Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 34-7 win over Tennessee
READ MORE
Game day: Kentucky 34, Tennessee 7
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee football game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.
Expand All
Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 34-7 win over Tennessee:
1. The Kentucky victory snapped a 17-game losing streak in Neyland Stadium. When UK last won in Knoxville — a 17-12 win on Nov. 24, 1984 — Ronald Reagan was U.S. president, Martha Layne Collins was the Kentucky governor, Wham’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” was the No. 1 song in the country and the Chuck Norris film “Missing In Action” was No. 1 at the box office.
This was not just a streak-snapping victory. For Kentucky backers, this was the emphatic crushing of the Big Orange you have been fantasizing about for the entire existence of your UK football fandom.
2. What a two-game stretch for the Kentucky defense. After holding Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense without a touchdown and intercepting six passes in the 24-2 victory over Mississippi State, the Cats’ “D” came out and forced four turnovers, intercepted three passes and had two pick-sixes — all in the first half vs. Tennessee.
Kelvin Joseph took his pick-six to the house from 41 yards. Jamin Davis rumbled 85 yards to paydirt with his interception.
Meanwhile, Tyrell Ajian’s pick set up a 30-yard field goal from Matt Ruffolo.
3. What a resume Terry Wilson is putting together for a Kentucky quarterback. Two years ago, Wilson was the QB who directed the Wildcats to the 27-16 victory over Florida in Gainesville that snapped UK’s 31-game losing streak vs. the Gators.
Now, Wilson (12-of-15 passing for 101 yards and a touchdown; eight carries for 32 yards rushing) is the QB who snapped the Cats’ 17-game losing streak at Tennessee.
Derrick Ramsey (Tennessee in 1976; Florida in 1977) is the last Kentucky quarterback with road wins at both UT and UF.
Kentucky is now 14-5 in games started by Wilson, 7-5 in SEC games.
4. Mark Stoops has now beaten Tennessee twice, 2017 and this year. He is the first UK head man with multiple victories over UT since Fran Curci, who beat the Vols three times — 1976, 1977 and 1981.
Stoops (now 46-46 at Kentucky) now needs two victories to pass Curci (47-51-2 from 1973 through 1981) for No. 2 on the all-time UK coaching wins list.
5. UK’s 27-point margin of victory over UT tied the second-largest Wildcats victory in the history of the series. Kentucky also beat Tennessee by 27 points (27-0) in 1935.
The most lopsided UK victory over UT ever came in the very first game between the two border rivals, a 56-0 Kentucky blowout in 1893.
The fashion show
Kentucky wore blue helmets, white jerseys with blue letters and numbers and white pants.
Since the start of the 2015 season, the only other time UK wore the blue-white-white combination was in 2018 in the Wildcats’ 24-7 upset loss at Tennessee.
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 3:18 PM.
.JPG)
