![\"Matthew](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1ced0be7-90a9-459c-bc11-44661786e63e_1658958077.file.png\")
LEXINGTON, Ky. \u2014<\/p>\nLEXINGTON, Ky. \u2014<\/p>\n
It’s the battle of first-year coaches on Saturday when No. 13 Kentucky welcomes Florida to Kroger Field.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats are 7-2 in Will Stein’s first season at the helm, while Florida sits at 5-4 in John Sumrall’s first season.<\/p>\n
The game is a homecoming for Sumrall, who was a linebacker for the Wildcats from 2001-04, a graduate assistant during the 2005-06 season, and linebacker\/co-defensive coordinator from 2019-21.<\/p>\n
Stein and the Wildcats will be looking to spoil that homecoming for Sumrall and the Gators, extending their streak in the series to two games.<\/p>\n
Both teams have had highs and lows this season, and both are coming off a loss. Kentucky was riding a six-game winning streak before a 34-6 drubbing at Tennessee last weekend. The Gators shot up to No. 8 in the rankings after a Week 4 win over Ole Miss.<\/p>\n
Since that win, Florida has beaten No. 7 Texas and dropped games to Missouri, South Carolina, Georgia and Oklahoma. Kentucky’s season has had more bright spots, but its other loss came at the hands of Alabama, 45-17, leaving many to wonder how high the Wildcats’ ceiling is this year.<\/p>\n
Heading into Saturday’s game, Kentucky is a 3.5-point favorite.<\/p>\n
Florida has been slightly more impressive on offense this season, averaging 400 yards per game and 35 touchdowns on the year. However, in their last two games, Florida only managed to score a combined 15 points against Georgia and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
Kentucky is averaging 384 yards per game and has scored 30 touchdowns. In their devastating loss to Tennessee, the Wildcats didn’t score a single touchdown.<\/p>\n
UK has spread the love across its rushing and passing attack. The Wildcat rushing corps has combined for more than 1,400 yards and 16 touchdowns, while quarterback Kenny Minchey has tossed 14 touchdowns and nearly 2,000 yards this season, with just two interceptions.<\/p>\n
Florida has relied on running back Jadan Baugh heavily this year, with Baugh rushing for 836 yards and 14 touchdowns. Gator QB Aaron Philo leads the team in passing yards with 1,367 and nine touchdowns, but Tramell Jones has also played a fair share of snaps, throwing for 712 yards and four touchdowns. Both Florida quarterbacks have five interceptions each.<\/p>\n
On the defensive side of the ball, Kentucky and Florida are almost dead even. UK ranks 76th in total defense, while Florida ranks 77th. The Wildcats have allowed an average of 365 yards per game and 28 touchdowns. Florida has allowed 367 yards per game to opponents and 29 touchdowns.<\/p>\n
Kentucky’s defense had a hard time containing Tennessee’s ground game, with the Volunteers rushing for 240 yards and three touchdowns. That could be an issue for the Wildcats taking on Baugh and Florida this week.<\/p>\n
But it could be a battle of the running backs, as Florida’s run defense has also been weak this season. The Gators have given up 13 touchdowns and an average of 134 rushing yards per game. Both Georgia and Oklahoma rushed for more than 140 yards against Florida in their wins over the Gators.<\/p>\n
With their loss to Tennessee, UK is now tied with Alabama for second in the SEC standings. A win over Florida would keep the Wildcats’ dreams, albeit abysmal, of making the final SEC Championship game alive.<\/p>\n
Kentucky and Florida kick off at 6:15 p.m. on ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEXINGTON, Ky. \u2014 It’s the battle of first-year coaches on Saturday when No. 13 Kentucky welcomes Florida to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[117819,28,30,29,916,3111,1853,9625,175553,60,12288,10195,10438,26616,8007,8733,164],"class_list":["post-452366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-first-season","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-game","tag-gators","tag-georgia","tag-jadan-baugh","tag-john-sumrall","tag-kentucky","tag-oklahoma","tag-tennessee","tag-touchdown","tag-wildcats","tag-win","tag-yard","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}