Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s commanding 33-14 win over No. 22 Florida
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Game day: Kentucky 33, No. 22 Florida 14
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Florida football game at Kroger Field.
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Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 33-14 win over No. 22 Florida at Kroger Field:
1. The Ray Davis show. The Kentucky running back turned in one of the greatest individual performances in UK football history.
The graduate transfer from Vanderbilt accounted for all four Wildcats touchdowns and finished with the third-most rushing yards in a single game ever by a Kentucky player.
On 26 carries, Davis rolled up 280 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He also caught a 9-yard scoring pass from Devin Leary in which he carried Florida defenders the final yards into the end zone.
By halftime Saturday, Davis had career-high 206 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.
Last year at Vanderbilt, Davis ran for 122 yards on 30 carries vs. Florida as the Commodores upset the Gators 31-24.
The only two UK players to rush for more yards in a game than Davis did Saturday are:
Moe Williams set the all-time single-game UK rushing record when he ran for 299 yards on 40 carries on Sept. 23, 1995, in a 35-30 win at South Carolina.
Lynn Bowden ran for 284 yards in a 45-13 win over Louisville on Nov. 30, 2019.
2. Kroger Field crowd rattles Gators again. Even with a noon kickoff, Mark Stoops challenged Kentucky fans to match the crowd noise they produced in 2021 when a loud Kroger Field crowd harried visiting Florida into eight false starts in a 20-13 UK victory.
The level of noise did not seem to match the 2021 output, but Florida still committed six false starts, as the Gators were penalized 10 times overall for 85 yards.
The Kentucky defense didn’t need a lot of help. The Cats sacked Graham Mertz three times and accumulated nine tackles for loss.
3. Kentucky’s “three-peat.” For only the third time in school history, UK has now beaten Florida three straight times in football.
The Wildcats beat the Gators 26-16 last year in Gainesville and 20-13 two seasons ago at Kroger Field.
Kentucky’s other streaks of at least three straight victories over Florida were both long ago.
In 1931, UK beat UF 7-2. The teams did not play again until 1935, when Kentucky also won, 15-6. The next year, the Cats bested the Gators again, 7-0.
Under coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, Kentucky beat Florida four straight from 1948 through 1951. UK’s winning scores were 34-15, 35-0, 40-6 and 14-6, respectively.
4. Florida road woes continue. With its second straight loss at Kroger Field, Florida is now 2-15 in its last 17 games played away from Gainesville.
The Gators are now 1-7 in SEC road games since the start of the 2021 season. Florida is now 2-9 in all road games since the start of the 2021 campaign.
5. Stoops stats. With the victory, Kentucky coach Mark Stoops has now tied Fran Curci for the second-most all-time wins over Florida by a UK head man with four.
Paul “Bear” Bryant, who beat Florida five times during his stint (1946 through 1953) as UK head man, is Kentucky’s all-time wins leader against the Gators.
Overall, Stoops is now 34-50 in Southeastern Conference games. After starting his UK career, 4-21 vs. SEC opponents, Stoops has gone 30-29 since.
Stoops is now 71-59, overall, as Kentucky coach. After starting 12-26, he has subsequently gone 59-33.
The victory was No. 50 for Stoops at Kroger Field, where he is now 50-25.
Fashion police
For its 2023 SEC home opener, Kentucky wore blue helmets, with blue jerseys with white letters and numbers and blue pants.
With its victory, UK is now 5-2 in all-blue since the start of the 2020 season.
This story was originally published September 30, 2023 at 3:21 PM.
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