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From 1978 through 2017, Kentucky lost to Florida 31 straight games before finally snapping that streak with a win in Gainesville in 2018.
Kentucky had lost 16 straight home games to Florida before beating the Gators in Lexington in 2021, UK’s first home win over Florida since 1986.
However, Kentucky also won at Florida last season making the Cats 3-2 against Florida in the last five games. Kentucky is a slight favorite going into Saturday’s game at Kroger Field.
Florida coach Billy Napier shared a few thoughts about the Cats at his weekly press conference Monday.
On Kentucky’s offense:
“Yeah, they’re transfer heavy on offense. They’ve got a good group of skill players. Running back, primarily the player you’re talking about is the featured back. The quarterback was fantastic at NC State, he’s had a terrific career. He’s off to a good start. I think they’ve got skill players at receiver, at least two true freshmen that played last year, a back, a sophomore that transferred from Virginia Tech, and then the tight end, I feel like this one guy, he’s been there forever. They’ve got a good group. I think up front is where they made some progress. In general, I do think they have a good complementary group of players on offense for sure.”
On Kentucky’s defense:
“Kentucky, that’s one of the reasons why they’ve been able to be very consistent as a program and as a team is because they play really good defense. They’ve got an identity. They understand who they are and how they play. It’s a veteran group, and I think they’ve added a couple transfers also that have provided depth at certain positions. But they’ve got a good group of defensive coaches. Obviously the head coach has a defensive background. They’re systematic in what they do, and they do a really good job, play well at all levels of the defense, in my opinion.”
On Florida’s high volume of penalties in Lexington against Kentucky two years ago:
“I think that was a part of last year, playing on the road. I think we played at Tennessee early last year on the road, and we procedurally were pretty good. I think, as a result of the conversations about the year prior. So that’s in the past. I think we’ve resolved that for the most part. Obviously it’s part of playing on the road in this league. It’s going to be challenging. We’ve got to do a good job with the nonverbal count. I think, for the most part, when we’ve done that, we’ve done a decent job. But those are some of the challenges that are an issue with going on the road. You see it every week in college football. It’s like every game you turn on where — I mean, look at the teams that have to play here. I’m hopeful that the things that we’ve done in training camp and the things that we do throughout the week can replicate that for the players. If not, we’ve got to evaluate our process and think about what we can do better for the players.”
4 Responses
If the Cats can run the ball we’ll be okay, if we become one dimensional their edge players will pack our lunch.
I have been a Cat football fan for many years, but this ain’t Ball Sate or Akron coming in here Saturday. This UK team, even at 4-0, has not proven to me they are ready for the SEC. The gators will come in ready after their loss last year in Gainesville. The UK offense IS NOT hitting on all eight cylinders. They will have to do that against Florida to win this game. This Florida team lined up against the ugly A$$ Orange and whipped em. Really embarrassed them. If UK is to win this game it will require dominant football from both their offense and defense the whole game. It starts upfront, UK must control the LOS. I have not seen that in 4 games already played against less talented teams. I thought of the four teams UK has played, the EKU game was a red flag that UK was over rated. I want to see UK punish Florida, but it will not happen until their offense starts living up to all the big talk that came out of fall camp. UK must be able to get the ground game in gear, consistently getting them to second or third and short against the gators all day long to have a chance. If they do that, Leary and company will do the rest in the air.
‘The outcome of this game will let us know what we can expect for the rest of the season. Seriously, this will be our fifth game and we should be hitting our stride, whether good or not so good. The Gators will have revenge on their minds, it’s time for us to bring our A game to the field.
Larry, do you remember how Vince Dooley would build up opponents before destroying them? With the exception of the 10 – 1 Kentucky team who stomped on him to the tune of 33 – 0 and that was with a team that had to play with ball and chains.
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