Kentucky football (4-5, 2-5 SEC) ended its 770-day SEC home winless streak with a 38-7 win over Florida (3-6, 2-4 SEC).
The win over the Gators marks the first 30+ point SEC win for Kentucky since 1998.
The Wildcats entered the game coming off a 13-3 win on the road against Auburn to mark their first SEC win in 2025.
The Gators came into Lexington after a 24-20 natural-site loss to Georgia.
Before this win, the last SEC win at Kroger Field for the Cats was against the Gators back in 2023.
The Wildcats secured this win by playing complementary football as the defense forced four turnovers that resulted in two scores.
Kentucky won the toss and elected to receive, which meant the defense got the ball first and they delivered in a big way.
Ty Bryant came down with a deflected DJ Lagway pass for an interception and returned it another 17-yards.
The offense took advantage of the field possession and used that good field position to open the scoring with a 29-yard Jacob Kauwe field goal.
Kentucky’s defense responded yet again by forcing a punt, but it was muffed by Ja’Mori Maclin and turned into a 10-yard touchdown pass from Lagway to Jaden Baugh.
All eyes now turned back to Cutter Boley and the offense, who responded promptly by putting together a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Boley to J.J. Hester.
After having the muffed erased, Lorenzo Cowan forced a fumble that was recovered by Cam Dooley.
Unlike the first turnover, Boley and Co. turned this one into another touchdown as he slung a pass to Jason Patterson for a 15-yard touchdown.
The special team’s unit delivered the next big play as the defense forced another punt, and pressure around the punter resulted in just a 23-yard boot.
Starting on its own 46, two big connections with Kendrick Law and Maclin for gains of 25 and 17, respectively, set up a 2-yard Seth McGowan rushing touchdown.
The first half came to a close after two interceptions and two fumbles made the last two drives for both teams, however Kentucky led the game 24-7.
Following the chaos, Kentucky got the ball to start the second half and gave the defense an extra breather by putting together a 13 play, 7:26 minute touchdown drive.
McGowan scored his second touchdown of the game, this time from 5-yards out to cap off the methodical drive.
Florida made a chance at quarterback to start the second half, and had a long drive, but it led to another punt forced by the defense.
Dante Dowdell put the final stamp on the victory with a 65-yard score as the defense held staunch for the remainder of the game to keep the Gators lone score the early touchdown.
Looking Ahead
After back-to-back wins, a bowl game is now very much in-play for Kentucky as it will need to win two of its remaining three games in the 2025 season.
Two of those will be on the road against ranked opponents in Vanderbilt and Louisville.
The other will come in the Wildcats final home game of the season as they will take on Tennessee Tech.
That clash against the Golden Eagles is set for 1:30 ET on Saturday, Nov. 15.
