Judge rules Duke football is so down that dropping out of series OK

Louisville wanted Duke to pay it $450,000 for backing out of a series.

Posted 7:58 p.m. Jun 20, 2008 — Updated 11:32 a.m. Jun 21, 2008

FRANKLIN, KY — A Kentucky judge ruled in favor of Duke in a lawsuit Louisville brought after the Blue Devils backed out of a football series that still had three games scheduled.

Louisville had sued Duke for $450,000 or a new ACC opponent, according to the Louisville Journal-Courier, when Duke canceled the series after losing the first game 40-3 in 2002.

According to the newspaper, Franklin Circuit Court Phillip J. Shepherd on Thursday agreed with Duke’s lawyers that any opponent from Division I football team would be a suitable replacement, because the Blue Devils' record is so poor.

“At oral argument, Duke (with a candor perhaps more attributable to good legal strategy than to institutional modesty) persuasively asserted that this is a threshold that could not be any lower," the judge ruled. "Duke’s argument on this point cannot be reasonably disputed by Louisville."

Shepherd dismissed Louisville's lawsuit.

According to the contract, Duke and Louisville were scheduled to meet again in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Duke has a record of 6-45 over the past five seasons.

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