For two teams well out of the playoff hunt, it’s hard to believe that a game between them could have historical implications, but that is just the case between Kentucky and Florida.
For the first time in his 13 years, it was unknown if Mark Stoops’ time as head coach was coming to an end after a free fall over the past two seasons.
With everything heading in the wrong direction, Kentucky was facing a possible winless SEC season, but that all changed with a 10-3 road win over Auburn.
Following the loss, Auburn fired its former Head Coach Hugh Freeze and joined the long list of teams who will be searching for a new coach at season’s end.
Florida is on that list of teams seeking a new leader as it fired Billy Napier in October and will be playing its second game with Billy Gonzales as the interim head coach.
Kentucky has four games left on the schedule that includes Florida, Tennessee Tech, Vanderbilt and Louisville.
With a 3-5 record, the Wildcats are three wins away from being bowl-eligible after missing out on that feat in 2024.
This makes the game against the Gators have massive implications because if Kentucky wins and then wins against Tennessee Tech as expected, it will only need one win in the last two weeks for a bowl.
The bigger implications of this game are that if Stoops leads the team to a bowl, it is hard to fathom Mitch Barnhart making a change at head coach.
Sure, everyone wants to be playing for a national title, but that is not the reality of Kentucky football.
There was a window in 2021-22 where Kentucky had a real shot to make some noise, but it just did not pan out that way in Lexington.
However, it gave fans a glimpse of hope that it’s possible and set a standard under Stoops that has drastically collapsed over the last two years.
Before the win over Auburn, Kentucky had not won a conference game in over a year and still have not won an SEC game at Kroger Field since Sept. 30, 2023, which was 769 days ago.
It was obvious the win over Auburn meant a lot to Stoops and he embraced with his players along with Barnhart before getting choked up in his postgame interview with SEC Network.
“No vindication for me,” Stoops said about the win. “Very happy for the players, they deserve it… they deserve that feeling.”
However, the noise should still be very loud around Stoops, and his seat should still be flaming hot.
This season has shown that losing to Kentucky is unacceptable with teams who have high expectations, and it can be the loss that gets someone fired.
Just a few short years ago, that was not the case because Kentucky was contending.
A loss to the Gators makes a bowl feat very unlikely, but a win, and all the sudden that dim light at the end of the tunnel gets a bit brighter.
Sure, it’s still a tall task going on the road to Vanderbilt and Louisville just needing one win, but Stoops has had success against the Cardinals in his tenure so it’s no longer this far-fetched pipe dream it felt like it was just a week ago.
Despite the results in this matchup and even after the win against Auburn, this program needs a fresh leader who can possibly get them back to what Stoops once had this program at.
Stoops is making this decision harder every week, and if he makes a bowl, all eyes will shift to Barnhart and if would be willing to make the move.
This sets the stage for Saturday, Nov. 8, at 7:30 p.m. when Kentucky and Florida will square off in a game that could have program altering implications in Lexington.
