Winning on The Road in the SEC is the Most Intoxicating Drug

Kentucky went on the road and put the best offense in America in a chokehold. Ole Miss tried everything to stay in the fight until a kicker tapped them out. College Football’s High-Powered Prize Fighter was surrounded by stunned silence in its own building.

There is no feeling in the world like winning on the road in the SEC. It’s the most intoxicating drug.

It’s difficult to describe this specific feeling. Nirvana is a bit overused, and it’s not aggressive enough to describe the emotions tied to a road win. While walking around the Courthouse Square in Oxford Saturday night, I felt like Super Mario who caught a star, surrounded by a bunch of drunk Goombas. Kentucky fans were drinking up tears faster than Joey Chestnut devours hot dogs on the Fourth of July.

Finding fellow Kentucky fans in the wild following a road win elicits emotions you didn’t know you were capable of having toward complete strangers. There were “C-A-T-S CATS CATS CATS” chants, high-fives and fist-bumps. Were they overly aggressive? So much so that I injured my shoulder while dapping up another overly excited fan in Kentucky blue.

That brief bit of shoulder pain is the equal and opposite physical response to the pain of the tension I felt in my back, neck, and shoulders in the final minutes of the game. “Are they actually going to do this?” puts fans on emotional pins and needles until the overwhelming tidal wave of winning euphoria hits.

One fan’s joy is another’s pain, and boy, does that pain from the home team only amplify the joy.

Two years ago, Ole Miss fans felt threatened by the No. 7 team in the country. They never saw this loss coming and it was reflected by their pregame candor.

You’d be hard-pressed to find one Ole Miss fan who thought they were going to lose to Kentucky. The only thing on their radar was our boss, Matt Jones. While strolling through The Grove ahead of kickoff, it was the first time I’ve ever heard, ‘Hey, that’s KSR,’ coming from opposing fans. They were prepared to prove that their fanbase could make Vaught-Hemingway Stadium a tough place to play. They failed.

Their tears tasted even sweeter because of the stakes of this game. Ole Miss fans didn’t believe the stakes were high because they had bigger fish to fry.

This is the year they have been building for. Jaxson Dart is a three-year starter at quarterback who is surrounded by a ton of pass-catching weapons, namely Tre Harris, an All-American candidate at wide receiver. Lane Kiffin hit the portal hard to address his team’s biggest weakness, defense. Gifted a schedule with only two serious challenges — at LSU and Georgia at home — Ole Miss fans weren’t just dreaming of an SEC Title and a CFB Playoff berth, but a National Championship.

It was all a dream. The Ole Miss dream season turned into a nightmare when the Kentucky Wildcats came to town.

Mark Stoops’ big gamble resulted in arguably his greatest payday at Kentucky, adding another signature win to his growing collection. Fans from around Big Blue Nation who made the trip to Oxford left with unforgettable memories from an intoxicating experience that cannot be replicated.