Football
Rivalry Renewed: Wildcats Head to Knoxville Saturday

Rivalry Renewed: Wildcats Head to Knoxville Saturday

Kentucky’s most-played football rivalry renews its 116th edition Saturday as the Wildcats travel to Knoxville to take on the No. 18/17-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. Game time is noon EDT and it will be televised on the SEC Network.
 
The Wildcats (1-2) are coming off their first victory of the season, a 24-2 decision over visiting Mississippi State. Kentucky intercepted six passes in the game, tying for the second-most in school history. Two of those pickoffs resulted in points, including linebacker Jordan Wright’s eight-yard return for a touchdown and defensive end Josh Paschal’s 76-yard pick-and-ramble that set up a two-yard scoring run by Chris Rodriguez. UK also got interceptions from CB Kelvin Joseph, LB Boogie Watson, LB Jamin Davis and LB D’Eryk Jackson. The game marked the first time in 11 years that the UK opponent had not scored a touchdown or field goal and the first time in 24 years that a Southeastern Conference opponent had not tallied a TD or field goal.

After opening the season with wins over South Carolina and Missouri, Tennessee is coming off a 44-21 loss at No. 3-ranked Georgia. Veteran QB Jarrett Guarantano has thrown for 664 yards and four touchdowns while the defense is led by sophomore linebacker Henry To’o To’o, who has 23 tackles and an interception.
 

Kentucky
Kentucky at Tennessee
Sat., Oct. 17 – 12 p.m. ET
Neyland Stadium
Knoxville, Tenn.
Game Notes: UK | UT
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Coverage

TV: SEC Network
Radio: UK Sports Network
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Live Stats

UK Team Stats UT
1-2 Record 2-1
1-2 Conference Record 2-1
26.0 Scoring/game 29.0
366.7 Total offense/game 343.3
212.3 Rushing yards/game 121.3
154.3 Passing yards/game 222.0
21.2 Kickoff returns (avg) 25.8
11.5 Punt returns (avg) 20.0
48.1 Punting (avg) 42.6
32:35 Time of possession/game 26:47
50.0% Third down conversion 26.8%
00.0% Fourth down conversion 75.0%
24.3 Points allowed/game 27.7
359.3 Total yards allowed/game 384.7
83.3 Rush yards allowed/game 136.0
276.0 Pass yards allowed/game 248.7


Cat Scratches: Cats Hope ‘Change Up’ Will Bring Different Result in Knoxville

Kentucky has played Tennessee in football more times than any other opponent, with the border rivals having met on 115 occasions. In fact, only two SEC rivalries have been played more often (Auburn has played Georgia 124 times and Ole Miss has played Mississippi State on 116 occasions).

Tennessee leads the series 81-25-9, including a 43-10-6 mark in Knoxville. Kentucky has not won in Big Orange country since a 17-12 win in 1984.

UK head coach Mark Stoops can’t, and doesn’t, worry about the history of the series. However, he was not happy with his team’s performance the last time his Cats went to Knoxville. Kentucky played at Neyland Stadium in 2018, with one of the better UK teams in recent memory. But on that day, the Cats had less than their best and the result was a 24-7 loss.

Stoops remembers that well and he hopes some subtle changes to the team’s schedule this week might make a difference…Read More

Series vs. Tennessee

• Tennessee leads the all-time series 81-25-9, including 43-10-6 in Knoxville
• Kentucky has not won in Knoxville since a 17-12 victory in 1984
• With 115 total games played, it is third-most played rivalry in Southeastern Conference history. Only Auburn-Georgia (124 games) and Ole Miss-Mississippi State (116) have been played more
• Last season, Kentucky fell to Tennessee, 17-13, in Lexington despite dominating the time of possession and piling up more than 300 rushing yards
• The Cats had two plays from the Tennessee two-yard line in the final two minutes with a chance to win but were unable to push across the goal line
• UK lead 13-0 after the first quarter and marched into Tennessee territory on five of its last six possessions but were unable to score again
• The two teams have played annually since 1919 except for 1943 (war year, no team for either school)
• Biggest UK win: 56 (56-0) in 1893 in Knoxville
• Biggest Tennessee win: 52 (52-0) in 1994 in Knoxville
• Games decided by 7 points or less (excluding ties): Tennessee leads 28-12
• UK coach Mark Stoops is 1-6 vs. Tennessee during his tenure

Kentucky-Tennessee Connections

• Kentucky has three players on its roster from the state of Tennessee: DL Quinton Bohanna (Cordova), DL Tre’vonn Rybka (Dickson) and OT Darian Kinnard (Knoxville)
• Despite its proximity, Tennessee has only one player from the Commonwealth on its roster: DB Trel Riley (Princeton)
• UK offensive coordinator/running backs coach Eddie Gran was the special teams coordinator and RB coach at Tennessee in 2009. He coached in the Chick-fil-A Bowl that season
• UK co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw spent three seasons at Tennessee. He was the QB coach in 2010 and 2011, and the receivers coach in 2012.
• UK Director of Athletics Mitch Barnhart worked in Tennessee’s athletics department from 1986-98
• Tennessee defensive coordinator Derrick Ansley coached cornerbacks under Stoops from 2013-14 and was the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach in 2015
• Tennessee co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach Jimmy Brumbaugh is in his first season with the program. He was UK’s defensive line coach from 2013-16
• Tennessee assistant head coach/passing game coordinator/wide receiver coach Tee Martin coached wide receivers at Kentucky under Joker Phillips in 2010-11, adding passing game coordinator responsibilities in 2011
• Tennessee quality control analyst Mike Colosimo is a native of Villa Hills, Kentucky and was a graduate assistant at Kentucky from 2016-18, working closely with Vince Marrow and the tight ends
• Tennessee director of recruiting content Clay Bollinger is a native of Louisville, Kentucky and a 2017 graduate of Kentucky. He worked as a student manager and a student recruiting assistant during his time at UK. 

A UK Win Would…

• Give Kentucky its 11th all-time win in Knoxville
• Be the first win in Knoxville since a 17-12 victory in 1984
• Even the series at two wins apiece over the past four seasons
• Give Stoops 46 career victories at UK, putting him just one shy of tying Fran Curci (1973-81) for second on the school’s all-time list
• Give Stoops his 11th road victory as head coach
• Improve Terry Wilson to 14-5 as UK’s starting quarterback

Kentucky vs. The Ranked

• Kentucky has played 252 ranked teams in the Associated Press Poll in its history. The Cats are 44-203-5 in those games
• Since 2015, the Cats are 5-7 against ranked teams. The wins were over No. 12 Penn State, No. 14 Mississippi State and No. 25 Florida (2018), No. 11 Louisville (2016) and No. 25 Missouri (2015)
• The wins vs. UF and MSU in 2018 gave UK consecutive wins over ranked foes for the first time since 1976-77
• UK is 3-34-1 vs. ranked Tennessee teams
• The Cats’ last win over a ranked SEC team was in 2018 vs. No. 14 Miss. State in Lexington, 28-7
• The Cats’ last win over a ranked SEC team on the road was in 2018 at Florida, 27-16

 

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