10 Years Ago Matt Roark Snapped Kentucky's 26-Game Losing Streak to Tennessee

Ten years ago on a cold November afternoon in Lexington, an unexpected hero was carried off the field at Commonwealth Stadium. Matt Roark moved from wide receiver to quarterback, rushed for 124 yards and led Joker Phillips’ Wildcats to an improbable 10-7 victory over Tennessee.

“Ding dong, the streak is dead! Kentucky has rocky topped Tennessee!”

Ten years later it’s still hard to fathom what it took to finally take down Tennessee.

Ten Kentucky Offensive Plays

Since Tom Leach became the Voice of the Kentucky Football team in 1997, head coaches have opened up practices to the play-by-play broadcaster. The more he knows about the team, the better the broadcast will sound during the game. As Joker Phillips’ second season spiraled to a 4-7 close, Leach was not sure what to expect at practice before Kentucky hosted Tennessee.

“After about a half-hour, I turned to somebody and said, ‘Is Kentucky a veer team now?'”

Morgan Newton and Maxwell Smith had each sustained shoulder injuries and were unable to play in the season finale. Offensive coordinator Randy Sanders rolled the dice with wide receiver Matt Roark, who previously played quarterback in high school.

“On Fridays I meet with coordinators for background (information),” Leach told KSR. “Randy Sanders help up a piece of a legal pad and it had about ten lines or something. The previous day, Joker had said, ‘You know, we can get the post pattern on them on this one look. Let’s do that.’ Randy cut him off, he held up this one piece of paper and said, ‘This is all he knows.'”

Scoop Franklin

The key to Roark’s success was secrecy. It’s hard to keep a secret safe with a football team. There are 120 college kids. They all have friends and girlfriends to confide in, particularly before a big game. However, UK had something working to its advantage: it was Thanksgiving weekend. Campus was practically deserted by the time the Roark plan was implemented in Tuesday’s practice. There simply weren’t that many people to tell. Even so, one person found out, Drew Franklin.

Journalists never reveal their sources, but this is KSR. And after all, it’s been ten years.

“I was given the scoop officially through a girlfriend of another player on the team,” Franklin said.

Drew shared the story the night before the game on KentuckySportsRadio.com. A bombshell report, it was laughed off by most of the local media, but not Leach.

“I saw Drew’s story on Friday night and I knew he was dead on,” said Leach. “Everybody was mocking him, and he was right!”

For those who weren’t around at the time, KSR was the new media kid on the block that did not have a ton of friends. Drew was just in his first season covering the Kentucky football team with a press credential and was KSR’s only full-time employee, or as he would describe it, “I was probably getting some walkin’ around money.” For a moment, his scoop looked stale.

“Roark didn’t warm-up either and I thought I was screwed. People were getting ready to pile on KSR, then he finally started warming up in the very end.” Franklin said, “I remember asking her 50 times, ‘You’re not messing with me?’ She was like, ‘I’m sure of it, because he’s been up all night paranoid because he thinks he’s going to suck.'”

Tennessee wishes that were the case.

Everything Went Right for Roark

Kentucky had a plan, but would it actually work? Tennessee was 5-6, needing a victory to clinch a Liberty Bowl berth in Derek Dooley’s second season as Lane Kiffin’s successor. Quarterback Tyler Bray would need to navigate through a UK defense with a couple of future pros, but out-scoring the SEC’s lowest scoring offense should be no problem, right?

Winston Guy recorded a tackle for loss on the second play from scrimmage, forcing a Tennessee punt. They would not get the ball back for almost ten minutes.

“When the game started, Tennessee coaches were in the booth next to us,” Leach said. “After a couple plays, they realized Matt was the quarterback. It wasn’t just a gimmick for a play. They were throwing papers up, flying around and Kentucky kind of stole a field goal in the opening drive of the game while Tennessee was trying to figure it out. That ended up being the difference in the game.”

With a 3-0 lead, the Kentucky defense forced another three-and-out. The Wildcats had all of the momentum, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Playing with a lead, the Kentucky defense forced three turnovers. Tennessee coughed up a scoring opportunity near the red zone in the third quarter with a fumble. Roark and the UK offense responded in a big way. On third and 12 Roark scrambled for a 26-yard gain inside the Vols’ 10-yard line. Two plays later CoShik Williams scored Kentucky’s only touchdown on the day.

Williams had 68 yards on 21 carries, but it was Roark who led UK in rushing with 124 yards (5.2 yards per carry). He also completed 4-of-6 passes for 15 yards. Tennessee out-gained the Wildcats by 59 yards, but could only muster 61 on the ground against the UK defense.

One Legendary Ending

After falling behind 10-0, Tennessee had one last prayer. Rajion Neal caught a 53-yard touchdown pass to give the Vols’ life. It looked like a “classic Kentucky football” meltdown, but the defense would not let that happen. A Bud Dupree sack led to a three-and-out. Danny Trevathan came up big to force another punt the following possession. The Wildcats were inching closer to victory.

Tennessee had just over two minutes to go 72 yards for one final score. They never made it to midfield. Tyler Bray was picked off by Taiedo Smith, effectively ending the game. All the Wildcats had to do was kneel it, but there was a problem: Matt Roark could not take a snap. Morgan Newton could not lift his arm, but he could enter the game for the victory formation.

“Ding dong, the streak is dead! Kentucky has rocky topped Tennessee!”

Leach admits his epic call came with little to no premeditation. It simply popped into his head as victory appeared imminent.

“Given the circumstances I wasn’t predicting in my mind that I needed to be prepared to call a win,” he said.

Few were prepared to see a win that no one in the BBN will ever forget.

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Roark now lives with his family in Phoenix. They’re still big UK fans.

My wife is deathly allergic of cats and all my kids want for Christmas is a dog. Well today must be Opposite Day!! #GoCats pic.twitter.com/1vmL2KgXQ9

— Matt Roark (@3Matthias) October 16, 2021

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Twenty years before the historic upset, Cawood Ledford shared a message with Bill Curry’s team ahead of the long-time broadcaster’s final Kentucky football game. The inspirational message did not strike a cord in 1991, but it sums up well what happened when the Wildcats finally rocky topped Tennessee.

“The records will be forgotten and you people will have a chance,” said Ledford. “I don’t care if you’ve lost seven games. All winter long they’ll be talking about this one, if you go out there and do what you can do and come away with a win. It’s a sweet memory.”

It was a sweet memory indeed.