BTI's Rants and Ramblings: A Streak Kentucky Football NEEDS To Break

When you consider the history of Kentucky football over the last 50 or so years, it is almost a borderline miracle that this fanbase is still as passionate and invested as it has been. Many coaches have come and gone through Lexington, some successful and some not. Many great players and rosters have come through Lexington and played for the Cats. And some not-so-good players have played at Kroger Field. And we’ve witnessed some pretty terrible seasons in the last 50 years. Yet, this UK fanbase has remained committed to this program. The excitement is once again high that this year’s team will threaten some of the SEC powers.

But here is what I would like to see sometime in the near future. Kentucky has broken some pretty awful streaks under Mark Stoops. The Florida losing streak, both at home and in Gainesville. Beating Tennessee in Knoxville. Bowl win streaks. Winning double-digit games. But here is something Kentucky hasn’t done and hasn’t come very close to doing in the last 50 years: a perfect home record. Do you realize that Kentucky has not gone undefeated at home since 1977? That’s 46 years folks. 46 years in which UK fans have had to sit through games at Kroger Field and always experience a loss, and more often than not multiple losses, every season.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

Since the 1977 season, Kentucky has only lost just ONE game at home in a season a total of five times:

• 1987: Lost the regular season finale to Tennessee 24-22
• 1998: Lost to Georgia 28-26 in October
• 2006: Lost to South Carolina 24-17 in October
• 2018: Lost to Georgia 34-17 in November
• 2021: Lost to Tennessee 45-42 in November

That means in the other 39 seasons since 1977, Kentucky has lost MULTIPLE games at Kroger Field. And yet, the fans keep coming back. I’m not sure there are many programs in the country that can make that same claim.

EVEN WHEN WE ARE GOOD…..

Of course, you would expect that some of the worst Kentucky teams over the last 45 years lose a lot of games no matter where they are played. But it’s some of Kentucky’s best teams that lose at home as well. Take a look at home losses from bowl teams since 1978:

• 1983: 2
• 1984: 3 (the only losses that season)
• 1993: 2
• 1998: 1
• 1999: 3
• 2006: 1
• 2007: 3
• 2008: 3
• 2009: 4
• 2010: 2
• 2016: 2
• 2017: 3
• 2018: 1
• 2019: 2
• 2020: 2
• 2021: 1
• 2022: 3
• AVERAGE HOME LOSSES PER SEASON FOR BOWL TEAMS: 2.2

These are our best teams and they are still, on average, losing multiple games every year at Kroger Field. This doesn’t even account for the tons of bad years where Kentucky was losing 4-6 games at home in a season.

EVEN WORSE THAN VANDERBILT

Just how bad is this home losing streak? First off, even VANDERBILT has an undefeated home season on their record more recently than Kentucky; they last went undefeated at home in 1982. But beyond that, every SEC team has had an undefeated home season in the last 15 years. Nine of the other 13 have had one in the last 10 years.

LAST HOME UNDEFEATED SEASON

• 2022: Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia
• 2021: Ole Miss
• 2020: Texas A&M
• 2019: LSU, Florida
• 2017: Auburn
• 2014: Mississippi State
• 2013: South Carolina
• 2011: Arkansas
• 2010: Missouri
• 1982: Vanderbilt
• 1977: Kentucky

NO EASY TASK IN 2023 AT KROGER FIELD

Obviously, this year’s home schedule might not be the highest odds to bring home an undefeated slate. Tennessee and Alabama are hoping to make the college football playoff and you know Florida will never be an easy game. But at some point, to break this streak, Kentucky is going to have to pull off some surprises. With Florida, Tennessee, and Georgia forever on the schedule, and Alabama-Auburn-LSU-Oklahoma-Texas splitting up time, there are always going to be games at home where UK is an underdog; that’s just a reality.

But if this program is truly interested in becoming a national brand and an SEC contender, we have to do better at home. We can’t blow games against Vanderbilt at home any longer. We have to beat South Carolina, Missouri, and Mississippi State every single time they come to Kroger Field. But you also have to eventually beat Georgia at home (not this year, of course). You have to beat Tennessee at home most of the time. You have to keep the upper hand over Florida. You just have to protect your home turf.

I understand it is a hard ask of this program to beat Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama in a single season. In my preseason predictions, I had the Cats losing two of those three games. But the message we continue to get from this coaching staff is this program is on the verge. We want to compete for SEC East titles. We want to firmly have a place in the Top 25. We want to play bowls in the new year and maybe even compete for a playoff spot sometime. You can’t do that without winning your games when the fans are behind you. Kentucky has not historically done that. This year’s team, hyped to be a good one, has a real chance to reverse that trend. It is a must if this program wants to be taken seriously.