Flashback Friday usually annoys me on social media, but it’s different when it’s about football, right? Apparently Ncaa.com has hopped on the ‘flashback’ train by posting each week an event in football history. This week it was all about Ole Miss. Actually it was about the rise and fall of No. 1 ranked Ole Miss 50 years ago and a
mediocre Kentucky team who ruined it for them.
In the late 50’s and early 60’s Ole Miss was the top of college football. They had three national championships (although none were deemed official).
In the years 1952-64 the Rebels went 36-1-1 on its home turf. Despite losing to Alabama in the 64 Sugar Bowl 12-7, the Rebels entered the 1964 season as the AP preseason No. 1.
They were ranked No. 1
until Kentucky came around. Kentucky defeated the Rebels 27-21 on Sept. 26, 1964 in Oxford, ending the run of good fortune for the Rebels and perhaps cursing them for a half a century. In the fifty years, Ole Miss has never returned to the top of college football. This is how the game went according to Ncaa.com:
Ole Miss had no answer for Kentucky wide receiver Nick Kestner, who caught a total of nine passes for a then-school record 185 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wildcats back from a pair of second-half deficits for the victory. Kestner would finish the 1964 season with 42 receptions, also a school record at the time.
That win over Ole Miss was what Ncaa.com calls the only highlight of the seven-year Charlie Bradshaw era at Kentucky, when the Cats went 25-41-4. It wouldn’t hurt to point out Bradshaw was the last Kentucky coach to
defeat Tennessee twice in Knoxville and the last coach to defeat Auburn twice.
The next time a Kentucky coach beat a #1 team was Rich Brooks in 2007 when Kentucky defeated LSU after a loss to South Carolina.
Bradshaw might be best known for his team size, which stayed in the thirties after the team was thinned by his brutal methods. I know football has changed a lot in the past fifty years, but if Bradshaw can win with a small team of players who don’t like him, then why would it be crazy for us to think Stoops could do it with a united team and a supportive fan base?
You can read the entire article here.
Who do you think Kentucky can upset this year?
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