Mark Stoops and the Kentucky Wildcats pulled off a monumental win Saturday night, as they held on to defeat Florida 20-13 at home to move to 5-0 on the season.
The 10th-ranked Gators had a chance to tie the game late in the 4th quarter but were stymied by the Kentucky defense in the red zone to end the game, culminating with an incomplete pass from Emory Jones on 4th-and-8 that sent the crowd at Kroger Field into pandemonium.
“That’s pretty special,” said Stoops in an interview with ESPN on the field after the game. “To get what was that 8 stops, 8 stops basically at the end. Really incredible, shows a slot of toughness and resiliency. Great win.”
For the Wildcats, it was there first win over Florida at home since 1986 and just the second in the last 35 meetings with the Gators.
But Stoops was quick to not overhype the achievement.
“It’s another win,” he said. “I tell the players all the time, if we want to play in big games, take care of what’s right in front of us. I’m happy for our fan base. We’ve had some really close games with the Gators for a long time. It’s good to win one at home for them.”
Stoops did, however, take the time to credit the fans for the role they played in the outcome.
“There’s no doubt they helped us,” Stoops said as the crowd mobbed the field around him. “This is what I’m talking about. We need Kroger field like this all the time. We need all the help we can get. It’s great for our fan base. It’s great for our kids. We’ll celebrate tonight and then we have to go back to work.”
"Chris Wallace covers college football for Saturday Down South. He has covered college athletics for multiple newspapers and also worked previously for Rivals.com and GolfChannel.com."
