Chris Doering, one of us? He loves Kentucky in 2022.
Twenty-nine years ago, Chris Doering did irreparable damage to Big Blue Nation. There were eight seconds on the Commonwealth Stadium clock, Kentucky up a field goal on the seventh-ranked Florida Gators, ball on the Kentucky twenty-eight. Florida had already thrown seven interceptions to Kentucky’s defense on the day when backup QB Danny Wuerffel, who threw three of those picks, was given one last shot at the end zone as Steve Spurrier kept his offense on the field to try to win the game over a game-tying field goal try.
The ‘Cats needed one stop, but Kentucky’s defense left the middle of the end zone wide open for Doering to catch the game-winning touchdown. The crushing loss stretched Florida’s win streak against Kentucky to seven games and paved the way for 24 more in a row until the 31-game steak was snapped in 2018.
Watch the replay of Doering’s touchdown if you can stomach it.
Now for why we are reopening that wound today.
Last night, Doering, now a commentator for SEC Network, revealed his optimistic game-by-game prediction for Kentucky’s upcoming season. Doering predicted Kentucky will go 11-1 this fall with a win over Georgia in Lexington as the crowning achievement of the season. His one loss for the ‘Cats is the game in Knoxville.
“Stop me if you’ve heard this before,” Doering told Alyssa Lang and the SEC Network viewers. “I like this Kentucky Wildcat team. You and I’ve been on the bandwagon for a long time.”
He called Kentucky over Georgia his upset of the year in the SEC.
It’s not the first time Doering used his platform to speak highly of Mark Stoops’ program in Lexington. Matter of fact, Doering has been one of the most pro-Kentucky Football talking heads in the last few years, picking Kentucky to win many of its in-conference games when others didn’t, even saying he expected Kentucky to take a fight to Alabama in 2020.
Doering’s optimism doesn’t erase the years and years of the trauma he caused in 1993, but he can come to the cookout if he keeps talking about Stoops and Kentucky.
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