Kentucky coach
Wildcats have lost 30 straight games to Gators
Mark Stoops might see his team take a major step when the Florida Gators visit the Wildcats on Saturday.
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 UF 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 Gat-
ors’ 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 hardcharging style led firstyear coordinator Eddie Gran to essentially scrap the up-tempo, 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.”
Kentucky is coming off an impressive 23-13 win at surging South Carolina, but has yet to knock off SEC East heavyweights UF, Georgia or Tennessee during Stoops’ four seasons.
When it comes to the Gators specifically, Stoops said he has had to recalibrate his expectations following stints as a defensive assistant at Miami (2001-03) and Florida State (2010-12).
“At one time it was ridiculous how much on the winning end I was on that,” Stoops recalled. “I’ve got to get that going again. At Miami, I don’t think I lost to any Florida school. When I was at Florida State, I don’t think I lost to any Florida school.”
Stoops’ final regularseason game in Tallahassee was a loss to the Gators. But his point is clear and his aim is true.
The Wildcats are trending in the right direction under Stoops. He also has been here before.
Kentucky began 2014 5-1 and 2015 4-1, but ended each season 5-7. Last season’s bounce back was the flip side of the coin.
Based on those experiences, believe Stoops when says what lies ahead this season has not even crossed his mind.
“We try to get better every day,” he said. “That’s not just coach-speak. That’s the truth.”