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UK will open 2007 against Eastern Kentucky

September 16, 2005|LARRY VAUGHT

Kentucky won't open its 2007 football season playing Louisville, but it will play an in-state rival to start that season.

Kentucky will host Eastern Kentucky Sept. 1 to start the 2007 season. The only other times the two schools played was in 1998 when Kentucky won 52-7 one week after it opened that season with a 68-34 win over Louisville.

Eastern coach Danny Hope, a former Louisville assistant, has not backed away from playing Division I-A opponents. Eastern plays Saturday at North Carolina State. It went to Vanderbilt last year. The Colonels have also played Bowling Green and Central Michigan.

"This is a great time for us to play Kentucky as we continue to build momentum for the program," Hope said. "Also, this is good for football in Kentucky and shows UK's loyalty to the commonwealth by competing against an in-state foe."

Eastern, a Division I-AA team, will also play at Cincinnati in 2006 and 2008.

"Whatever the sport, anytime EKU and UK compete against each other, it's exciting for the players, the fans and alumni, and it's good for both institutions," EKU president Joanne Glasser said.

The Kentucky basketball team beat Eastern in the opening round of last season's NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky will have a 12-game schedule in 2007 that includes a game at Temple Sept. 8 as well as a home game with Louisville Sept. 15 as part of the new contract agreement in which the UK-Louisville game will not be the season opener when it is played at Kentucky.

One other major change to the 2007 schedule is when Kentucky will play Florida. The two SEC teams have been playing in late September, but in 2007 the Wildcats will entertain Florida on Oct. 20. The Cats will also host SEC foes LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Arkansas in 2007 and have seven home games on their 12-game schedule.

Kentucky also has seven home games next year. They are Texas State, Mississippi, Central Michigan, South Carolina, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Monroe.

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