On Oct. 13, 2007, the UK football team defeated then-No. 1 Louisiana State in triple overtime to accomplish an upset that would leave the landscape of college football standing on its head.

On Sept. 25, 2011, LSU was named the No. 1 team in the nation once again in the Associated Press weekly poll, just six days before its game against UK.

“Every year you play them, they are going to be one or two, maybe three,” UK head coach Joker Phillips said. “You guys always seem to pick them the last couple of (games) No. 1 when we play them.”

The Cats recognize the similarities between this game and the 2007 classic in Commonwealth Stadium and are using it as a model of the amount of work and preparation it takes to beat a team like LSU.

“Just because it happened once, that’s not a guaranteed thing to happen again,” junior safety Mikie Benton said. “That’s something we have to buy into and hopefully work hard, and it can happen again.”

Beyond the similarities, plenty of differences between Saturday’s match-up and the ‘07 game also exist.

First, Saturday’s game will be played in Baton Rouge, La., home of the Tigers. The Cats will be tested as their struggling offense takes the field in one of the loudest stadiums in the country.

“It’s going to be really loud,”  senior right tackle Billy Joe Murphy said. “We’ve got to listen to the quarterback and we’ve got to understand what our rules are and focus on our assignments.”

Second, LSU is on track with its 2007 counterparts. That year, despite winning a national championship, the Tigers lost two games during the year, including the loss to UK. Since 2007, the next three national champions (Florida in 2008, Alabama in 2009 and Auburn in 2010) combined for one loss in 42 total games.

So far in 2011, the Tigers are 4-0, including three wins over top-25 teams away from home, earning themselves a move from No. 2 to top of the polls for the week.

“Of course, they’re a great team,” Benton said. “They’re No. 1 for a reason. Very tough team, very good defensively and offensively.”

Lastly, UK has proved thus far into the season to be a worse team than the 2007 Cats. That year, UK carried a No. 17 ranking into its showdown with the Tigers after beating then-No. 9 Louisville in another thrilling finish just weeks earlier. This year, the Cats have struggled to 2-2 record through four weeks and suffered a 48-10 loss at the hands of their first ranked opponent of the year, then-No. 15 Florida Gators.

Coming off back-to-back home losses to Florida and Louisville, a game against the top team in the land seems like the last thing UK’s football program wants. But the players and coaches are confident that they can keep up with the Tigers, and that another shocking upset is just what this team needs to turn its season around.

“We have faith in our coaches and our players just to be able to buy in and work hard and be able to turn this around,” Benton said.

Murphy is one of a handful of seniors who watched from the sidelines in 2007 as redshirt freshmen when UK shocked LSU, and he knows that if UK works hard and plays to the level the players and coaches believe they can, that another upset is possible.

“It’s something that can be done, it’s not impossible,” Murphy said. “We believe it can be done, and we’ve got to have a great week of practice.”