Kentucky Wildcats vs. Ohio Bobcats Matchup History

This Saturday, September 21, isn't the first time the Ohio Bobcats and Kentucky Wildcats have faced off. They have seen each other six times, and Kentucky has won four of those meetings. In every contest dating back to 1910, which is as far back as this matchup goes, they have played in Lexington, and the Wildcats have been the home team.

Let's look at this less-than-storied history of these two teams. The most recent matchup was on Sept. 6, 2014, 10 years ago. The Wildcats won 20-3 with Patrick Towles at quarterback. Dorian Baker caught the first touchdown of this game on an 8-yard pitch and catch from Towles. The only points from the Bobcats came on a third-quarter field goal off the leg of Josiah Yazdani.

Strange enough, the time before the 2014 matchup was also ten years before, on October 2, 2004, and Ohio handed a loss to Kentucky 28-16. This is maybe why it took ten years to schedule another matchup, for the 2004 game came a year after the matchup before, October 18, 2003.

In the loss in 2004, the starting Kentucky QB was Shane Boyd, who went 12/25 for 118 yards and threw two interceptions. While Jared Lorenzen was the starting QB in the 2003 game, Boyd had a vital role in that win as he "ran for two scores, threw for one and caught a touchdown reception." According to the Bobcats game recap.

The goal isn't simply to jog down memory lane, though that is a fun exercise all on its own. But to show that Ohio isn't some team that Kentucky beats up on every time they face off. There have been matchups where Kentucky was underprepared and maybe even overlooked the Ohio Bobcats. Sure, you may be thinking, the Kentucky Wildcats used to be a pretty miserable football program, but even in those years, they should have beat Ohio, and Saturday, they did, too. Are they the team that took the field against South Carolina, or are they the team that went toe to toe with Georgia? We need to see the second team on Saturday against Ohio.