Advertisement
football Edit

RECAP: Cats bully Gators, banish streak

Kentucky's Benny Snell fought to break a tackle by the Florida defense.
Kentucky's Benny Snell fought to break a tackle by the Florida defense. (Kim Klement/USA Today)

It's over.

A losing streak that had spanned four decades finally came to an end Saturday night in Gainesville as Kentucky went into one of college football's most challenging venues and delivered a physical beating of No. 25 Florida in a 27-16 victory.

The Wildcats dominated the line of scrimmage, rushing for 303 yards on the night. Junior running back Benny Snell Jr. led the way with 175 yards on 27 carries, and sophomore quarterback Terry Wilson added 105 of his own to help UK snap its 31-game skid to the Gators.

Kentucky (2-0) had not beaten Florida since November of 1986 and had not left Ben Hill Griffin Stadium -- aka "The Swamp" -- victorious since 1979. It marked the nation's longest active streak in an uninterrupted series and the fourth longest in NCAA history.

The Cats had come close to burying the streak last season, but Florida rallied from two scores down in the final quarter to escape Lexington with a 28-27 win. That loss -- and the lingering doubt in the media -- fueled UK's performance on Saturday.

"It means the world to me," Snell said. "It's really a long time coming, and all the doubt, the TV guys doubting us... A lot of people didn't believe in us, but this is what I expected."

"Everybody who walked out there today believed that we were going to win that game. Every single man," said Mark Stoops, who had seen five different head coaches before him fail to record a single win over the Gators.

"It just feels good to be able to end this for our fans."

Kentucky trailed 10-7 at the half but felt like it had control of the game with a 224-156 advantage in total yardage. Two costly turnovers in Florida territory forced the Cats to play from behind.

UK took the lead for good on a 24-yard touchdown run by Wilson with 9:49 left in the third quarter. It capped a 10-play drive which saw the Cats run the ball on the final eight snaps, four of them for nine yards or more.

The Cats extended the lead to 21-10 with 4:11 left in the third quarter when Wilson found sophomore wide receiver Lynn Bowden on a 54-yard touchdown pass, a perfectly placed deep ball for the Ohio native's first career score.

Wilson, the junior college transfer who won the starting job coming out of camp, completed 11 of 16 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns to go along with his 105 rushing and one score.

Florida pulled within 21-16 with 3:43 remaining, executing a 99-yard drive that was capped by a 4-yard touchdown pass from Feleipe Franks to Freddie Swain. But the Gators needed a two-point conversion to narrow the margin to a field goal, and UK linebacker Josh Allen broke up a pass in the back of the end zone to ensure Florida would need a touchdown to beat the Cats.

The Gators took possession of the ball one final time, on their own 5 yard line with 29 seconds to play, but their hopes were dashed when Allen sacked Franks and forced a fumble as time expired. UK's Davonte Robinson scooped up the loose ball and returned it for a touchdown to seal the memorable victory.

*****

In this Cats Illustrated "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory...

THE GOOD:

Kentucky's toughness, both mental and physical. The Cats were far from perfect on the night, but they had an answer for the Gators every time something bad occurred. That's probably the single-biggest change in the program under Stoops. Physically, they imposed their will on the opponent like few other SEC teams not named Alabama are capable of doing.

THE BAD:

Wilson coughed the ball up two more times, bringing his season total to five turnovers. He did some great things in this game to overcome the miscues, but you can bet that Eddie Gran will be preaching ball security again next week. If the Cats' new signal caller gets that aspect of his game stabilized, the potential is enormous. UK also had 12 penalties for 114 yards, which is usually too many to win a hard-fought league game.

THE UGLY:

For the second time in as many games this season, an opponent mocked UK's Snell and questioned his ability, only to be served a large helping of humble pie. He now has 300 yards and is averaging 6.4 yards per carry in his pursuit of the all-time UK rushing record. Maybe defenders have finally learned a hard lesson.

GAME BALL:

Offensive Line, Kentucky -- The Cats' veteran O-Line paved the way to a huge night for Snell, Wilson & Co. Drake Jackson, Logan Stenberg, Bunchy Stallings, George Asafo-Adjei, E.J. Price, Naasir Watkins and Mason Wolfe -- and we'll throw tight ends C.J. Conrad and Justin Rigg into the mix as well -- turned in one of the most physical performances we've seen by UK in recent memory. In addition to the huge rushing total, they allowed no sacks and no quarterback hurries. The play that may have best embodied the game as a whole came with 2:47 remaining as Stallings pulled from his right guard position and pancaked the Gators' Brad Stewart to spring Snell on a 20-yard run down the left sideline to help kill the clock and seal the win.

BY THE NUMBERS:

1st - UK quarterback, Terry Wilson, to rush for more than 100 yards since Jalen Whitlow against Alabama State in 2013.

2nd - Career interception for senior safety Darius West, both coming against Florida in the last two matchups.

7.5 - Yards per carry by the Cats.

11 - Tackles for UK junior linebacker Kash Daniel, a team high.

14 - One-hundred yard games for Benny Snell, moving past Rafael Little and Moe Williams for second place in school history.

1976 - UK's last win over a ranked Florida squad. The Gators were ranked No. 5 that season when the Cats won 28-9.

2,724 - Career rushing yards for Benny Snell, moving past Derrick Locke (2,618) and George Adams (2,648) for fifth place on the UK career list.

QUOTABLE:

"My O-Line and tight ends... the best in the nation." -- UK running back Benny Snell

UP NEXT:

Kentucky returns to action next week at home against Murray State. The Racers (0-2) lost 26-13 on Saturday to Central Arkansas.

Advertisement