Would an upset of No. 8 Auburn be UK football’s greatest season-opening win ever?
Assuming the COVID-19 testing and contact tracing do not intervene, Kentucky Wildcats football fans will see something historically rare Saturday.
When Mark Stoops takes No. 23 UK south to face Gus Malzahn’s No. 8 Auburn Tigers in the coronavirus-delayed season opener for both teams, it will be the first time Kentucky has begun a football season against a fellow Southeastern Conference member in exactly six decades.
UK last opened a season versus an SEC foe in 1960, when Coach Blanton Collier’s Cats lost 23-13 at Georgia Tech (an SEC member until 1964).
Would a Wildcats upset Saturday — kickoff is at high noon on the SEC Network— rank as Kentucky’s greatest season-opening victory ever?
Bear with me, and I’ll give you a fact-based opinion on that.
My firsthand memory of UK football begins with 1973, the season that the venue formerly known as Commonwealth Stadium opened.
In that time, Kentucky has fielded eight head coaches. For fun, I decided to pick the most memorable season-opening victory for all eight of those UK head men.
Fran Curci
Kentucky 31, Virginia Tech 26 (1973). Curci’s first game as UK coach was also the initial contest ever played in Commonwealth Stadium. Wildcats starting quarterback Ernie Lewis, the former Elizabethtown High School star, ran for two touchdowns and threw for one to get the Cats off on a winning foot in their new lair.
Jerry Claiborne
Kentucky 17, Indiana 14 (1989). On a fourth-and-goal from inside the 1-yard line late in the fourth quarter, UK defenders Craig Benzinger, Joey Couch and Ron Robinson stopped star Indiana running back Anthony Thompson short of the goal line to preserve victory for UK in what was then a hot-burning, border-state rivalry with IU.
Bill Curry
Kentucky 20, Louisville 14 (1994). In the game that launched the modern Governor’s Cup rivalry, Kentucky linebacker Donte Key set up UK’s winning touchdown with a fumble recovery, then sealed the victory with a late interception of U of L QB Marty Lowe.
Hal Mumme
Kentucky 68, Louisville 34 (1998). The inaugural contest played at U of L’s Cardinal Stadium was also the debut game on the Cardinals’ sideline for John L. Smith. Kentucky star quarterback Tim Couch spoiled the Cards’ party, however, by throwing for seven TDs and leading UK to 801 yards of total offense.
Guy Morriss
Kentucky 22, No. 17 Louisville 17 (2002). Kentucky’s stout defensive front four of Dewayne Robertson, Jeremy Caudill, Otis Grigsby and Vincent “Sweet Pea” Burns brought the lumber on U of L quarterback Dave Ragone and led the Cats to the biggest victory of the two-year Morriss coaching era.
Rich Brooks
Kentucky 27, Louisville 2 (2008). Kentucky defenders Ashton Cobb and Myron Pryor each returned U of L fumbles for touchdowns and Trevard Lindley set up a third UK TD with an interception as the Wildcats’ defense dominated.
Joker Phillips
Kentucky 23, Louisville 16 (2010). In the first game as head coaches for both UK’s Phillips and Louisville’s Charlie Strong, Derrick Locke ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns and Randall Cobb added 80 rushing yards and a score to lift Kentucky.
Mark Stoops
Kentucky 24, Southern Mississippi 17 (2017). One year after Southern Miss embarrassed UK in Lexington with a 44-35 upset in the 2016 season opener, Kentucky edge pass rushers Josh Allen and Denzil Ware grounded the Golden Eagles and helped the Cats earn a measure of redemption with an opening-game road win.
In the Stoops coaching era, UK’s scheduling pattern has been to open seasons with teams from “down the college football food chain.”
Western Kentucky, Tennessee Martin, Louisiana, Southern Mississippi (twice), Central Michigan and Toledo have filled the prior Stoops-era opening slots.
The game Saturday versus Auburn will be the first time UK has faced another major conference school to open a season since 2012. That year, the Cats fell to Louisville 32-14 in the final time the battle for the Governor’s Cup was played as the opener.
This season will be only the 12th time in Kentucky Wildcats football history that UK has opened a season vs. an SEC opponent. Kentucky is 2-9 when it plays a league foe in its first game, with the wins coming over Mississippi in 1944 (27-7) and 1946 (20-7 in Bear Bryant’s initial game as Kentucky head coach).
As best as I can tell, the Wildcats’ upset of No. 17 U of L in 2002 is the only victory over a ranked foe ever registered by a Kentucky football team in its first game of a season.
So if Terry Wilson, Josh Ali, Josh Paschal and Co. can start the 2020 season with a road win over No. 8 Auburn, it will be the most impressive season-opening victory ever recorded by a Kentucky football team.
