A Salute to the 1984 Kentucky Football Team on its 40th Anniversary

This year marks 40 years since College Football Hall of Famer Jerry Claiborne guided his alma mater to a 9-3 record with a dramatic win over Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Classic.

This weekend Kentucky is hosting players from that memorable team for a reunion dinner on Friday night. They’ll receive a salute from the fans on the field during the Auburn game. Many of the people reading this probably weren’t around to see their success, so let’s dig deeper to get a better appreciation of what these outstanding Wildcats accomplished 40 years ago.

About the 1984 Kentucky Football Team

The ’84 season served as the high watermark of the Claiborne era in Lexington. The Cats used a 4-point loss to West Virginia in the 1983 Hall of Fame Classic (what we now know as the Reliaquest Bowl in Tampa) as motivation to steamroll opponents.

The Wildcats walloped rival Indiana 48-14 during a 5-0 start that catapulted them up to No. 16 in the AP Poll. After a couple of losses to Top 25 SEC teams, Kentucky rallied to end the season with a 19-12 win in Knoxville, the last UK victory at Neyland Stadium until the Cats had a couple of pick sixes during the 2020 season. The win capped off an 8-3 season (3-3 in SEC play) and punched their ticket for a return trip to Legion Field.

Kentucky Triple Threat at Running Back

Claiborne teams played hard-nosed defense and ran the ball. After a couple of exceptional seasons, George Adams was a star in 1984. The senior had 1,083 rushing yards and an SEC-best 13 touchdowns to earn First Team All-SEC honors. He would go on to be drafted No. 19 overall by the New York Giants where he won Super Bowl XXI.

Adams wasn’t a lone wolf. Mark Higgs, a freshman from Owensboro, brought explosiveness to the offense, averaging an SEC-best 6.3 yards per carry and scoring five touchdowns. Sophomore Marc Logan had 400 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. They both spent multiple years in the NFL.

Record-Breaking Quarterback

Even though the running game was the strength of the team, the Cats had a pretty good quarterback too. Bill Ransdell was a member of Jerry Claiborne’s first recruiting class. During his first year as the starter, he had one of the most productive seasons in school history, passing for 1,748 yards. When his career concluded in 1986, he was the school’s all-time leading passer. Ransdell still ranks fifth among Kentucky Wildcats in career total offense.

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Stellar Kentucky Special Teams

Kentucky has had some pretty good punters over the years. Paul Calhoun wasn’t just an All-American punter who ended his career as the best in school history. He had a fake touchdown run and pass in his career. He also was an All-SEC safety. During the 1984 season, he nearly broke his coach’s school record with seven interceptions.

Calhoun’s last pick turned the tide in the Hall of Fame Classic. Trailing 13-0 in the first half, the turnover set up a Marc Logan touchdown to get the Cats within striking distance. Kentucky was down by nine when Ransdell put together an 82-yard touchdown-scoring drive that ended with a Logan touchdown reception.

Special teams and defense stepped up in the fourth quarter. Joey Worley blasted a career-long 52-yard field goal with nine minutes to play to give Kentucky a lead over Wisconsin. It was almost too much time for the Badgers. They marched down the field inside the Kentucky 10-yard line, but the game-winning field goal was never kicked. The snap was botched and the ball was intercepted. Kentucky won 20-19, just the second postseason victory for the Wildcats in 32 years.

You can learn more about the dramatic win by reading the game story from the Herald-Leader.

The Most 1984 Image You’ll Ever See

The late, great Craig Sager was the sideline reporter for the 1984 Hall of Fame Classic. He was not wearing his signature busy blazer, but he was wearing a camera attached to a hard hat while he interviewed Steve Mazza on the sideline, who clinched the win with an interception.

You can also see Sagar’s postgame interview with Claiborne after the come-from-behind win.