Missed the game? Watched it but can’t get enough or can’t believe what you saw? Cat Scratches will break down the nuts and bolts from each and every game, including some postgame reaction and comments from the players who made the difference.The essentials: The Kentucky football team’s fourth-quarter comeback came up short against the rival Louisville Cardinals and the Wildcats fell by a score of 24-17. UK drove into the Louisville red zone in the final minute, but quarterback Morgan Newton’s pass for La’Rod King sailed high on fourth-and-six. The annual battle for the Governor’s Cup was played in front of 68,170 fans in Commonwealth Stadium. Newton had a season-best game through the air with 255 yards and two of touchdowns, but the Wildcats were held to just 35 yards rushing on 32 attempts while the Cardinals had six sacks and 14 tackles for loss. Louisville, on the other hand, rushed for 181 yards and survived an injury to starting quarterback Will Stein.The loss ends a four-game winning streak the Wildcats had owned in the series with Louisville. According to head coach Joker Phillips, it came down to missed opportunities. The two teams have had their struggles this season, but he was confident in his assertion that UK and Louisville are quality football teams.”Regardless of what anybody thinks, two good football teams were out there playing today, and it was missed opportunities,” Phillips said. “When a person in a backyard brawl drops his hands and gives you his chin, you’ve got to take it. You’ve got to take it, and we missed opportunities by putting the ball on the ground, not playing clean, which allowed them to take advantage of us.”Play of the game: UK did have a fourth-and-six on its final drive, but it was a third-down play that epitomized the missed opportunities Phillips talked about post-game. On third-and-two, the Cardinals brought a heavy blitz. Newton hit wide receiver Demarco Robinson on a short hitch route and the freshman caught the ball past the chains for an apparent first down. In an effort to shake a tackler, Robinson then fumbled the ball backward to the Louisville 18-yard line. He was able to recover the loose ball, but the fumble cost UK a first down and a timeout the Wildcats used to stop the clock.”We’ve got a chance to have the ball first-and-goal, I think it was inside the 10 yard line, and we catch a hitch route and they just got the ball out,” Phillips said. “I didn’t see a replay, but it can’t happen.”Phillips went on to say the situation was exactly what he wanted.”It’s zero coverage, which means they bring an all out blitz, we expect our guys to make people pay when they bring zero coverage,” Phillips said. “We throw a hitch route, make a move and walk in the end zone.”For Newton, the play was frustrating, but he knows blaming Robinson won’t get the team anywhere. He can remember what it was like when he was a freshman and knows mistakes like Robinson’s come with the territory. “I was a freshman just two years ago,” Newton said. “There were so many plays in this game, you can’t be mad at the kid for that play. There were so many opportunities where guys could make plays and they just didn’t get it done.”Turning point: The UK defense was forced in poor field position much of the second half, including the Cardinals’ final touchdown drive. A 40-yard Ryan Tydlacka punt started Louisville at the UK 46-yard line, but the defense stiffened and forced the Cardinals into a third-and-10 at the 25-yard line.With freshman Teddy Bridgewater playing quarterback for Stein, UK perhaps anticipated a running play to better position the Cardinals for a field goal that would extend their lead to two possessions. Instead, Bridgewater kept the ball on a play action pass, finding Josh Bellamy on a fade route down the left sideline for a touchdown to put UK in a 24-17 deficit that would not be overcome.In general, Phillips was pleased with the performance of his defense, but that touchdown and two previous touchdown passes of 25 yards or longer were its undoing.”I thought our defense battled their tails off, had a couple short fields and did a good job,” Phillips said. “But we just can’t give up the big play.”Player of the game: Facing a tireless pass rush, Morgan Newton set a career high in passing yards and very nearly put together a stirring comeback that would have sent the game to overtime. Newton was sacked six times and hit countless more, but he did not relent, completing 27-of-41 passes for 255 yards and a pair of touchdowns.Newton’s first two games of the season were marked by sporadic play and he completed just 16 passes. He very nearly matched that total in the first half alone, completing 15-of-21 passes and putting together a 1:09 scoring drive to close the first half, culminating in a 15-yard toss to King with just 10 seconds remaining.”I felt more in a rhythm,” Newton said. Unsung heroes: A big reason for the rhythm Newton found was the emergence of a second threat at wide receiver in E.J. Fields. The junior was suspended for the season opener and did not make a catch last week, but he turned in a seven-catch, 57-yard effort against Louisville. The majority of his catches resulted in first downs and he also tallied a touchdown. Fields has been waiting a long time for such an opportunity, but he would have liked it to come in a winning effort.”It felt really good to get my opportunity to play and make some plays on third down, and then the touchdown,” Fields said. “But it’s a little bittersweet because we couldn’t come away with the win.”In a game rife with missed opportunities, it was good for Phillips to see a player fully capitalize on a chance he was given.”I thought that E.J. Fields really stepped up and did a really good job for us,” Phillips said. “Again, when another receiver is struggling, he gets a chance to go in the game and was a guy that took advantage of an opportunity.” Now, it will be up to Fields to sustain that level of play.”We’ve been expecting it from E.J. a long time, but he’s got to show it to us every day, and I expect him to do that every day,” Phillips said.Injury report: Wide receiver Gene McCaskill and guard Larry Warford were added to UK’s injury list tonight. McCaskill sustained a first quarter back injury that kept him out of the rest of the game, while Warford hurt his ankle in the fourth quarter, but later returned. Both will be further evaluated tomorrow along with tackle Billy Joe Murphy, who missed the game against Louisville. Hidden stat: Louisville’s advantage in the ground game (181 yards to 35 yards) and the 14 tackles for loss yielded by the Cats stick out so they don’t exactly qualify for this category. Those statistics were obviously decisive, but UK’s struggles in the punting game were also important. Entering the game, Ryan Tydlacka had averaged 47.8 yards per punt, playing a crucial role in a pair of hard-fought wins to start the year. Louisville, though, brought a punt rush that threw off the Wildcats. The Cardinals blocked one of Tydlacka’s efforts, resulting in an 11-yard punt when UK could have pinned Louisville deep in its own territory. After that play, UK turned to a rugby-style punt on a few occasions, which was ineffective.All told, UK averaged just 36.0 yards on seven punts. If Tydlacka had posted the same average as in his first two games, UK would have improved its field position by 80 yards.What this one means: UK now faces a trio of games as difficult as any team will play this season. UK hosts Florida next weekend, and then travels to LSU and South Carolina in back-to-back weeks. All three teams are currently ranked in the top 20. The loss to Louisville means that UK will sit below .500 through five games unless the Wildcats can pull a big upset.The schedule softens a bit after those three games, but the Wildcats will likely be considered favorites in, at best, two games the rest of the way as they look to book a trip to a sixth-consecutive bowl game. As the team heads into the SEC, Phillips emphasized there is a lot of football to be played.”It’s still a long season,” Phillips said. “We’re only three games into it, and it’s good that a lot of these young players were in a game like this, which is an SEC atmosphere. I think that really helps the young kids that we’re playing with. We’ll go to work tomorrow and get ready for our SEC opener.”