For the first time in 31 years, UK beat Florida in football, with a score of 27-16.

Many things have changed in the last three decades since UK beat Florida 10-3 on Nov. 15, 1986. The sports articles and columns discussing the game were not published until the following day, because there was no Internet yet. Just a few of those many changes are listed below: 

• The most popular song of 1986, according to the Billboard Year-End Hot Singles ranking, was “That’s What Friends Are For” by Dionne and Friends. The current number one song is “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B. Maroon 5 lead singer Adam Levine was 7 years old, and Cardi B would not be born for another six years.
• The highest-grossing movie of 2018 so far is “Black Panther.” In 1986, “Top Gun” held the top spot, and now a long-awaited sequel is in the works.
• Ronald Reagan was halfway through his second term as president. About eight months after the win, Reagan instructed Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. The United States is on its fifth president since Reagan.
• Steve Jobs was working on developing Pixar in 1986, and it would be another 21 years before the first iPhone was released.
• In 1986, no member of the current UK football team had been born yet. Head Coach Mark Stoops was a freshman playing college football for the University of Iowa when the Wildcats last beat the Gators on the gridiron.

• Cliff Hagan, who is now 86, was the athletic director, and Otis A. Singletary was president of the university.
• The UK men’s basketball team had won only five of its now eight national championships, and the Kentucky cheerleading squad had just won its first championship in 1985.
• The beginning of construction for UK’s beloved William T. Young Library was still eight years away.

• In 1986, Commonwealth Stadium had been open for 13 years. Now, UK plays its home games at Kroger Field. 

Some things did not change so much from 1986 to 2018, though.

In a Lexington Herald-Leader football column originally published on Nov. 16, 1986, the day after the last win, John McGill wrote, “Now, Kentucky has recorded the kind of game that can turn around a season, if not a program.”

A similar statement could be made about the Sept. 8, 2018, win.