KSR watches Kentucky football make history vs. Florida at Kroger Field

Kentucky has made history, taking down the Florida Gators at home for the first time since 1986. Now 5-0 on the year, it was a win that solidified the Wildcats as one of the top teams in the SEC East, but the entire conference. After five weeks, UK joins Alabama and Georgia as the only undefeated schools in the SEC.

It was a special night from start to finish for players, Kentucky fans, and media members. It’s fun to watch history unfold, no matter who you are.

KSR’s Zack Geoghegan and Jack Pilgrim were in attendance, but not typing away at a computer on press row. Instead, they took on the complete game day experience as fans. Tailgating, shouting from seats, and rushing the field, the whole nine yards.

The outcome? A priceless night for both.

Zack Geoghegan

I’ve said it many times before on this website and I’ll say it once more: Kentucky’s win over South Carolina in 2014 was the most exciting, nerve-racking, and satisfying game I have ever personally attended.

Or, at least it was until Saturday night…

It wasn’t just the win over No. 10 Florida itself that made for such a great day. It was the run-up to the perfectly-timed 6:30 p.m. kickoff: Consuming several alcoholic beverages throughout the early afternoon and late into the night; snacking on burgers and chips while hopping from tailgate to tailgate; enjoying the company of my girlfriend and a few of my closest friends. We would eventually link up with KSR’s Jack Pilgrim and another familiar face, Maggie Davis, now famous for her role with BBN Tonight. Before I could even walk into Kroger Field, the day had already met expectations with good vibes and better people. And when we did finally make it into the stadium, I had never felt more confident about a win.

Why was I so sure? Because it was exactly how I felt back in 2014 in the hours leading up to an upset win over the dirty Gamecocks. Not often–if ever–do matchups with as much hype as Florida-Kentucky meet expectations. That was the case against South Carolina seven years ago, and it happened again a couple of days ago. And I’ll be honest, on Friday, I was sure the Gators would pull off the win. But as Saturday quickly went by, I found myself (possibly with the help of those Pink Whitney shooters I was inhaling on my walk there) becoming more and more convinced that Kentucky would win.

If this were any other year, I probably wouldn’t have felt the same way. This 2021 Florida team is much better than that South Carolina team from 2014. But after watching Kentucky drag itself to a 4-0 start, winning games that I have personally seen them lose over and over again throughout my lifetime, I knew the tables were turning. This isn’t your grandfather’s Kentucky Football anymore. This program finally has luck on its side. But even better, this program is good.

Deep down, I just wanted to re-experience the rush of adrenaline that pulsed through my body after Bud Dupree returned that pick-6, not even 50 feet away from my own two eyeballs, seven years ago. I had never felt a crowd reverberate throughout a stadium as it did once Dupree crossed into the endzone. Then Kentucky took the lead over Florida.

When Josh Paschal blocked that field goal on Saturday and Trevin Wallace returned it 74 yards for a touchdown, I felt exactly how I did after the Dupree play. When Jacquez Jones tipped a Florida pass on 4th down with little time left to win the game, I felt nothing. But not nothing in the sense that I was empty or sad. I felt nothing in the sense that I had zero words or thoughts going through my head other than a blank stare plastered all over my dumb face. Did they really just beat Florida? A single tear of joy slipped down my cheek. And as soon as I blinked, the once green turf became a moving sea of blue and white.

Just as I did against South Carolina in 2014, I made my way down to the field and joined the party with the rest of the Big Blue Nation–thousands of people I would never meet or learn the names of, but thousands of people who will all share the exact same memory as me.

It didn’t take long for what was left of our group to run into Jack and his wife Katie on the field, where we couldn’t get out much more than “what the hell just happened??” during our conversations. Grove Street Party bounced off the chairback seats while fans were snapping pictures with any player (or loose helmet) they could find. It was one of those instances where you have to understand you’re in the moment and that it needs to be soaked in for a few extra seconds, which is exactly what I did.

I keep thinking back to that win over South Carolina and how even though it was seven years ago to the day, I can remember it just as vividly as the game on Saturday. These are arguably the two biggest home wins of the Mark Stoops era and I feel lucky to have experienced them both. That’s something that can’t be taken away.

Let’s just hope I don’t have to wait another seven years to experience the next one.

Jack Pilgrim

When I first got hired at KSR and started covering games, my girlfriend at the time – now my wife – and I started a tradition of attending at least one football and basketball game per season where I didn’t have to work. No writing, no postgame interviews, and no staying up late watching game film, transcribing quotes, or breaking down stats. Just one day during football and basketball season to enjoy a game as an alum and lifelong fan.

The game she chose the day single-game tickets went on sale this summer? You guessed it, Florida.

Everything else fell perfectly into place from there. Kentucky starts the year 4-0, Florida ranked in the top ten, tickets sell out, bulletin board material in the days leading up to the game, and history on the table. Excitement wasn’t just in the air, it was tangible. You could grasp it like tongs flipping burgers, hot dogs and fresh gator at a tailgate in the blue lot.

Ah, right. Tailgating.

The parking lots surrounding Kroger Field were packed with diehard fans watching the early slate of games, playing cornhole, tossing the football around with their kids, and drinking a cold one (or 12). There was fall football in the air unlike anything we had seen in the games earlier in the season, bigger and better than all three home games combined — yes, even Missouri. It was the biggest and best tailgating scene I had witnessed since Georgia came to town in 2018. It was like everyone surrounding the stadium just knew a special night was in store and decided to celebrate early.

When it came time to stumble into the stadium, the crowd was already mostly full in the hour leading up to kickoff. The student section was filled from top to bottom, shoulder to shoulder, white pom-poms flying in the air a full hour before the opening kick. Music was blaring, fireworks shooting off, American Idol contestants singing the national anthem, Waka Flocka Flame bringing out the team, just a second-to-none build-up to the most anticipated game of the season.

Football school. pic.twitter.com/2p2mmP9QNQ

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) October 3, 2021

The rest, I went blank. Individual plays stand out — Wan’Dale Robinson’s early score, Trevin Wallace’s returned touchdown on a blocked field goal, JJ Weaver’s interception, Chris Rodriguez going untouched for the score – but the complete game experience was a blur. All I can remember is the piercing crowd noise filled with cheers, screams, groans directed toward the officials on bad calls, and most importantly, the eight false starts called on Florida thanks to the help of BBN. The fans made the Gators uncomfortable from the opening kick all the way through the final buzzer, typically a key to their success at The Swamp in Gainesville. Kentucky beat Florida at their own game, and it had nothing to do with the players on the field — it did, clearly, but you get the idea.

“BBN helped us beat Florida, that’s a fact,” Mark Stoops said on the KSR Postgame Show following the win. Vince Marrow added that he had been to Super Bowls and high-profile games at every level over the course of his career, and nothing came close to the atmosphere Kentucky fans helped create on Saturday. It was undoubtedly the most impressive of my lifetime, something out of a movie.

The blur wore off on the crucial fourth down play to close out the game, one final stop to make history. Kentucky hadn’t won at home against Florida since 1986 — 35 years — and reality started setting in that history was on the table. Jacquez Jones made a perfect defensive read and swatted the ball away near the end zone, sealing the late victory. Players in blue started sprinting toward one another to hug and celebrate, while those in orange moped off the field in sorrow and Dan Mullen whined in his 12-second postgame press conference.

Meanwhile, all of Big Blue Nation poured down the stairs of their respective sections and hopped the fence with security members exerting zero effort to slow down the mad rush. Fans were getting on that field no matter what, stopping at nothing to party with the team and celebrate history. Being the clearly unbiased journalist I am, I made my way down to the field and did some, er, on-field reporting myself. There I was, standing alongside the players and fans, all coming together to celebrate history.

Not another care in the world or worry about the future, just 60,000 people living together in a moment of history.

Kroger Field was a party following Kentucky’s 20-13 win over Florida pic.twitter.com/D1ZRUvxz0q

— Jack Pilgrim (@JackPilgrimKSR) October 3, 2021

After a year of cancellations, adversities and isolation, along with 16 consecutive home losses against the Gators over the course of 35 years, the Big Blue Nation deserved this moment.

There’s a long season ahead and yet another home sellout this weekend when the LSU Tigers head to town. Bigger and brighter goals remain.

But on that field Saturday, yet another streak was broken and “old Kentucky football” died. And as 60,000 fans experienced with me, it was damn cool to be a part of it.