{"id":16211,"date":"2018-09-06T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T12:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=16211"},"modified":"2025-09-13T16:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T20:03:07","slug":"ranking-kentuckys-most-heartbreaking-losses-to-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2018\/09\/06\/ranking-kentuckys-most-heartbreaking-losses-to-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking Kentucky\u2019s Most Heartbreaking Losses To Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Ranking Kentucky\u2019s Most Heartbreaking Losses To Florida<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">For 31 consecutive years, the <strong>Kentucky Wildcats<\/strong> have lost to the <strong>Florida Gators.<\/strong> It is the longest current losing streak in all of college football <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Most_consecutive_NCAA_football_wins_over_one_opponent\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">and tied for fourth most all-time. <\/a>A few days ago\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kevinmcguffey\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">we put up a poll on Twitter and <\/a>Cat fans answered. As some sort of therapy session, let\u2019s dive in and begin ranking Kentucky\u2019s most heartbreaking losses To Florida. In addition to the countdown, we will give you a preview and prediction on this year&#8217;s game.<\/p>\n<h3>Giving The Champs All They Can Handle<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Number Five- Florida 45 Kentucky 37<\/strong>&#8211; One week earlier,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/rich-brooks-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rich Brooks&#8217;<\/a> squad knocked off number one LSU in three overtimes. Their reward was a visit from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/tim-tebow-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tim Tebow<\/a> and the defending National Champion Gators.<\/p>\n<p>In front of the College GameDay crew, this was arguably the most hyped Kentucky game ever. The contest more than lived up to its billing. Quarterback <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/andre-woodson-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andre Woodson<\/a> had a career day throwing for 415 yards and five touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, Tebow threw for 276 yards and four scores. In addition, he ran for 78 more yards and another touchdown.<\/p>\n<p>The seventh-ranked Cats jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. But, Tebow and company quickly took over leading by as many as 18 points. Woodson led a rally in the second half but could get no closer than seven.<\/p>\n<h3>Blowing A 21-3 Lead<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Number Four- 2003- Florida 24 Kentucky 21<\/strong>&#8211; As the title suggests, Kentucky led the Gators by 18 at the end of the third quarter. However, the Cats totally melted down in the last stanza as\u00a0Ron Zook&#8217;s club ran the streak to 17 straight.<\/p>\n<p>With the Cats up 21-16 late in the fourth quarter, quarterback\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jared-lorenzen-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared Lorenzen<\/a> attempted to throw to prevent a sack. Unfortunately, it turned out to be ill-advised as the Gators&#8217; <strong>Johnny Lamar<\/strong> intercepted. A few plays later, a <strong>Ran Carthan<\/strong> touchdown turned out to be the game winner. With 44 seconds remaining,\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/taylor-begley-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Taylor Begley<\/a><\/strong> missed a 49 yard field goal and the Gators ran out the clock.<\/p>\n<h3>Seven Interceptions Aren\u2019t Enough<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Number Three- 1993- Florida 24 Kentucky 20-<\/strong> The Wildcats best chance at being <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/steve-spurrier-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Steve Spurrier<\/a> came in this battle in Lexington. However, as it has happened so many times before, the Cats came up just short.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/bill-curry-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bill Curry&#8217;s <\/a>club dominated most of the game but couldn\u2019t seal the deal. The Cats intercepted the Florida quarterbacks a school record seven times. But, with time expiring <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/danny-wuerffel-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Danny Wuerffel<\/a> hit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/chris-doering-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Doering<\/a> with a touchdown pass over the middle as the Gators escaped again.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wuerffel to Doering\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YoLPAAFB0o8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It would be a decade before Kentucky came that close to ending the streak.<\/p>\n<p>As we continue Ranking Kentucky\u2019s most heartbreaking losses To Florida, it\u2019s time for the top two. The Wildcats could and probably should have beaten the Gators three of the last four years. That fact is further illustrated as both of these games took place during this time period.<\/p>\n<h3>A Missed Call Leads To More Heartbreak<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Number Two- 2014- Florida 36 Kentucky 30 3 OT\u2019s-<\/strong> In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/mark-stoops-2.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Stoops<\/a>\u2019 first trip to the swamp, the Cats nearly broke the streak. Kentucky went toe to toe with the Gators for four quarters and into overtime.<\/p>\n<p>In the first extra frame, Florida faced a fourth and seven trailing 27-20. As the play clock hit zero,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/jeff-driskel-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeff Driskel<\/a> hit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/demarcus-robinson-3.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Demarcus Robinson<\/a> in the end zone to continue the game. Replays showed the play never should have happened but that\u2019s Kentucky football luck for you.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Great win UK! And if they called this delay of game versus Florida, you&#39;re 5-0!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WeAreUK?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WeAreUK<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BBN?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BBN<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/GoBigBlue?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#GoBigBlue<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WhyNotUs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WhyNotUs<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/kJml5o0iBU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/kJml5o0iBU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dan Hutchinson (@MeWizeMagic) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MeWizeMagic\/status\/518605789297012737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 5, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A one yard run from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=matt-jones-3,matt-jones-2,matt-jones-1&amp;search=Matt+Jones&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Jones<\/a> gave the Gators the win as the streak hit 28.<\/p>\n<h3>A Come From Ahead Loss<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Number One- 2017- Florida 28 Kentucky 27-<\/strong> To no one\u2019s surprise the most recent loss was voted the worst.<\/p>\n<p>Leading 27-13 heading into the fourth quarter, the Cats were thoroughly outplaying\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/coaches\/jim-mcelwain-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jim McElwain&#8217;s <\/a> club. However, it was not to be as the Gators rallied yet again.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/luke-del-rio-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Del Rio<\/a> led Florida down the field and hit <strong>Freddie Swain<\/strong> for a five yard touchdown to put them ahead 28-27. Unbelievably, Kentucky left Swain wide open. The second time in the game it happened both leading to scores. As one would expect, social media went wild with all kinds of comments.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This should be the cover of the 2018 Kentucky Football Media Guide because nothing sums up Kentucky Football better than this. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/D5WlyN5FGY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/D5WlyN5FGY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mark Nagi (@MarkNagi) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkNagi\/status\/911789388408999936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 24, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Despite little time left on the clock, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/stephen-johnson-8.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Johnson<\/a> led the Cats into\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/austin-macginnis-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Austin MacGinnis&#8217; <\/a> field goal range. However, a questionable holding call on <strong>Nick Haynes<\/strong> moved the Cats back ten yards. MacGinnis\u2019 57 yard field goal fell just short and the streak reached 31. As they have several times since 1986, the Gators escaped once again.<\/p>\n<h4>Does The Streak End On Saturday?<\/h4>\n<p>Now that we have taken a look back, let&#8217;s take a look into the future. Kentucky did some really good things in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/boxscores\/2018-09-01-kentucky.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their 35-20 win over Central Michigan especially on defense. <\/a>One thing they have to work on is turnovers. Starting in his first game,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=terry-wilson-1,terry-wilson-3,terry-wilson-2&amp;search=Terry+Wilson&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Terry Wilson<\/a>, had two fumbles and an interception. Also, the team had four total miscues. The Chippewas converted those into all 20 of their points.<\/p>\n<p>When Wilson went out of the game late in the second quarter due to injury,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/gunnar-hoak-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gunnar Hoak<\/a> stepped up and led Kentucky to a score right before the half. Wilson came back into the game in the second half and is listed as number one on the depth chart.<\/p>\n<p>Going into the season, the Wildcats rushing attack was thought to be a strength and it was. Both\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/benjamin-snell-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Benny Snell <\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/asim-rose-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A. J. Rose <\/a> ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns each. For the game, the Cats rushed for 299 yards, their most in almost two years.<\/p>\n<p>On the other side of the ball, the Cats held Central Michigan to 255 yards and only 97 in the second half.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/josh-allen-6.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Allen <\/a> and <strong>Kash Daniel<\/strong> led the way for the Kentucky defense.<\/p>\n<p>The Gators looked impressive in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/boxscores\/2018-09-01-florida.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a 53-6 win over Charleston Southern. <\/a>In <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/dan-mullen-2.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dan Mullen<\/a>&#8216;s debut in Gainesville <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/feleipe-franks-1.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Feleipe Franks<\/a> looked liked a totally different player. Throwing for five touchdowns and 212 yards, the sophomore was much more comfortable in the pocket.<\/p>\n<p>There are many who think Kentucky&#8217;s window to break the streak is closing due to Mullen taking the helm at Florida. While at Mississippi State, Mullen went 8-1 against the Cats.<\/p>\n<p>If there is a ray of hope, it is the fact the Gators gave up 222 yards rushing to an FCS school. For Kentucky to spring the upset Snell has to have a career game. Even by controlling the game on the ground and limiting turnovers it still may not be enough. Perhaps next year will be the year the streak is broken.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong>Florida 27 Kentucky 20 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thanks for clicking on ranking Kentucky&#8217;s most heartbreaking losses To Florida here at <strong>Last Word On College Football.<\/strong> Next week, the Cats host an in-state rival in the <strong>Murray<\/strong> <strong>State Racers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"X1w4i7XJTadJEKy9XmF_0w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/72024815\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'X1w4i7XJTadJEKy9XmF_0w',sig:'1Q-ON8RVd-pbvbjda5z-b-0icFZedo5EGmmmjNMGgWg=',w:'594px',h:'397px',items:'72024815',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ranking Kentucky\u2019s Most Heartbreaking Losses To Florida For 31 consecutive years, the Kentucky Wildcats have lost to the Florida Gators. It is the longest current losing streak in all of college football and tied for fourth most all-time. A few days ago\u00a0we put up a poll on Twitter and Cat fans answered. As some sort [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":877,"featured_media":16332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35579,3],"tags":[2970,3581,1977,244,21,496],"class_list":["post-16211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-kentucky-wildcats","category-sec","tag-benny-snell","tag-college-football-winning-streaks","tag-feleipe-franks","tag-florida-gators","tag-kentucky-wildcats","tag-tim-tebow"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/877"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77873,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16211\/revisions\/77873"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}