cup rivalry and a factor again on the national scene. UK beat No. 9 Louisville 40-34.
"The only thing going through my head is, 'Stevie, please catch the ball,'" Woodson said. "Once he caught it, I knew"
Woodson knew that the four-game losing streak to Louisville was over, he knew that Kentucky had its first win over a top-10 team since 1977 and he knew that the exclamation point had been provided for Rich Brooks' turnaround of the Kentucky program.
"Obviously this was an extremely hard fought football game between two teams," Brooks said, "and finally the right team won."
Player of the game: Woodson. He was simply, as Steve Johnson said after the game, "a big-time player." When Kentucky needed its All-American quarterback to make a play, he put the pass right into Johnson's arms. Touchdown Kentucky. Game over.
Play of the game: Obviously, the Woodson pass to Johnson.
Next up: Kentucky travels to Fayetteville, Ark., for its Southeastern Conference opener against Arkansas. Louisville hosts Syracuse in its first Big East game.
