By Keith Taylor
Special to NKyTribune
Mark Stoops isn’t shying away from Kentucky’s lack of success against Florida for nearly three decades.
“We’re not going to hide from those things,” Stoops said earlier this week.
Stoops made his team aware of their past struggles against the Gators leading to Saturday’s kickoff at Commonwealth Stadium. The Wildcats (2-0) have dropped 28 straight games, a winless streak that dates back to Nov. 15, 1986 when Kentucky escaped with a 10-3 triumph in Lexington.
“It’s a pretty amazing streak,” Florida coach Jim McElwain said. “But, I do know this — each game, each year, it’s a different team.”
In the past decade, the Wildcats have narrowed a wide gap between the two Southeastern Conference eastern division foes, with the Gators escaping with a 36-30 victory in triple overtime. Gone are the days when Florida lit up the scoreboard, with blowout victories, including a 73-7 rout of the Wildcats in 1994.
Kentucky has won its first two games, including a 26-22 triumph over South Carolina in the SEC opener, giving the Wildcats their first road conference victory since 2009. McElwain has been impressed with Kentucky’s first two games and said the team has made strides under Mark Stoops.
“This team we’re playing is not your same old Kentucky,” the Florida coach said. “These guys are really good. You can tell the influence they have had the three years they’ve been there.”
Like McElwain, Stoops said past performances are irrelevant to this year’s contest and added the Wildcats are confident they can overcome the past lack of success against the Gators.
“If anything I think our players know that we have moved beyond the belief, we know we can play,” Stoops said. “It’s just a matter of attention to detail.”
Florida at Kentucky
When: Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Records: Kentucky 2-0, Florida 2-0
TV/Radio: SEC Network; 98.1 WBUL
Instead of dwelling on past failures against the Gators, Stoops and his staff are building on last week’s win over the Gamecocks. Stoops wants his team to keep improving and focusing on the basic fundamentals.
“The big message this week is worrying about us continuing to get fundamentally better — that’s what’s always going to carry you,” Stoops said. “You can’t talk your way around wins you just have to get better and continue to push forward. That’s what we are looking forward to this week. It’s always easier to get them motivated after a good win, so now we just have to put some days together.”
In its first two games, Kentucky has raced out to big leads in the first half, but have stumbled in the final two quarters, leading to a pair of dramatic finishes. Kentucky running back Stanley “Boom” Williams is expecting a breakthrough moving forward and attributes the team’s success to offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson.
“Coach Dawson knows what he’s doing,” Williams said. “We believe in him and he believes in us. He calls the plays and we just go out there, execute and do what we need to do. He tells us all the time that if we go out, execute and do what we need to do and give 100 percent, we can pretty much get what we want out of a play.”
Keith Taylor is a columnist and senior sports reporter who covers UK sports for KyForward.com