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The University of Louisville has sued Duke University stemming from a breach of contract.

The suit was filed in Franklin circuit court in early November and calls for $450,000 in damages or whatever the court deems necessary.

The money adds up to the equivalent of $150,000 for the three dropped football games, the amount specified in the buy-out clause in the contract.

The two schools had a contract that committed them to four games, with each team getting two games at home. According to the suit, following the 2002 meeting, the first time the schools had ever played each other, Duke backed out of the agreement.

The teams were slated to meet in 2007, 2008 and 2009 according to the contract. Two of the games were to be played at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

Co-Director of Athletic Affairs for U of L Student Government Association Ryan Nebel sees Duke reneging on the contract as a missed opportunity.

“I think we are all pretty disappointed that we don’t get to play an opponent from a quality conference such as Duke,” said Nebel. “While Duke has struggled in the past I would still much rather play them as opposed to an opponent from a mid-major conference or Division I-AA.”

Nebel added the Duke name and a match up with an ACC team would make for an exciting atmosphere and help to build team spirit.

Some students would rather not take on Duke and are happy that they backed out of the contract.

“They [Duke] suck at football, nobody would have gone to the game anyways,” said junior bioengineering student Mickey Ising. “Might as well get some money out of it,” he added in reference to the pending litigation.

According to the U of L athletic department, the Cards gave a good faith effort to find a suitable replacement, contacting every member of the football subdivision.

The Cards have been unable to find a quality opponent willing to play two games at Louisville and one game at their home site, as Duke was to do.

U of L sports information director Kenny Klein said that the Cards had to find opponents in 2007 from broken contracts with Duke and Vanderbilt University of the South Eastern Conference.

The Cardinals filled the slots with home games against University of Utah and Murray State University.

The Cardinals currently have one opening for an opponent in 2008 and two games available for 2009.

According to the Courier Journal, U of L has already picked up a game with Div I-AA Indiana State for 2009.