By Collan McCoy: Sports Writer

For Kentucky fans of a certain age, Florida was the archenemy, the final boss, the immovable
object. For Mark Stoops, Florida wins are as common as poor games coming out of a bye
week. 

After Saturday, Mark Stoops has now beaten Florida five times in his career. For comparison,
the only SEC opponents that Stoops has more wins against are Missouri (seven wins), South
Carolina (seven wins), and their next SEC opponent, Vanderbilt (eight wins). 

The most impressive part of the win may be the manner in which the cats pulled it off. After
losing to the Gators 48-20 in the Swamp last year, the Wildcats were able to outscore them 38-7
on an all-around team showing.

The defense was one muffed punt away from pitching a potential shutout against the Gators
offense, led by highly touted Sophomore Quarterback DJ Lagway. The Gator punt at 2:22 of the
first quarter was muffed by returner Ja’Mori Maclin, giving the Gators the ball at the Kentucky
13-yard line, which set them up for a two-play drive and touchdown.

From that moment on, it was all Kentucky, holding the Gators to just 7-15 on third down
conversions with the UK secondary picking the ball three different times by three different
defensive players and coming up with one fumble recovery. Kentucky also had four turnovers on
the evening coming in the form of three lost fumbles and an interception.

The offense looked more in sync as the offensive line only allowed one sack on the night to the
backup quarterback Beau Allen. Seth McGowan rushed for 92 yards and two touchdowns, while
Donte Dowdell rushed for 104 yards and one touchdown that came on a 65-yarder in the fourth
quarter. 

Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Cutter Boley also threw two touchdown passes to Jason
Patterson and JJ Hester. This was in addition to a first quarter field goal to round out the wildcat
scoring at 38-7 in a game that didn’t feel even that close. Boley had 18 completions on 23
attempts, completing 12 in a row in the first and second quarters.

The Wildcats are back in action next week on November 15th at home against undefeated FCS
opponent Tennessee Tech after the Golden Eagles beat Eastern Illinois 21-9 earlier on
Saturday.