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Kentucky football wins at Tennessee for first time since Ronald Reagan was president

By Patrick Schmidt

Oct 17, 2020; Knoxville, TN, USA; Kentucky defensive back Kelvin Joseph (1) celebrates a touchdown after making an interception in the second quarter during a game between Tennessee and Kentucky at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020.Mandatory Credit: Calvin Mattheis-USA TODAY NETWORK
Oct 17, 2020; Knoxville, TN, USA; Kentucky defensive back Kelvin Joseph (1) celebrates a touchdown after making an interception in the second quarter during a game between Tennessee and Kentucky at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020.Mandatory Credit: Calvin Mattheis-USA TODAY NETWORK /
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For the first time in 36 tries, Kentucky football won at Tennessee.

Kentucky football finally snapped their losing streak at Tennessee with a convincing 34-7 win over the Volunteers at Neyland Stadium. This marks the first time in 36 games the Wildcats have won in Knoxville and the first time they won at Tennessee since Ronald Reagan was president in 1984.

How many of you reading this were even alive in 1984? How many were old enough to watch and remember when that happened?

Yeah, it’s been a long time since Kentucky won at Tennessee, but this is a good Wildcats team under the direction of Mark Stoops who beat Tennessee in Lexington in 2017 to snap a five-game losing streak to their SEC East brethren.

Kentucky wins at Tennessee for the first time since 1984

After Kentucky beat Tennessee 17-12 on Nov. 24, 1984, the Vols didn’t lose to the Cats for the next 26 games they met, only losing by a field goal when Kentucky beat them 10-7 in 2011.

The is one of the most lopsided rivalries in college sports, nearly matched by Tennessee’s dominance over Vanderbilt, but with the Vols regressing over the better part of the last decade, Kentucky has been able to narrow the gap and it’s not really even fair to say this was an upset.

Granted, Tennessee was ranked No. 18 and Kentucky was unranked but there isn’t much separating the two programs. Although that didn’t stop Kentucky’s Twitter account from trolling College GameDay when all their analysts picked the Vols to beat the Cats. That didn’t age well at all.

Kentucky’s defense had interceptions on three straight possessions in the first half, including a pair of pick-sixes that really sunk Tennessee’s efforts. Tennessee quarterback Jarrett Guarantano had no answers for the Wildcats defense that had six interceptions last week vs. Mississippi State and forced four more turnovers in Saturday’s win at Knoxville.

Kentucky football fans should be celebrating all weekend after snapping this long losing streak. Meanwhile, Vols fans will have to regroup and lower their expectations after getting shellacked vs. Georgia and now Kentucky in back-to-back weeks.

But it won’t get any easier for Tennessee with Alabama coming to town next weekend.

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