On November 15, 1986 Kentucky beat Florida in Lexington by a score of 10-3. Little did True Blue Fans know that would be the last time the Cats would be victorious over the Gators. For a little historical perspective, the number one show on TV was The Cosby Show, the top movie was Crocodile Dundee and I was a junior in high school.
Previewing Florida at Kentucky
Not only have the Cats lost 28 straight to the Gators, most of them have not been close. Scores of 65-0 and 73-7 are just some of the scores between the two teams. The Cats have been close on a couple of occasions. In both 1993 and 2003 the Cats were leading late in the game but the Gators were able to pull out a win each time.
Last season Mark Stoops’ club outplayed the Gators for most of the game only to fall victim to a blown call on a delay of game and a blown coverage late in the game that let the Gators tie it up and eventually win 36-30 in triple overtime.
Back to this year’s game, Kentucky has started the season 2-0 but both games have had a familiar script. Play well in the first half and get out to a big lead then watch as the opposing team rallies. Last week it took a run back of a two point conversion by Denzil Ware and a late interception by Chris Westry to help the Cats break a 22 game road losing streak and get their first road win in the SEC since 2009.
The Gators are also 2-0 but after a big win over New Mexico State struggled to beat East Carolina last week. In fact Coach Jim McElwain’s sideline tirade on Kelvin Taylor got more publicity than anything that happened in the game.
McElwain says both quarterbacks, Will Grier and Treon Harris, will play on Saturday.
For the Cats to have a chance to win they must stop DeMarcus Robinson, who lit up the Kentucky defense with 15 catches for 216 and two touchdowns last season.
The Wildcats will welcome back linebacker Jason Hatcher after a two game suspension while the Gators could be without All-American defensive back Vernon Hargreaves III and linebacker Alex Anzalone.
If Kentucky is ever going to break the streak this would appear to be the year. A win here would give Kentucky their first 2-0 start in the SEC since 1977, which is the last time UK won the SEC. But let’s don’t get ahead of ourselves.
For the first time maybe ever the Cats match up evenly with the Gators and playing at home I think they get it done.
Kentucky 28-24
Nevada at Texas A&M (NOON, SEC Network)– The Aggies have looked very impressive in their two victories so far this season. The Wolfpack gave up almost 600 yards in a loss to Arizona last week and I expect Kyle Allen, Kyler Murphy and company to put up similar numbers.
Texas A&M 49-21
Connecticut at Missouri (NOON, ESPN)– If you read my post last week I said the Tigers would struggle but win over Arkansas State and that is just what happened. The Huskies are 2-0 but have beaten Villanova and Army. The Tigers will be without running back Russell Hansbrough but with Maty Mauk should still have enough weapons to win.
Missouri 27-17
Auburn at LSU (3:30, CBS)– Auburn should have lost to Jacksonville State last week and appear to have been way overrated going into this season.
Les Miles’ club picked up a big road win over Mississippi State last week and I think at home and behind Leonard Fournette, these Tigers take the win.
LSU 24-20
Northwestern State at Mississippi State (4:00, SEC Network)– A missed two point conversion and a missed field goal on the game’s last play cost the Bulldogs a chance to knock off LSU. In the fourth quarter it seemed the Bulldogs’ offense might be starting to click and against a bad 0-2 Demon squad Dak Prescott and company should really be able to get things going.
Mississippi State 49-7
Austin Peay at Vanderbilt (4:00, SEC Network)– As scary as this sounds, this might be the only game the rest of the season in which the Commodores are favored.
Vanderbilt 33-10
South Carolina at Georgia (6:00, ESPN)– When these two SEC East teams get together it is usually a memorable game. Kentucky was able to run all over the Gamecock defense last week and behind Nick Chubb I expect much the same.
It remains to be seen how Perry Orth will fare at quarterback with Connor Mitch out.
This should be an easy Bulldog win but in this series you never know.
Georgia 31-17
Texas Tech at Arkansas (7:00, ESPN2)– The Razorbacks out gained Toledo by 200 yards last week but still took an ugly 16-12 loss at home.
I look for Arkansas to get back to running the ball more, especially with leading receiver Keon Hatcher out indefinitely with a foot injury. Bret Bielema’s club gets back on track but I think it will be a close game.
Arkansas 34-27
Ole Miss at Alabama (9:15, ESPN)– Quarterback Chad Kelly and the Rebels have run up a conference record 149 points in the first two games of the season but will face a tough defense against the Tide.
Nick Saban’s club lost in Oxford last season and I am sure that has been a big motivating factor in practice this week.
Hugh Freeze’s club is one of the few teams who have the weapons to go against Alabama but at home I say the Tide run the streak to 33 straight wins in September in what could be a very close game.
Alabama 27-21
That is it for this week, I would love to hear your predictions. Tweet them to me @kevinmcguffey. Thanks for reading.
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