Beating Florida still on wish list
Seventh in a series previewing the 2018 SEC football season
ATLANTA — Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops gave a thoughtful answer considering he’s been asked the same question constantly since taking over the Wildcats’ football program in 2013.
“You can’t hide from the elephant in the room,” Stoops said at SEC media days. “It’s been a long time.”
In this case the elephant in the room for Stoops and the Wildcats isn’t Alabama — even though that’s the Crimson Tide’s mascot known as “Big Al.” Kentucky has beaten Alabama just twice, the last
time in 1997, 40-34 in overtime.
The elephant in the room for Kentucky is Florida, a team which has owned the Wildcats since Ronald Reagan was president.
Florida has beaten Kentucky 31 consecutive times since the Wildcats’ last victory in the series, 10-3, on Nov. 15, 1986, in Lexington, Ky.
“I always look forward to that annual question here,” Stoops said to a writer from Florida who asked him about the losing streak. “I’m not blaming you. I’m going to get it a thousand times between now and that game.”
The Wildcats play the Gators in the teams’ SEC opener Sept. 8 in Gainesville, Fla., after playing Central Michigan.
“We’ve got to take care of week one first, obviously, but we are extremely excited [about the Florida game],” Kentucky senior tight end C.J. Conrad said. “No one wants to lose to the same team 30 years in a row.
“That’s something we’re going to hopefully take care of this year.”
Stoops is the sixth Kentucky coach to try to beat Florida since Jerry Claiborne led the Wildcats to victory in 1986. Other Kentucky coaches failing to beat the Gators are Bill Curry, Hal Mumme, Guy Morris, Rich Brooks and Joker Phillips.
Florida coaches during the winning streak have been Galen Hall, Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook, Urban Meyer, Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain.
Dan Mullen is going into his first season as Florida’s
coach, but that might not bode well for Kentucky. Mullen was 8-1 against the Wildcats as Mississippi State’s coach the previous nine seasons, though Kentucky did beat the Bulldogs 40-38 in 2016.
Seven of Kentucky’s losses in the streak to Florida have been by seven or fewer points, including two agonizingly close losses under Stoops.
Florida rallied to beat Kentucky 34-30 in overtime in 2004 and last season won 2827 when the Wildcats couldn’t hold a 27-14 lead and missed a 57-yard field goal attempt on the game’s final play.
The Wildcats did have the satisfaction of going to a second consecutive bowl game last season while Florida finished 4-7.
“The majority of people probably thought we were the better team that game,” Conrad said of last season’s loss to the Gators. “We played extremely well, but we just didn’t finish the way we wanted to.
“It stings. You don’t want to dwell on it, but you also want it to motivate you.”
Kentucky, picked to finish fifth in the SEC East in a preseason poll of 284 voters at media days, has 17 starters back from a 7-6 team with eight on offense and nine on defense.
“We expect more,” Stoops said. “We’ve been close. We’ve done some good things. I’m proud of the work that we’ve done, that we look forward to making a big jump this year.
“We return some players with experience. We return some talent.”
The Wildcats’ top returnee is junior running back Benny Snell, who rushed for 2,424 yards and 32 touchdowns the previous 2 seasons.
“He’s been a workhorse,” Stoops said. “You have to admire his ability to go back day after day and run after run in his consistency.
“He gets tough yards. You know how tough they are in this league.
“Whether it’s in the weight room, the training session in the summer, every practice, every scrimmage, he goes hard.”
Snell was voted an All-SEC first-team preseason pick by reporters covering media days.
“From my freshman year to now, I feel like I’m the best I’ve ever been,” Snell said. “My time is now.”
Senior linebacker Josh Allen, who led the Wildcats with seven sacks last season, said Kentucky is ready to surpass preseason expectations.
“We’re a team full of underdogs,” Allen said. “We’re trying to change this program for the future.”
The big question for the Wildcats going into this season — other than whether they’ll beat Florida — is who will be their starting quarterback with the loss of Stephen Johnson.
The top two contenders going into fall camp are Terry Wilson — a junior college transfer who began his career at Oregon — and sophomore Gunnar Hoak.
“Gunnar hasn’t played a college snap yet, but he’s been in our system,” Stoops said. “He’s practiced a bunch. He knows what we’re doing.
“He has always been poised since he stepped on campus. He’s accurate. He knows where to go with the football. He can make all the throws.
“Terry’s a dynamic guy. I don’t know if I’ve seen it all yet. Until you get live, you really cannot see all his skill sets. Obviously, you can see the way he can run. He makes all of the throws. He’s an unbelievable worker.
“So I feel good about our options.”
Conrad said beating Florida to start 1-0 in SEC play
could be critical to Kentucky’s chances of winning the East.
“We want to take that next step, and I think that’s part of it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s everything, but it’s definitely a huge step for us to make, especially so early in the season.
“I think it’s a super important game for us.”
Stoops said he used to downplay what ending the losing streak to Florida could mean for Kentucky.
“My answer the first three or four years, I really wasn’t concerned about it,” he said. “I’m trying to build a culture at Kentucky and win games and get in position.”
And now?
“We need to beat Florida,” Stoops said. “But we need to beat a lot of teams on our schedule.”