Kentucky Delivers BBN a Win They Deserved

It’s tough being a Kentucky football fan. They don’t make ’em any more resilient. For more than two years, they kept showing up to Kroger Field for SEC games, and leaving with a loss. That changed on Saturday night.

Kentucky snapped a 10-game losing streak to SEC opponents at Kroger Field by steamrolling a despised opponent. For decades, Florida didn’t just beat the Cats; they absolutely dominated. The shoe was on the other foot Saturday night.

Kentucky scored 35 unanswered points in a 38-7 victory over the Gators. The fourth win in the last five meetings was the largest margin of victory over Florida since 1950. Mark Stoops was happy to put a smile back on fans’ faces.

“I understand these folks sacrifice an awful lot, and they care,” said the Kentucky head coach. “They continue to show up. And we’re gonna need them to continue to do that. We always acknowledge it and appreciate that. They have to save money. They travel long distances. They show up, week in and week out, and I’ve always acknowledged our responsibility to play well for them, and I promise you, we give a great effort.

“I like this team, and I think they do too, because they’re very tough and they care, and they’re passionate for each other. To play well, it was nice to get some rewards. You know, we’re close a lot, but that doesn’t count when you’re a fan.”

Cutter Boley grew up cheering for the Wildcats and watching big wins in Lexington. After a couple of close calls, it felt good not to make BBN sweat.

“It was huge, especially coming out just slightly short in a few home games this year, a few big ones,” said Boley. “That’s a good one to pull out, especially for BBN, for us, for the coaches, everybody in general. That was a good one to go out there and dominate.”

The Wildcats stacked up consecutive SEC wins. An FCS opponent waits next week. There are two more winnable games on the road to end the year. This is a group that has momentum and knows it can deliver more feel-good moments for BBN.

“I think the thing that probably everybody, from Coach Stoops to the coaching staff, to the players, is most pleased about is to give the fans a home SEC win. They deserved it,” said defensive coordinator Brad White. “They come out every week. We hear them, they’re loud, they’re supportive, and they deserved one of these, and we hope to give them a lot more.

“But you know, being the final SEC home game of the year, it was good to get sort of that monkey off our back that we’ve been sort of carrying with us. There’s still a lot of work to be done.

“I think a lot of people left this team for dead a couple of weeks ago, and they said it, not the coaches, the players said it. We can get this thing — if we can knock the pebble out and let the boulder start rolling down the hill, get some momentum, and see where it leads. We got to go, come back. We get one more home game. Get to recognize the seniors on senior day. If we can go 1-0 next week, then we can just keep that ball rolling down the hill.”