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What they said: Kentucky upsets Florida for second year in a row

Untitled designby:Nick de la Torre•09/10/22•

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Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier and Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For the first time since 1976-77 the Kentucky Wildcats have won back-to-back games over the Florida Gators. The Wildcats came into Gainesville a six-point underdog but walked out of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with a 26-16 win.

The only thing sloppier than the weather, which saw biblical amounts of rain all week, was Florida’s offense.

Here’s what both teams had to say after a historic win for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops after the game

“You’ve got to be a tough SOB to come into this place and win. That’s what we showed. We may win or lose, but we’re tough,” Stoops said.

“This place was rocking. They’re coming off a huge win. Heck, we must jump into the top 10 now.”

UF defensive tackle Gervon Dexter on the loss

“It’s always tough losing a game like that. Me, I’m very competitive so I don’t really like losing anyway but it’s just tough losing, especially an SEC game. Hopefully, we can get the things fixed that we need to be fixed.”

Dexter on Kentucky quarterback Will Levis:

“I think he’s a pretty good player. I think Coach PT called a great game against him. We executed well. I think you see we kind of knew coming into the game what kind of player he was. We tried to take away some of those things he’s good at. He’s a good player.” 

Billy Napier finds some good but too many mistakes

“I think at times there in the first half we rushed the ball effectively. Ultimately, I’ll have a better opinion after I watch the film. But there’s no question you can see the improvement on special teams. You can see the improvement on defense. Offensively, I’m going to reserve my answer for Monday. I’ll go back and watch this tape. I do know that there’s too many mistakes for my liking, across the board. I think that’s coaching and we’re going to take ownership of that.”

“We had some opportunities early – missed a few, dropped a few. We had some issues in protection. But I think when we go back and look at the tape I’ll be able to give you more feedback. But I do think they did a good job of defending us, in particular in the third quarter. We had them in position. We had miscues, we turned the ball over. I’ll let you know what I see when I watch the tape.”

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