Welcome back everyone to my countdown of the Top 10 Kentucky Football Biggest Victories and Top 10 Kentucky Football Heartbreaking Losses of the past 25 seasons. Today will be the 4th installment of the countdown, the #7 games on my list. Let’s take a look at these games:
#7 Biggest Victory: Kentucky 40 #9 Louisville 34 – September 15th, 2007 Commonwealth Stadium
Both Kentucky and Louisville came into the annual intra-state battle with a 2-0 record. Kentucky had a 3 game winning streak dating back to the 2006 Music City Bowl against Clemson. Louisville had a 6 game winning streak dating back to the 2006 season, including a victory over Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl. And, as much as it pains me to say this, Louisville had dominated the rivalry recently. The Cardinals had won 7 of the previous 8 games against the Wildcats, including the last 4 meetings by a combined score of 158-76. Kentucky needed a win badly against Louisville to restore the true spirit and competitive balance of the heated rivalry.
The game couldn’t have started any better for Kentucky. On the opening kickoff, Louisville kick return specialist Trent Guy was hit and fumbled the ball and the Wildcats recovered at the Louisville 20 yard line. Kentucky however couldn’t get the ball in the endzone but instead got a 36-yard field goal by kicker Lones Seiber and took the first lead of the game at 3-0. The Wildcats got yet another break. On the ensuing possession, Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm rolled out and threw a deep pass but was intercepted by Kentucky cornerback Trevard Lindley and he returned it all the way to the Cardinals’ 18 yard line. This time the Wildcats capitalized on the second turnover, scoring on a 5 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andre Woodson to wide receiver Steve Johnson. It was only three minutes into the game and Kentucky already had a 10-0 lead. Kentucky added another field goal by Seiber, this time 31 yards, and jumped out to a 13-0 lead with six minutes left in the first quarter. The Cardinals finally got their offense under control and had their first scoring drive capped off by an 8 yard touchdown pass from Brohm to running back Anthony Allen, cutting Kentucky’s lead to 13-7 with about a minute to go left in the first quarter.
But Kentucky didn’t let Louisville gain any momentum from that score, and the Wildcats took their opening drive of the second quarter for a score, capped off by a 10 yard touchdown run by running back Rafael Little. But Seiber missed the extra point and Kentucky’s lead was at 19-7 with 12 minutes left in the second quarter. Louisville rebounded from yet another Kentucky score with a score of their own when Brohm hooked up with wide receiver Harry Douglas for a 3 yard touchdown pass and the Wildcats lead was cut to 19-14 with 7 minutes left in the second quarter. With Louisville’s offense starting to get on a roll, it was their defense that helped them out on the Wildcats’ next drive. With Kentucky facing a 4th and 1 on Louisville’s 36 yard line, they elected to try an option to Rafael Little, but linebacker Lamar Myles hit him for no gain and Louisville regained possession. The Cardinals didn’t waste their defensive stop, scoring on a 10 yard touchdown run by Anthony Allen and Louisville had their first lead of the game at 21-19 with one minute left to go in the second quarter. The Wildcats went into the locker room trailing 21-19 at halftime.
Just like the first half had played out, a team responded when the opponent scored. Kentucky took the opening drive of the second half for a score when Woodson hooked up with fullback John Conner with a 7 yard touchdown pass and the Wildcats regained the lead at 26-21 with a little under ten minutes left in the third quarter. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the Cardinals to respond to Kentucky’s touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Trent Guy, redeeming himself for his fumble on the game’s first play, dashed 100 yards for a touchdown, and just like that Louisville regained the lead at 28-26 with nine and a half minutes left in the third quarter.
Once again, like the ping pong game that it seemed to be, Kentucky answered Louisville’s punch with another punch of their own. The Wildcats scored on their opening drive of the fourth quarter when Woodson connected on a 5 yard touchdown pass to tight end Jacob Tamme and Kentucky now had the lead at 33-28 less than two minutes into the fourth quarter. And, just like Louisville did in the second quarter, the Wildcats got some help with their defense. On the ensuing possession after their score, the Cardinals had driven all the way down to Kentucky’s 6 yard line, but was facing a 4th and goal. Instead of kicking a field goal, Louisville elected to go for it and try and score a touchdown, but tight end Gary Barnidge caught Brohm’s pass and was brought down at the two yard line and the Wildcats regained possession leaving Louisville with no points on the long drive. But Kentucky didn’t capitalize on their defensive stop and punted the ball back to Louisville with about six minutes left. Once again, the Cardinals responded by scoring on a two yard touchdown run by Allen, regaining the lead once again at 34-33. They elected to go for a 2-point conversion to go up by a field goal but the Cardinals were unsuccessful and the score remained at 34-33 with 1:45 left in the game. Kentucky had just enough gas left in the tank though for one last great drive. With less than a minute to go, Woodson threw a wheel route to Steve Johnson down the left sideline, and Steve did the rest and he raced past Louisville defenders and broke one shoe-string tackle 57 yards to the house and the Wildcats had the lead yet again at 40-34 with 28 seconds left and the Commonwealth Stadium crowd going into a frenzy. But, the Cardinals didn’t give up without a fight. On the final play of the game, Brohm threw a desperation pass towards the endzone. The ball was tipped by a Kentucky defender and Douglas caught the ball at the 10 yard line but was tackled immediately by linebacker Wesley Woodyard and the game was finally over with the Wildcats upsetting #9 Louisville 40-34. Thousands of happy Kentucky fans rushed the field, I being one of them as I was a senior at UK at the time.
It was Kentucky’s first victory over a team ranked in the top 10 since 1977 when they defeated #4 Penn State 24-20 in Happy Valley. It was also the first time that Kentucky started the season 3-0 since 2002. The Wildcats had many players perform great on offense against the Cardinals. Running back Little rushed for 151 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown, quarterback Woodson completed 30 of 44 passes for 275 yards and 4 touchdowns, and wide receiver Keenan Burton had 9 receptions for 99 yards. Kentucky went on to win 5 of their last 10 games of the season, including a Music City Bowl victory over Florida State, to finish 2007 with an 8-5 record. Louisville won 4 of their last 9 games of the season and ended 2007 with a .500 record of 6-6.
#7 Heartbreak
ing Loss: Kentucky 21 #25 Florida 24 -September 27th, 2003 Commonwealth Stadium
Both Kentucky and Florida came into the game with a 2-2 record. The Wildcats defeated Indiana 34-17 the previous week while Florida, ranked 25th in the latest AP Poll, lost to Tennessee 24-10 the week before. Unfortunately though the Gators had, to put it lightly, dominated the series between the two schools recently. Florida had won the last 16 meetings against the Wildcats with Kentucky last defeating the Gators in 1986. But, Florida head coach Ron Zook decided to start true freshman and high school phenom Chris Leak at quarterback for the first time ever in his collegiate career, so anything was possible.
Florida received the ball to start the game but the Kentucky defense forced a 3-and-out on the Gators’ first possession and the Wildcats capitalized on the opportunity. Kentucky went on a ten play drive that was capped off by a 1 yard touchdown run by running back Arliss Beach as the Wildcats took the first lead of the game at 7-0 with about eight minutes left in the first quarter. After both teams exchanged punts on the next two possessions Florida got the ball with three minutes left in the third quarter. But just three plays into the drive quarterback Chris Leak finally showed his true freshman colors as he threw a pass that was intercepted by Kentucky safety Muhammad Abdullah with two minutes left in the first quarter.
Florida had the ball to start the second quarter and was on a long drive destined for a score when Kentucky’s defense stepped up yet again. On 3rd and 2 Leak completed a pass to wide receiver Billy Latsko but he fumbled the ball and Abdullah was there to save the day again by recovering the ball for the Wildcats. Kentucky capitalized on the opportunity by going on a ten play drive that ended with yet another 1 yard touchdown run by Arliss Beach and the Wildcats jumped out to a 14-0 lead with about six and a half minutes left in the second quarter. Florida responded quickly though with a 69 yard pass from Leak to wide receiver Carlos Perez on their first play from scrimmage after Kentucky’s touchdown. Later on in the drive kicker Matt Leach hit a 42 yard field goal and Kentucky’s lead was cut to 14-3 with a little under six minutes left in the second quarter. The Wildcats responded with a long drive themselves, but they got nothing out of it when kicker Taylor Begley missed a 50 yard field goal. Kentucky went into the locker room leading Florida 14-3, their first lead against the Gators at halftime since 1988.
Kentucky got the ball to start the second half but had to punt after only four plays. The Gators then went on a ten play drive but couldn’t capitalize themselves as Leach missed a 34 yard field goal and Kentucky still had a 14-3 lead. After both teams exchanged punts over the next two possessions, Kentucky got the ball at the Florida 48 yard line. The Wildcats didn’t waste much time as, on the first play from scrimmage on the drive, wide receiver Derek Abney took a reverse handoff from quarterback Jared Lorenzen and raced down the left sideline for 42 yards. Kentucky scored three plays later on yet another Arliss Beach touchdown run, this time 3 yards, and with five minutes left in the third quarter Kentucky had a commanding 21-3 lead. The fans at Commonwealth Stadium sensed that this could finally be the year that Kentucky finally defeats the Gators.
But Florida had other things in mind. On the very next drive after Kentucky’s score, the Gators had a score of their own. Florida marched down the field on a nine play drive and, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Chris Leak hooked up with wide receiver Carlos Perez on a 3 yard touchdown pass to cut Kentucky’s lead to 21-9. Florida elected to go for a 2-point conversion to cut the Wildcats’ lead to ten points but they were unsuccessful and the lead stayed at 21-9. Kentucky had a chance to stop Florida’s momentum on their next drive but ended up throwing it away, literally. On 3rd and 16, Jared Lorenzen threw up a pass that was intercepted by cornerback Cory Bailey and the Wildcats’ drive had halted. But, Kentucky responded with a great defensive play themselves on Florida’s ensuing possession. On their sixth play of the drive, a 1st and 10, Leak threw a pass that was intercepted by cornerback Bo Smith and the Wildcats just like that got the ball back and had another chance to kill Florida’s momentum. But the Wildcats could do nothing with the ball and after just five plays punted the ball back to Florida. And once again Florida took advantage, this time scoring on a 10 yard touchdown pass from Leak to Perez, and now the Wildcats’ 18 point lead was now cut to 21-16.
Then came the turning point of the game. With about four minutes left in the game the Wildcats faced a 2nd and 7 at their own 35 yard line. Jared Lorenzen dropped back to pass, but linebacker Channing Crowder got a hold of Jared and was trying to bring him down for a sack. Instead of taking the snap, Lorenzen tried to make something out of nothing and just threw up a desperation pass. The pass was intercepted by cornerback Johnny Lamar and he returned it all the way down to the 1 yard line. Two plays later, running back Ran Carthon ran in from a yard out and converted on a 2-point conversion to have their first lead of the game at 24-21 with three minutes left in the game. The Wildcats had one last shot to try and tie or win the game. Lorenzen tried to make up for his mistake by marching Kentucky down the field into Florida territory. But Kentucky was finally stopped and forced to try a 49 yard field goal with 44 seconds remaining in the game. Taylor Begley’s kick was short and the game had ended after Leak kneeled the ball twice. The Wildcats had given up an 18 point lead at the start of the fourth quarter and lost 24-21.
It became Florida’s greatest road comeback in their program’s proud history. It also became yet another game against Florida since 1986 that Kentucky had to shake their heads as they had victory in their hands and let it slip away. Kentucky never rebounded from the heartbreaking defeat, losing five of the last seven games of the season, and finished 2003 with a 4-8 record. Florida ended up winning five or their last eight games of the season and finished the season with an 8-5 record, including a berth in the Outback Bowl.
Be sure to check back in tomorrow to see what’s the #6 games on my list. Here are links to the first 3 games on my countdown:
The Thrill Of Victory And The Agony Of Defeat: #10
The Thrill Of Victory And The Agony Of Defeat: #9
The Thrill Of Victory And The Agony Of Defeat: #8
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