‘We feed off y’all’: This was the crowd these Wildcats were hoping for

They showed up in droves in Kash Daniel’s hometown of Paintsville on Thursday, weathering long lines for tickets to see their Wildcats.

They showed up Saturday evening at Kroger Field, weathering torrential downpours that started well before kickoff and lasted throughout the night.

They even showed up on the field itself — a few of them, at least — ignoring the shouts of ushers and instead surrounding Benny Snell and Josh Allen and Mark Stoops after the Cats pulled off a 28-7 upset victory over 14th-ranked Mississippi State.

Technically, this wasn’t a sellout crowd. But, boy, it sure sounded like one.

“I want to start by thanking the Big Blue Nation,” Stoops said to kick off his postgame press conference. “That is what I’m talking about when I say it takes all of us. They made a difference. The fans made a difference. The students made a difference. Greatly appreciate the support.”

The week started with more than 10,000 tickets unsold despite these Cats sitting at 3-0 and nationally ranked Mississippi State coming to town for a game in prime time.

There were various ticket drives throughout the week, and the biggest took place two hours east in Paintsville, the hometown of Daniel, a starting linebacker and 2015 Kentucky Mr. Football who has emerged this season as a difference-maker for UK’s defense.

UK staffers took 3,000 tickets to Paintsville on Thursday, planning to sell them at $10 a pop. They came back with zero. Two days later, those 3,000 folks made the trip west on the Mountain Parkway.

“It was awesome. It was unbelievable. The crowd was electric,” Daniel said. “I want to say thank you to all the fans. Thank you to everybody that came out to support us. We love it. And we feed off y’all, so we need it more.

“I knew I had a bunch of people from my area come up and watch me, so you can say there was a little extra motivation. When everybody came on the field after the game, everybody was saying I’m from here and there and I’m like, ‘I’ve been to every single one of those places.’ For everybody to go to Paintsville, I think they sold 3,000 tickets. I mean, that’s unbelievable. And that shows you how much that area cares about UK athletics. And how much they care about their own. I can’t thank them enough for everything.”

About an hour before Saturday’s game, the skies unleashed a rainy downpour. Fans trickled in, most wearing blue, some wearing white, others wearing yellow or green or whatever color was on whatever rain gear they brought to the stadium.

Other than a couple of small pockets in the upper deck, the place was packed. They came, they stayed, they shouted through the rain. Their efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

“It was pouring down raining and everybody was still loud cheering. That’s big for us,” said senior safety Mike Edwards.

“Every time they started to get something going, the crowd was just so overpowering,” added senior tight end C.J. Conrad.

“It fueled us. Fueled myself even more. We need that every week. If we have that every week, we’ll be good,” said senior linebacker Josh Allen, the most dominant force for UK’s dominant defense.

None of UK’s veterans could remember a rowdier crowd in Lexington.

The announced attendance was 60,037, a tad shy of the official capacity of 61,000.

After the game, a few dozen of those fans — many of them students — hopped over the sides of the stadium and made their way onto the field. UK ushers shouted at them to go back to their seats — a full-on field-storming would have resulted in a hefty fine — but they persisted.

They surrounded Stoops, Snell and Allen during the postgame TV interview, snapping photos and shooting video on their phones, chanting the names of the Wildcats in front of them.

They continued with their chants until the Cats hit the tunnel.

“It was amazing. The atmosphere was amazing,” Snell said. “This is what football is all about. That’s college football right there. I’m living my dream right now, and I couldn’t be more happy with the support. The crowd was amazing. It was the best feeling ever, for real.”

This story was originally published September 23, 2018 at 1:39 AM.