October gauntlet, return of non-conference foes highlight 2021 UK football schedule
The University of Kentucky will host seven games at Kroger Field in 2021 in what everyone hopes is a more normal-looking fall football season.
UK, coming off a 5-6 campaign and its third straight bowl victory, will kick off its campaign Sept. 4 at home against Louisiana Monroe. Former Auburn coach Terry Bowden was hired as the Warhawks’ head coach in December. ULM, a member of the Sun Belt Conference, went 0-10 last season. Kentucky is 4-1 all-time in the series, which includes a 48-14 win in Mark Stoops’ second season in 2014.
The Wildcats open Southeastern Conference play against Missouri on Sept. 11. UK had beaten Mizzou five years in a row before suffering a 20-10 loss in Columbia last season. The Tigers finished third in the SEC East last season, one game ahead of Kentucky (fourth place).
Kentucky will play SEC foes Missouri, Florida, LSU and Tennessee at Kroger Field and face South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt on the road.
The Cats take on traditional powers Florida, LSU and Georgia on consecutive weekends in October.
Kentucky’s annual tilt with Louisville, played every season from 1994-2019 before last year as a result of the SEC’s decision to forego non-conference games, is back on as UK’s regular-season finale on Nov. 27. The original contract called for UK to host the game in 2021 but it has since been amended to put Louisville as the host this season and continue the alternating pattern with UK as the host in 2022. The contract between the state’s two largest FBS programs in the last year was extended by three seasons, taking the series into the 2030 season.
UK this fall will also host Chattanooga and New Mexico State in non-conference matchups. It will be the first meeting between the Wildcats and Chattanooga, an FCS program for which Hall of Fame receiver Terrell Owens played in the mid-1990s. Kentucky won its only previous meeting with New Mexico State, 62-42, in 2016. Neither of those programs played football in the 2020 fall season.
2021 UK football schedule
(Home games in all capital letters)
Sept. 4: LOUISIANA MONROE
Sept. 11: MISSOURI
Sept. 18: CHATTANOOGA
Sept. 25: At South Carolina
Oct. 2: FLORIDA
Oct. 9: LSU
Oct. 16: At Georgia
Oct. 23: No game
Oct. 30: At Mississippi State
Nov. 6: TENNESSEE
Nov. 13: At Vanderbilt
Nov. 20: NEW MEXICO STATE
Nov. 27: At Louisville
This story was originally published January 27, 2021 at 2:33 PM.
