People Forget That: How UK Beat Bama in '97

@UKFootball

People Forget That…

— The current offensive line coach, John Schlarman, was a starter on the 1997 offensive line.

— Shaun Alexander played for the Crimson Tide.  But the Kentucky native didn’t play too much against UK.  Another Alexander, Curtis, took most of the snaps at running back.  The Florence native only had 415 yards 3 touchdowns in the 1997 season.

— They threw a lot of screens.  It wasn’t just Joker. In fact, their most explosive plays were dumps down to the running backs.  Derek Homer went 62 yards after catching a screen pass for a score.  Anthony White’s score from a screen pass gave UK their first lead at 20-17.

— Couch threw three interceptions before the midpoint of the third quarter.  Not good, but when you consider he had 42 pass attempts through three quarters, no wonder people couldn’t stay mad at him.

—  Wide receivers dropped easy passes in the Air Raid too.

—  The Cats gave up a touchdown on a trick play.  On the reverse pass, NO ONE was there to cover the receiver leaking out along the sideline.  It nearly cost the Cats the game, allowing Alabama to pull within three points in the 3rd quarter.  After faltering on the next drive, they snapped it over the punter’s head and every UK fan knew a collapse was around the corner.

—  UK scored on a blocked field goal.  They made up for the third quarter mishaps when Anwar Stewart returned a blocked field goal 56 yards for a score in the 4th quarter.  This score would give UK a 34-31 lead.  Bama’s field goal in the final minute of the 4th quarter forced OT.

@UKFootball

—  “People forget that Freddie Kitchen was Mr. Football in the state of Alabama.”  That’s exactly what Derrick Ramsey said on the broadcast about Alabama’s quarterback.  If people forgot about it then, they definitely don’t remember now.

—  How awesome the Big Blue Sports Network was.  Hearing Rob Bromley’s broadcast on the late tape delay was how I went to sleep on Saturday nights.  I took him for granted, just like how we all took this graphics package for granted.

Can we bring back this music and graphics package? #AirRaid #90s pic.twitter.com/TSsv9NI31k

– Nick Roush (@RoushKSR) July 20, 2016

People DON’T Forget That…

—  Watching UK play defense is painful.  There’s only been a few rare exceptions, but for always and forever, the Cats control their opponents on first and second downs, only to allow a disastrous third down conversion.  Against Bama, the only way UK could stop the Tide in overtime was by forcing a fumble.  

—  Snedegar was scary.  There probably isn’t a scarier person to ever wear the blue and white than the mustachioed linebacker. 

—  Couch to Yeast, for the win.