The Kentucky Wildcats lost a heartbreaker over the weekend to the Florida Gators in triple-overtime in the Swamp, extending the Cats’ losing streak against the Gators to 28 games.

This year’s installment in the rivalry had everything a fan could ask for: a back-and-forth contest loaded with big plays, controversial calls and three overtime periods that were so wacky and bizarre one might expect a Buffalo Wild Wings bartender was behind it all. Kentucky gave Florida everything it had and looked as talented as it has in many years. Still, it was not enough to beat Florida for the first time since 1986.

If you think this is the first time the Wildcats have come close to snapping the streak only to come up short, you’re wrong. Last weekend’s game was the sixth time in the last 28 years UK has fallen to the Gators by one possession (eight points or less), the last time coming in 2007 when Andre Woodson and the Wildcats lost 45-37 to Florida on the same day College Gameday visited Lexington.

The No. 8 Wildcats had cracked the top 10 in the polls after beating No. 9 Louisville (Stevie Got Loose) and No. 1 LSU, and they were actually ranked higher than the No. 14 Gators when the two teams faced off. Unfortunately for Kentucky, eventual Heisman winner Tim Tebow accounted for four touchdowns and Florida built a 17-point lead in the third quarter that it would never relinquish.

The final score of the game is a bit deceiving, as UK scored a touchdown on the final play of the game to cut a 14-point Florida lead to eight as time expired. Regardless, many thought that particular UK team might be the team to snap the streak, and that loss to Florida was the first of four Kentucky losses in the final five games of the regular season.

But even that wasn’t the most gut-wrenching loss Kentucky has experienced during its losing streak to Florida.

The Wildcats led Florida 21-3 through three quarters in 2003 and seemed to have a certain victory in hand against Ron Zook, Chris Leak and the Gators. Leak was making his first career start in the fifth week of the season, and had struggled throughout the game’s first three quarters before hitting his stride in the final 15 minutes of action.

Kentucky turned the ball over multiple times in the fourth quarter and missed a potential game-tying field goal with less than a minute remaining to lose the game. At the time, it was the largest road comeback in Gators’ history.

That has to be the most upsetting of Kentucky’s 28 straight losses to Florida, right? Wrong.

No previous edition of the Kentucky-Florida rivalry was as heartbreaking for Kentucky fans as the 1993 game. The Wildcats kicked a field goal to take a 20-17 lead with just 1:23 remaining on the clock, needing one defensive stand on their home field to secure a victory over the Gators.

Cats’ fans should have known they were in for a letdown when Florida returned the ensuing kickoff past its own 40 yard line, and overtime seemed imminent when Florida moved the ball to the UK 28 yard line, well within field goal range, with just eight seconds remaining on the clock.

But rather than kick a field goal to force an extra period, Florida coach Steve Spurrier elected to take one last shot to the end zone.

As you might expect, quarterback Danny Wuerffel dropped a dime into the hands of wideout Chris Doering in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with just two seconds left. Wuerffel and fellow Gators’ quarterback Terry Dean had combined to throw seven interceptions earlier in the game, but with the game on the line, Wuerffel made the play of the night and Florida escaped Lexington with a 24-20 victory.

Saturday’s triple-overtime thriller was deflating for Kentucky fans, but it was far from the Cats most deflating loss in this series. And considering how crushing Saturday’s loss appeared to be, that’s saying a lot.