Kentucky upsets Florida and the losing streak finally comes to an end

It finally happened. The Kentucky Wildcats have beaten their SEC East nemesis Florida Gators on the football gridiron for the first time since 1986.

It was bound to happen eventually. The Kentucky Wildcats have become a respectable team in the SEC since Mark Stoops took over. While they got back to a bowl in 2016, the Wildcats still had one thing left they needed to accomplish: beat the perpetual headache that is the Florida Gators.

While Florida has been a tumultuous football program since Urban Meyer left Gainesville nearly a decade ago, the Gators still found ways to beat Big Blue Nation in football. Though a competitive rivalry on the hardwood, it has been a hammer versus nail rivalry on the gridiron for decades. That is, until now.

For the first time since the 1986 NCAA season, Kentucky can say that it beat Florida in an SEC football game. The Wildcats put it to Dan Mullen’s Gators in The Swamp to the tune of 27-16. Top Gun was easily the best movie released that year in theaters. Tom Cruise is still an action star, as somethings never change.

This was also the first time that Kentucky beat Florida in Gainesville since 1979. That year saw Gainesville natives Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers release their breakthrough album Damn the Torpedoes. “Even the Losers” get lucky sometimes, but “Don’t Do Me Like That“, Kentucky. You earned it!

Yes, it has been that long, but the wait was totally worth it for Kentucky. You have earned the right to celebrate most magnificently, Big Blue Nation. So how did Kentucky do this thing? The Wildcats have been so close for a few years now, but why was 2018 the year?

Two big reasons stand out. The first being that the Wildcats ran the ball down the Gators’ throats. It helps having an All-SEC caliber tailback in the form of Benny Snell. He rushed for 175 yards on 27 carries. Kentucky quarterback Terry Wilson also scampered for 105 yards on 10 carries for a touchdown.

The other major statistical takeaway from this game is that Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks is still not accurate. Completing 17 of 38 passes for 232 yards, two touchdowns and one interception isn’t anything Mullen can really do much with. Though he is a quarterback whisperer, Mullen might have to start yelling at Franks to complete somewhere close to 50 percent of his passes in a game, please!

Overall, the first two weeks of the college football season have not been kind to the three Power 5 teams from the Sunshine State. Both the Florida State Seminoles and the Miami Hurricanes looked bad in their Week 1 losses to the Virginia Tech Hokies and the LSU Tigers, respectively. Florida State even trailed the FCS Samford Bulldogs at home in Week 2, 23-21.

But this is all about Kentucky getting something done that hasn’t happened since the Ronald Reagan administration. The last time Kentucky beat Florida at football, the internet did not exist. When Kentucky last won on the gridiron in Gainesville, Jimmy Carter was the President of the United States of America. Still can’t believe this finally happened! Congratulations to you, Big Blue Nation. Enjoy this one like I know you will.