As the summer winds down and practice is coming into full swing, I decided to look back on past seasons of the University of Kentucky football team. It then occurred to me that I’ve been alive now for 25 complete seasons, 1985-2009. When I looked back on those past teams, a phrase famously used by former ABC’s Wide World Of Sports’ host Jim McKay came to my mind: “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”.
The Wildcats over the past 25 seasons have experienced the roller coaster that is college football success and failure. From wins over highly ranked teams to losses that made you scratch your head, if you’re a true Big Blue fan, you’ve seen it all. So I decided to use my Kentucky football expertise and compiled my own lists of top 10 games involving the Wildcats in two different categories: biggest victories and heartbreaking losses, since Big Blue Nation have encountered both over the past 25 seasons.
As many of you that really have followed Kentucky football for a long time would know, it was unfortunately harder for me to narrow down a list of the most heartbreaking losses to just 10 games. To put into perspective, UK, since the 1985 season, has lost to a ranked team by 7 points or less 24 times. On the other hand, UK, since the 1985 season, has defeated a ranked team only 8 times. I put a lot of effort into compiling these lists and I’m sure I will have plenty of people that will disagree with either the order of the games in the countdown or even games that are included in the list itself. But it’s always good for some friendly debate right before the 2010 season kicks off on Saturday, September 4th against those filthy Cardinals.
Anywho, I will start with #10 in both categories now and provide you with one game from each category once a day for the next 10 days until August 29th. So make sure to check back everyday and see what’s next on my list. Without further ado, here’s my picks for the #10 biggest victory and #10 heartbreaking loss:
#10 Biggest Victory: Kentucky 22 #17 Louisville 17 – September 1st, 2002 Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium
This game kicked off the 2002 season for both schools, and even before the first kickoff, everything seemed to be stacked against the Wildcats. UK had encountered consecutive losing seasons in 2000 and 2001 with a combined record of 4-18. Louisville had won the previous 3 intra-state rivalry games by a combined score of 132-72. The Cardinals were two-time defending Conference USA Champions and were ranked #17 in the preseason AP Poll. Not to mention their quarterback Dave Ragone was being hyped as a Heisman Trophy candidate. UofL went as far as to make Dave Ragone bobblehead dolls.
Other than all that, UK had every reason to be confident coming into this game. I hope you sensed my sarcasm. Anyways, come to find out, Dave Ragone was anything but a Heisman Trophy candidate as the Wildcat defensive line harrassed him all night long and made the game a living nightmare for the signal-caller. Dave completed just 14 of 39 passes for 193 yards, an interception, and a fumble. Although the UK defense only recorded 3 sacks, they hurried Ragone on nearly every pass.
The Wildcats started the scoring about 6 minutes into the game when Jared Lorenzen threw a swing pass to speedster Ernest Simms and he dashed 64 yards to the endzone. Kentucky jumped out to a 16-0 lead before the Cardinals gained some momentum of their own. Ragone connected on a 2 yard touchdown pass to tight end Ronnie Ghent with under a minute to go in the 1st half, then return specialist Broderick Clark took the opening kickoff of the 2nd half 100 yards to the house. Add a Nate Smith field goal 9 minutes into the 3rd quarter and suddenly UofL held a 17-16 lead. But Kentucky responded with 2 field goals by kicker Taylor Begley and the Wildcats had a 22-17 lead with a little less than 5 minutes to go in the game. UofL’s hopes of a comeback were spoiled when Dave Ragone’s rollout pass was deflected and intercepted by safety Mike Williams. UK went on to win the game 22-17 and finish the season 7-5. It was UK’s first win over a ranked team since defeating #20 Arkansas 31-20 in 1999. Running back Artose Pinner was the workhorse for the Wildcats offense with 123 yards from scrimmage.
#10 Heartbreaking Loss: Kentucky – 63 Arkansas – 71 (7 Overtimes) November 1st, 2003 Commonwealth Stadium
Kentucky had come into the Arkansas game with a .500 record of 4-4, including 2 wins in a row and defeating SEC foe Mississippi State 42-17 just the week before. Arkansas came into the game losing their previous 3 games. Both teams couldn’t be going in any more of opposite directions heading into the contest. But I don’t believe that anybody inside Commonwealth Stadium, fans, players, media, etc., had any idea what they were about to see on that fateful night of November 1st, 2003.
Kentucky was their usual selves and had a sluggish start offensively in the 1st half and found themselves down 21-7 at halftime. Two of the four 1st half touchdowns were on special teams, with UK player Andrew Hopewell returning a blocked punt 6 yards for a score and Arkansas player Tom Crowder blocking Anthony Thornton’s punt in the end zone and recovered it for a touchdown. But, first-year head coach Rich Brooks must have really gotten into the team at halftime as the Wildcats came out fighting in the 2nd half, scoring the first 10 points of the half. Kentucky opened that scoring up with a swing pass from Jared Lorenzen to fullback Alexis Bwenge and he broke four tackles en route to a 51 yard touchdown. Taylor Begley added a 34 yard field goal and Arkansas’ lead was cut to 21-17. Arkansas added a field goal to extend their lead to 24-17. Kentucky responded with a 13 yard touchdown pass from Lorenzen to receiver Chris Bernard and the game was tied at 24 with less than 2 minutes left in regulation.
Then the game went into overtime, or should I say, overtimes. In a version of “anything you can do, I can do better”, the Razorbacks and Wildcats traded blows like a heavyweight fight, and everytime both teams got back up off the canvas and kept on fighting. Bwenge had rushing touchdowns in the 1st and 2nd overtimes, Begley kicked a field goal in the 3rd overtime, and Lorenzen was clutch with short yardage rushing touchdowns in the 4th, 5th, and 6th overtimes. Then came the 7th overtime, tying the reco
rd for the longest game in NCAA Division I football history. Ironically, Arkansas was involved in the only other 7 overtime game up until that point, a game against Ole Miss in 2002. Arkansas running back DeCori Birmingham scampered 25 yards on the 1st play of the overtime period and they converted on their two-point conversion to have a 71-63 lead. Kentucky had their chance to respond. The Wildcats faced a 4th and 3 from the 5 yard line. Lorenzen lined up in shotgun and tried a quarterback draw for the 1st down. Knowing he was going to be about a yard short, Jared stretched out for the first down and ended up fumbling the ball and Arkansas recovered.
The game was finally over, after 5 hours, 134 points, and 1,111 yards of total offense combined by both teams. As the above picture shows, Jared stayed laying down on the field for a couple minutes after the final play, exhausted and frustrated over the heartbreaking loss. In the locker room after the game Lorenzen described the epic battle as “the most emotional roller coaster I’ve ever been on in my life”. In the end, it was the defense that cost the Wildcats as they gave up 334 yards on the ground, including 2 100-yard rushers (quarterback Matt Jones and running back Birmingham). The Wildcats were led offensively by fullback Alexis Bwenge as he had 140 yards from scrimmage. Unfortunately, Kentucky never rebounded from the loss and went on to lose the last 3 games of the season and finished 2003 with a 4-8 record.
So, it looks as if I’m off to a good start. Remember to check back daily for the rest of my countdown of the Top 10 Kentucky Football Biggest Victories and Top 10 Kentucky Football Heartbreaking Losses. Also be sure to check out the rest of the blog for the latest on anything and everything Kentucky football and basketball.
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