Coming off the disappointing loss to Southern Miss, it’s important for the Cats to put the game behind them in order to make the most of the season. The team will need to look elsewhere for that additional win and may find something in the trip to Gainesville, Fla.

“It’s gone now, we’ve moved on, and we have to. Especially in this league, it doesn’t get any easier. You’ve got to put it behind you, there are 12 more games left,” UK offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said. “It’s about us, nobody else right now. It’s about Kentucky, and if we do that we have the chance to be a very good football team.”

While it was Gran’s new-look-offense that electrified the crowd in the first half Saturday, that same offense is partially to blame for the team’s collapse in the second half. And while the Eagles are a quality team, they do not bring the same defensive ability that the Gators have.

If history has anything to say, the Florida Gators carrying a 29-game win streak into this year’s matchup should mean writing off any chance for a UK upset. It also doesn’t bode well that the narrative from the Gators first game is almost a complete opposite to that of UK’s.

While the Cats saw a large first-half lead slip between their claws because of a poor second half, the Gators will have some momentum after ramping up their effort in the second half to put the game away. 

Florida went into halftime with UMass with only a 10-7 lead and looked like it might join the list of SEC teams to disappoint in the first week. But the Gators rode their stellar defense to 14 unanswered points in the second half to down the Minutemen 24-7.

Most of the credit for the dominant half defensively goes to the Florida defensive line. The Gators gave up only 46 rushing yards and came up with four sacks against UMass. 

It also helps that the line has a lot of guys backing them with the speed and athleticism to make plays. One of those, senior linebacker Jarrad Davis led the team with nine tackles, but his impact was seen all over the field as he also assisted on a sack and had a pass breakup in the game.

The Gators will roll that stout front seven against an experienced UK offensive line that struggled at times in the second half last Saturday. That same group for the Cats will have to rebound if they want to give Drew Barker time to get the ball to the Cats’ many playmakers including Boom Williams who still feels confident in the offense despite the second half struggles.

“When all eleven of us out there doing our jobs, I think we are one of the best and most explosive offenses in college football, which you guys saw on Saturday,” Williams said. “We’re going to have to come down there ready to play if we want to get a win against a talented Florida team.” 

As we all know in last Saturday’s loss, the defense was constantly on the field in the second half which drained DJ Eliot’s bunch and did not allow for the Cats to play at their full potential on either side of the ball.

One thing that definitely will need to change come Saturday is that linebacker Courtney Love cannot play another 95 snaps.

If the Cats want to end the 29-year drought against the Gators, they will have to practice what they preach and turn things around from last Saturday’s collapse, and finish.