Death, taxes and a Gator chewing up and spitting out a Wildcat? Yep, those are a couple of the certainties in a football life.
Saturday afternoon on The Swamp, Florida had little problem in dispatching Kentucky, rolling through, over and around the hapless ‘Cats in a 45-7 win that wasn’t even that close. The Gators have now won 30 straight games over the Wildcats, with the latter’s last win coming in 1986.
For perspective, Ronald Reagan was in the White House, a gallon of gas would set you back roughly 90 cents and the SEC had just 10 members the last time UK claimed a victory in the series. The 30-game losing streak is the longest in SEC history and the longest active streak in the FBS, but still lags behind the longest such streak at this level -- Notre Dame’s 43-game stretch over Navy that ended a decade ago.
Of the 30 losses, a whopping 21 of them have come by 10 or more points.
UK gave up over 500 yards of offense in this latest embarrassing loss, while managing just 149 themselves. They shot themselves in the foot on multiple occasions, turning the ball over four times to UF’s one.
Luke Del Rio threw for 320 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Antonio Callaway was on the receiving end of 129 of those yards, including a 78-yard touchdown catch.
If Mark Stoops wasn’t on the hot seat entering the season, he certainly should be now. After taking a 35-10 lead on Southern Miss in the opener last Saturday, the Wildcats had been outscored 79-0 before a meaningless touchdown with four and a half minutes remaining ended the ignominious streak this evening.
Regardless, the Wildcats are 0-2 and, while it may not be hot quite yet, Stoops’ seat is certainly getting warmer.