LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe instituted a 24-hour window after every game to allow his team a day to enjoy a victory or get over a loss.

Following Louisville's 40-34 upset loss to rival Kentucky on Saturday, his players wanted to slam that window shut about 23 hours and 55 minutes early.

``It's over with, the game is done,'' defensive tackle Earl Heyman said. ``You can't change it. You can't do nothing about it. You move on.''

Two days after being stunned in the final seconds by the Wildcats and one day after dropping from ninth to 18th in The Associated Press Top 25 poll - the first time in more than a season the Cardinals (2-1) have been ranked so low - Kragthorpe and the Cardinals were only too eager to get ready for Syracuse.

``You've got to bounce back off the canvas,'' Kragthorpe said. ``I used the illustration of Muhammad Ali. He's been knocked down before and come back and knocked people out. That's got to be us right now. We've got to get ourselves off the canvas, get our gloves back on and get ready to go.''

The Cardinals could use an Ali-sized confidence boost after a shaky performance against the Wildcats. Louisville's defense continued to struggle, allowing the Wildcats to roll up 460 yards of total offense and letting Kentucky wide receiver Steve Johnson run free down the sideline in the final 30 seconds for the game-winning touchdown.

The biggest factor may be experience. The play Johnson beat junior college transfer Woodny Turenne and first-year starter Richard Raglin to the end zone at the end of the game is the same play the Wildcats ran at the end of the first half. Johnson ran free on that play as well, but couldn't haul in the pass from quarterback Andre Woodson.

``There are some things you can't teach, that you have to find out for yourself and they're finding those things out,'' Heyman said.

The Cardinals will need to learn quickly if they want to regroup and win the Big East for the second straight year. A year ago, the Cardinals led the nation in sacks and finished 17th in scoring defense. Through three games this season they have just three sacks, are 92nd in yards allowed and have given up at least 40 points in back-to-back games for the first time since 2003.

Heyman said many of the problems are with the defensive front four.

``We need to work on getting to the edge and getting into our moves,'' Heyman said.

Yet even when the Cardinals have been in the right position, they've had trouble tackling. Kentucky running back Rafael Little ran for 151 yards, many of them right up the middle.

``When we've got plays to make, when we've got guys dead to rights in the hole, we've got to get them down, we've got to tackle,'' Kragthorpe said.

Their outside hopes of running the table and getting a shot at a national championship - something they were a second-half meltdown against Rutgers away from last year - now gone, the Cardinals are eager to move on to the Big East part of the schedule.

``That's the great thing about this sport, you get another opportunity and another chance to go out there and prove yourself,'' Heyman said. ``I can't think of another time better than right now to open up the Big East.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.