New Wildcat QB throws for 446 yards but gets sacked eight times.
By TIM WHITMIRE
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Chris Redman passed for 324 yards and five touchdowns as Louisville avenged last year’s blowout loss to Kentucky with a 56-28 season-opening victory on Saturday.
Kentucky quarterback Dusty Bonner struggled in his first game as the successor to Tim Couch, the record-setting passer who was the No. 1 selection in the NFL draft. Bonner, a sophomore, threw for 446 yards but was sacked eight times and threw two costly interceptions.
Louisville’s Frank Moreau rushed for 181 yards and a touchdown and Ibn Green caught three scoring passes from Redman, who was 29-of-40 with no interceptions.
The game was a near reversal of last year’s game between the intrastate rivals, when Couch threw for seven touchdowns and 498 yards in a 68-34 victory in the first game at Louisville’s new Cardinal Stadium.
This year, it was Kentucky opening an expanded and renovated Commonwealth Stadium, with 10,000 new end zone seats and 40 luxury boxes. Couch showed up before the game to have his jersey retired, but when the game began, the Cleveland Browns quarterback was in a skybox.
Those still in Wildcats uniforms were treated roughly by a Louisville team widely regarded as a favorite to win the Conference USA title and make a second straight bowl trip.
The Cardinals stumbled out of the gate, fumbling on their first two possessions as Kentucky took a 3-0 first-quarter lead.
The Wildcats, however, gave the ball right back after each Cardinal fumble, first on Derek Homer’s fumble and then on an interception of Bonner’s pass that linebacker Bud Herring returned 63 yards to the Kentucky 4. Seconds later, Zek Parker caught a 3-yard pass from Redman for a 7-3 lead the Cardinals would not relinquish.
Louisville’s first fumble proved more costly to the Wildcats than the Cardinals, as Kentucky safety David Johnson knocked himself out of the game with the hit on Moreau that caused the fumble. He went to the locker room with a fractured orbital bone in his upper cheek and did not return.
Redman and his receivers went to work on Johnson’s replacement, freshman Quentus Cumby, and the rest of the Kentucky secondary. The senior quarterback threw for 53 yards on the next Louisville drive, capping it by throwing across his body while rolling right and finding wide-open Green in the left corner of the end zone for a 5-yard score and a 14-3 lead.
Kentucky coach Hal Mumme called for a fake field goal on the Wildcats’ next possession, but holder Andy Smith threw incomplete in the end zone and the Wildcats lost their last, best chance to get into the game.
Moreau added a 33-yard touchdown run and Redman capped the half with a 1-yard scoring pass to Green to make it 28-10.
In the third quarter, Redman threw a 36-yard touchdown to Charles Sheffield, who had eight catches for 118 yards, and cornerback Antonio Roundtree made it 42-13 with a 56-yard touchdown return of an interception off Bonner.
That score, with 6:49 remaining in the third quarter, sent many of the Kentucky faithful among the 70,692 in attendance heading for the exits.
Bonner was 34-of-62 for three touchdowns. James Whalen caught eight passes for 115 yards and three touchdowns.
