Know Your Foe: Against Florida, UK seeks to end 10-game, SEC home losing skid
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- Kentucky hosts Florida at Kroger Field Saturday, aiming to end 10-game SEC home skid.
- Florida runs interim coach Billy Gonzales after Napier firing, offense adjusts.
- QB DJ Lagway shows production but turnover and injury history concern Florida.
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Preview: Florida at Kentucky football
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Florida game at Kroger Field.
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Scouting Kentucky football’s next opponent, the Florida Gators:
Game details for Kentucky vs. Florida
Kentucky (3-5, 1-5 SEC) will face Florida (3-5, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday at Kroger Field (seating capacity of 61,000) on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. EDT and be telecast by the SEC Network.
Interim head coach Billy Gonzales’ Gators lost 24-20 to No. 5 Georgia Saturday in Jacksonville.
Kentucky-Florida history and trends
Florida leads the all-time series with Kentucky 54-21.
The Wildcats have won four of the past seven meetings against the Gators, however.
UK coach Mark Stoops is 4-8 vs. Florida.
Florida interim coach Billy Gonzales has never faced Kentucky as a head man.
The Wildcats have lost their last 10 SEC home games. UK’s most recent SEC home win came against Florida, a 33-14 pasting of the Gators on September 30, 2023.
Most recent Kentucky-Florida football game
Florida freshman running back Jadan Baugh ran for 106 yards and five touchdowns and true frosh quarterback DJ Lagway threw for 259 yards and ran for 46 more as the Gators hung a 48-20 pasting of the Wildcats on Oct. 20, 2024, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.
The Florida victory snapped a three-game Kentucky win streak in the series.
Kentucky’s highlights in the game were supplied by Barion Brown, who caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Brock Vandagriff and returned a kickoff 99 yards for a TD.
Kentucky-Florida: Three things to know
1. Florida fired Billy Napier as its head coach Oct. 19. The former Louisiana head man departed with a 23-22 overall record.
Gators athletics director Scott Stricklin, the former Kentucky men’s basketball publicist, then tabbed wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales to lead UF through the remainder of the 2025 season.
Gonzales, 54, is an Urban Meyer disciple who coached with the former Florida head man in Gainesville from 2005 through 2009 after also working for Meyer at Bowling Green and Utah.
From 2013 through 2017, Gonzales coached under Dan Muller at Mississippi State, then returned to Florida when Mullen was named Gators head coach in 2018.
Gonzales is the seventh interim head coach in Florida football history, and the fifth since 2004.
2. Gators quarterback DJ Lagway has been plagued by injuries during his sophomore season. The 6-foot-3, 247-pound product of Willis, Texas, endured a shoulder injury during the spring, dealt with a calf issue in preseason camp and has battled a hamstring problem this season.
In spite of his injury issues, Lagway has played every game for Florida. Lagway is completing 65% of his throws for 1,679 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Lagway has been turnover prone, however, having thrown nine interceptions.
3. After running for five touchdowns vs. Kentucky last season, Florida running back Jadan Baugh has run for a total of five TDs this season through the Gators’ first eight games.
Even so, the 6-1, 231-pound Atlanta product is having a good sophomore season. Baugh has run for 683 yards, averaging 5.2 yards a carry.
Also a threat in the passing game, Baugh has 22 catches for 132 yards.
This story was originally published November 3, 2025 at 8:05 AM.
