Kentucky

Western Kentucky has hired Bobby Petrino as its new football coach, the school announced Monday. Petrino, 51, replaces Willie Taggart, who left last week to take the South Florida coaching job. The 51-year-old was fired by Arkansas in April for a "pattern of misleading" behavior following an accident in which the coach was injured while riding a motorcycle with his mistress. Petrino had a 34-17 record at Arkansas before he was dismissed in the wake of the scandal. Petrino had an affair with former Razorback volleyball player Jessica Dorrell, who he later hired as a football assistant and gave $20,000 in gifts.

Look all the way to the bottom and you won't find Kentucky in the Associated Press poll. For the first time since John Calipari became coach of the Wildcats, they're not ranked. The Wildcats opened the season at No. 3, then dropped to No. 8, and after back-to-back losses to unranked Notre Dame and Baylor, their poll run ended at 61 straight. The stretch included 11 weeks at No. 1 under Calipari. According to STATS L.L.C, the Wildcats are the highest-ranked team to fall out of the poll in one week since it expanded to 25 in 1989-90 season.

Baylor's Pierre Jackson scored 17 points and Isaiah Austin and A.J. Walton each added 11 as the Bears (5-2) upended No. 8 Kentucky, 64-55, in Lexington. The loss ended a 55-game home winning streak for the reeling Wildcats (4-3). Archie Goodwin led Kentucky with 17 points but fouled out with 1 minute, 44 seconds left in the game. Louisville 69, Illinois State 66 - Russ Smith had 24 points and Peyton Siva added 20 to help the Cardinals (6-1) escape the Redbirds (5-2) in Louisville, Ky. Duke 88, Delaware 50 - Ryan Kelly scored 18 points and Mason Plumlee had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Blue Devils (8-0)

Defending national champion and eighth-ranked Kentucky rolled into South Bend, Ind., Thursday night and was thoroughly upended, 64-50, by Notre Dame, which recorded its 41st victory in the last 42 home games. Eric Atkins scored 16 points and Jack Cooley and Jerian Grant each had 13 points for the Fighting Irish (7-1), who opened an 11-point lead by halftime and were never threatened the rest of the way. Notre Dame outplayed Kentucky (4-2) inside during the first half and held the Wildcats to a season-low 40 percent shooting for the game.

ERIC ATKINS scored 16 points and Notre Dame beat No. 8 Kentucky, 64-50, on Thursday night for its 41st victory in the past 42 home games. Jack Cooley and Jerian Grant had 13 points each for the Fighting Irish (7-1), who opened an 11-point lead by halftime and were never threatened the rest of the way in an SEC/Big East Challenge game. "The way our guards were controlling things, I didn't have to do a lot of coaching," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. The Irish outplayed Kentucky (4-2)

Kentucky hired Florida State defensive coordinator Mark Stoops as the Wildcats' football coach on Tuesday to replace Joker Phillips , who was fired on Nov. 4. The school said the 45-year-old Stoops will be introduced at a news conference in Lexington on Sunday. The No. 13 Seminoles play Georgia Tech on Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game. Stoops becomes the third brother in college football's famed coaching family to lead his own program. Older brother Bob Stoops is the head coach at Oklahoma and middle brother Mike Stoops is the Sooners' defensive coordinator.

Seth Curry scored 23 points Tuesday night for No. 9 Duke, which held off a furious comeback by No. 3 Kentucky in Atlanta and beat the defending national champion, 75-68, in the schools' first matchup since 2001. Both teams are 1-1. Michigan State 67, Kansas 64 - Keith Appling scored 19 points as the No. 21 Spartans (1-1) rebounded from a season-opening loss with an upset of the No. 7 Jayhawks (1-1) in Atlanta.     Columbia 74, Haverford 40 - Mark Cisco scored 13 points to lead four Lions in double figures against the Division III Fords in New York.

Rookie Austin Dillon took advantage of misfortune by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Elliott Sadler to win the Nationwide Series race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky. Sam Hornish Jr. was second, followed by Brendan Gaughan , Drew Herring , and Sadler, who reclaimed the season points lead from Stenhouse. Dillon seemed destined for a runner-up run behind Sadler, who got an opening when Stenhouse collided with Eric McClure. Sadler had steering issues with 50 laps left.

No. 1 Alabama (4-0) beat Florida Atlantic 40-7. Next: vs. Mississippi, Saturday. No. 2 LSU (4-0) beat Auburn 12-10. Next: vs. Towson, Saturday. No. 3 Oregon (3-0) vs. No. 22 Arizona. Next: vs. Washington State at Seattle, Saturday. No. 4 Florida State (4-0) beat No. 10 Clemson 49-37. Next: at South Florida, Saturday. No. 5 Georgia (4-0) beat Vanderbilt 48-3. Next: vs. Tennessee, Saturday. No. 6 Oklahoma (2-1) lost to No. 15 Kansas State 24-19.

Jeremy Wright rushed for 105 yards and three touchdowns, and Teddy Bridgewater passed for 232, helping No. 25 Louisville start the season strong with a 32-14 victory against rival Kentucky on Sunday in Louisville, Ky. The Cardinals drove 99, 85, and 93 yards on their first three scoring drives and scored on five of their first seven overall. After a promising start, including a TD drive that brought them within 8-7, the Wildcats could not match Louisville's offensive intensity. Bridgewater completed 19 of 21 passes, but his first two completions for 40 yards opened things up for Wright, who rushed for 30 yards on that drive and capped it with the first of two 1-yard scores.