Wildcats seeking end to Gators’ 30-year win streak
GAINESVILLE — Kentucky coach Mark Stoops has seen fast starts turn sour and slow starts turn around.
Unbeaten and tied atop the SEC East, Stoops is not getting ahead of himself.
“We’ve had it all,” Stoops said. “That really doesn’t mean anything right now, other than learning from our mistakes. The starts, the finishes — that narrative is kind of gone.”
Stoops appears to have his best team during his five seasons. Then again, he might not.
Either way, his program has a chance to take a major step Saturday night when the Florida Gators visit Kroger Field.
The Wildcats (3-0, 1-0 SEC) have lost 30 consecutive games to the Gators.
UF assistant Greg Nord was the running backs coach on Kentucky coach Jerry Claiborne’s staff three decades ago and never imagined a 10-3 UK win in 1986 would mark the Wildcats’ last against the Gators.
“That's a long, long time ago,” Nord said. “I don't know if I had any kids yet or not, and I've got grandkids, so it's been a long time.”
Looking back now, the Gators’ stranglehold in the series is not quite as surprising.
“As far as programs growing,” Nord said, “where we're at now, we're one of the elite programs in the country and they're not.”
Last year, the gap rarely had been wider than at the end of UF’s 45-7 win in the Swamp.
The Gators rolled up 564 yards, including 244 rushing, against Stoops’ squad to drop the Wildcats to 0-2 and leave them searching for answers from top to bottom.
A week later, junior-college transfer quarterback Stephen Johnson replaced injured starter Drew Barker and freshman tailback Benny Snell Jr. made his first appearance on his way to a 1,000-yard season. Johnson’s dual-threat ability and Snell’s hard-charging style led first-year coordinator Eddie Gran to essentially scrap the uptempo, passing offense he brought from Cincinnati and turn Kentucky into a running team.
The Wildcats won four of their next five SEC games — the only loss to top-ranked Alabama — on the way to the program’s first winning season since 2009.
The reversal of fortunes earned Stoops a two-year contract extension. Twelve months since the beatdown by UF, the 50-year-old is cautiously optimistic about his program’s progress.
“It’s come a long way. I don’t think there’s any denying that,” he said. “I was very proud of the team and the coaching staff a year ago, weathering tough times. I think with every opportunity our players do become more confident.
“But it’s every seven days you have a new opportunity to prove yourself — that’s how we look at it.”