Aaron Philo leads Florida to upset win at Kentucky, hurting UK’s Playoff hopes
By Andrew Olson
Published:
Jon Sumrall returned to Kentucky and dealt a serious blow to his alma mater’s hopes of making the College Football Playoff. Sumrall’s Florida squad upset No. 11 Kentucky 21-14 on Saturday night in Lexington, handing the Wildcats a third loss that will hurt their chances of making the 12-team CFP field.
Sumrall went back to Aaron Philo as his starting quarterback for the Kentucky game, and the Georgia Tech transfer showed why his head coach made the right call. While Florida’s 4-0 start was largely credited to Jadan Baugh leading the ground attack and Philo making big plays in the passing game, it was Philo’s running that helped the Gators pull off the upset on Saturday night in Lexington.
Let Aaron Philo cook 👨🍳 93 rush yards and a TD ⤵️ https://t.co/UKEJ2sxv9N
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) November 15, 2026
Philo finished as the game’s leading rusher, rushing 15 times for 102 yards and 1 touchdown. The Gators did not have a passing touchdown, but Philo was efficient and turnover-free. He completed 16-of-24 passes for 119 yards.
The Gators found themselves needing to rally and erase a deficit twice. Kentucky went 86 yards and took 8:20 off the clock on a long 15-play opening drive to break the scoring ice. Florida did not get on the board until a safety late in the second quarter due to holding in the end zone on Kentucky (a call disputed by ESPN’s broadcast rules expert).
After a shaky start on offense, Florida found its groove in the second half with Philo’s running proving to be the difference. After punting on all 5 first-half possessions, the Gators notched 3 consecutive scoring drives in the second half.
For the first time all year, Florida overcame a 4th-quarter deficit. Even after back-to-back scoring drives, Florida found itself trailing 14-13 at the start of the final period. Philo engineered the longest drive of the night, a 14-play, 67-yard scoring drive to make it 19-14. The Gators used the play commonly referred to as the “Philly special” on the 2-point conversion to go up 21-14.
The Gator defense forced a turnover on downs on both of UK’s 4th-quarter drives to seal the deal and preserve the upset victory.
Florida improves to 6-4, securing bowl eligibility in Jon Sumrall‘s first season as the UF head coach. Kentucky drops to 7-3.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaign of Fred Taylor.
