The University of Kentucky is best known for its historically successful men’s basketball program, which claims more victories than any other men’s basketball program and the second-most national titles in NCAA history.

However, Kentucky’s football program has its own illustrious history, one with which most fans are relatively unfamiliar. In an effort to remedy that lack of appreciation, here are 20 interesting facts from the 123-year history of Kentucky Wildcats football:

All-time winning record: In 122 seasons dating back to 1892, Kentucky has won 583 times compared to 579 losses. However, because UK also tied 44 times in its history, it has an all-time win percentage that is below-500 at .483.

No 1943 season: Kentucky’s football program dates back 123 years but has only played 122 seasons. The Cats did not compete in 1943 while a number of players and coaches were serving in World War II. A number of teams throughout Division I missed at least one season during the war for similar seasons.

Bear was there: Paul “Bear” Bryant became a coaching legend during his years at Texas A&M and decades at Alabama, but he received his first SEC head coaching job at the University of Kentucky in 1946. He coached at UK through 1953 before departing for A&M, and in eight seasons as head coach his teams posted a record of 60-23-6 (.674 win percentage) and won the 1950 SEC championship with an 11-1 record.

The unofficial championship: As eluded to above, Bryant led UK to an 11-1 record and a Sugar Bowl victory over then-No. 1 Oklahoma in 1950. That team closed the year ranked No. 7 in the final Associated Press poll, and none of the more than two dozen polls that could determine a national champion voted UK as its No. 1 team. However, when the Sagarin Poll was developed years later, it retroactively determined UK would have been the No. 1 team in its final 1950 rankings based on its formula. However, UK does not claim an unofficial national championship from the 1950 season and that season is solely regarded as an SEC championship season.

The other SEC championship: In addition to the 1950 conference crown, UK won another SEC championship in 1976, finishing the season with a 5-1 record in the conference. The Cats tied for the SEC title with the Georgia Bulldogs, and the 1950 season remains its only outright conference championship in program history.

Founding membership: Kentucky is one of 10 founding members of the SEC that remain in the conference today. When the former Southern Conference split into the Southwestern and Southeastern Conferences in late 1932, UK joined the SEC along with Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Vanderbilt, as well as Tulane, Georgia Tech and University of the South (now known as Sewanee).

More recent than some: Although Kentucky’s 39-season drought without a conference championship feels like a long time, it’s actually a shorter drought than three other founding members of the conference. Vanderbilt has never won the SEC since it was formed prior to the 1933 season, while Mississippi State won its one and only conference title in 1941. Ole Miss has won six SEC championships in its history, but its last came in 1963, 13 years before Kentucky’s most recent conference title.

NFL No. 1: Kentucky’s football program can claim something a number of other, more touted programs cannot: It has had a player taken No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft. Former Cats’ quarterback Tim Couch went No. 1 in the 1999 draft after starring at UK from 1996-98, however he only lasted in the NFL for five seasons and only started 59 games in his career, all with the Cleveland Browns.

Three above the rest: Kentucky also claims 23 All-Americans in its history, three of which were unanimous All-Americans. Offensive tackle Bob Gain and quarterback Babe Parilli achieved the feat as members of the 1950 SEC championship team, and Parilli did it again in 1951. The only non-Bryant Wildcat to earn unanimous All-America honors was kick returner Derek Abney, who was an All-American in 2002.

Cats claim Blanda: Most don’t realize that NFL legend George Blanda played his college ball at Kentucky before going on to a transcendent career in the NFL that would span more than 25 years. He played at UK from 1946-48 and started at quarterback for two years from 1947-48. Despite taking over a team that had finished 1-9 the year before his arrival, he only lost six times in two combined seasons as a starter, also serving as the team’s placekicker just as he did in the NFL. He’s one of only two former Wildcats inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame (center Dermonti Dawson is the other).

Two Hall of Fame coaches: Kentucky has two former coaches currently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, but neither spent his best years coaching in the Bluegrass. One is Bryant, whose best days came as head coach at Alabama. The other was Jerry Claiborne, who posted a combined record of 138-76-5 in 20 seasons at Virginia Tech and Maryland. He then went on to coach Kentucky for eight years, amassing a record of 41-46-3 and just one season with more than six victories.

Limited vs. Louisville: Although Kentucky’s first showdown with Louisville on the gridiron took place more than 100 years ago, the Cats and Cards have only squared off 27 times in the history of their rivalry, now known as the Governor’s Cup. The two teams played six times from 1912-24 (Kentucky won all six times), then took a 70-year hiatus from 1924-94 before resuming the series. The two schools have faced every year since then, and Kentucky holds a 14-13 all-time lead in the series.

Two retired numbers: Mark Higgs is one of two players in Kentucky’s history to have his number retired by the school. From 1984-87, Higgs rushed for 2,892 yards and 25 touchdowns to lead the Cats in both categories during that time. He went on to play in the NFL for eight seasons from 1988-95. Calvin Bird (No. 21) is the other former Wildcat to have his number retired by the school. He played halfback from 1958-60, once led the SEC in receptions for a season and left the college ranks as UK’s all-time leading rusher.

Historic rivalry vs. Tennessee: While Kentucky’s biggest rival in most sports is Louisville, no other football program has faced Kentucky more often than Tennessee, which has played UK 108 times in the last 114 years. Tennessee has won 75 of those meetings to take a stranglehold in the rivalry, including 29 of the last 3o meetings and 26 straight from 1985-2010. That streak was the longest winning streak by one FBS opponent over another until UK snapped the streak with a 10-3 win in 2011.

The (gulp) streak: What was UK’s reward for beating Tennessee and snapping the longest losing streak by one FBS school to another? Maintaining the longest losing streak by one FBS opponent against another, of course. Kentucky’s triple-overtime loss to Florida last fall extended the Gators winning streak over UK to 28, dating all the way back to 1987.

Before we knew Schnellenberger: Before he began an illustrious 27-year run as a Division I head coach that included stops at Miami (where he won the 1963 national championship), Louisville and Oklahoma, Schnellenberger was an All-American defensive end at Kentucky under Bryant. He began his coaching career at UK as well and went on to serve as Bryant’s offensive coordinator at Alabama (where he recruited Joe Namath) before earning his first head coaching gig.

Gain’s Outland: Gain, one of the best players in UK’s history, is the only former Wildcat to win a nationally recognized postseason award. He won the Outland Trophy to cap that legendary 1950 season, and is one of four former Cats inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame along with the two coaches, Bryant and Claiborne.

15 bowl games: Kentucky has a winning record all-time in postseason play, but for what its worth that postseason record includes just 15 bowl games. Kentucky never had to play in an SEC championship game to earn either of its conference crowns, and it has never won the SEC East since the conference split into two divisions. The Cats are 8-7 all-time in bowl games. They played in five straight from 2006-10 and won three straight from 2006-08. They also played in three bowl games in the 1990s but lost all three times, resulting in a bowl victory drought spanning from the 1984 Hall of Fame Classic Bowl to the 2006 Music City Bowl.

Joker makes history: When then-coach-in-waiting Joker Phillips was promoted to head coach following Rich Brooks’ retirement in 2010, he became the first African-American head coach in school history and only the second in SEC history behind Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom. Unfortunately, Phillips failed to record a winning season in three years as head coach, losing his lone bowl appearance before closing his tenure with a 2-10 record in 2012.

Meet McLean Stadium: Kentucky currently calls Commonwealth Stadium home, but for more than 50 years from 1916-1972 it played its home football games on Stoll Field inside McLean Stadium. Today, Stoll Field remains a field that sits beside the Kentucky Student Center on the North side of campus, however there is no stadium and the field is often used by students for recreation or intramural practices.