A Little History .....

[Wildcat Larry]

Last time UK was 5-0 .......

1984–WON 9, LOST 3
UK 42 Kent State 0 Lexington Sept 8
UK 48 Indiana 14 Bloomington Sept 15
UK 30 Tulane 26 New Orleans Sept 22
UK 27 Rutgers* 14 Lexington Oct 6
UK 17 Miss. State 13 Starkville Oct 13
UK 10 LSU 36 Lexington Oct 20
UK 7 Georgia 37 Lexington Oct 27
UK 31 N. Texas State 7 Lexington Nov 3
UK 27 Vanderbilt 18 Lexington Nov 10
UK 17 Florida 25 Lexington Nov 17
UK 17 Tennessee 12 Knoxville Nov 24

[bellbrass]

Ahhh... I remember that season well. George Adams rushed for over 1000 yards, Bill Ransdell had the short passing game going on, we actually had a good defensive line. I remember when we played Georgia, our first play from scrimmage was a running play that gained 8-10 yards, then we basically couldn't do much the rest of the game.
Tulane was a scare.
Was Paul Calhoun on the team then?
Our offensive line was undersized, but played smart and didn't get too many penalties.
We beat Wisconsin and Al Toon in the Hall of Fame Bowl on a late field goal.
We beat Tennessee late when there was a controversial call where the refs ruled a potential UT first down in the UK red zone as out of bounds. They knew they had it lost, and they protested almost to the point of having players ejected.

[UedK]

During that 1984 UT win we were down in Huntsville, AL for Thanksgiving. We were listening to the game and came real close to driving to Knoxville during the game just to party after the game.

We went to that Hall of Fame Bowl. Wisconsin came in real cocky and went home with their tails tucked behind, We were in an RV next to the stadium and we stayed up and partied until sunrise.

[bellbrass]

I was at that UT game in Neyland. I remember UT fans jeering and cussing at me and my friend on the way in to the stadium. I actually was wondering if someone was going to try to beat us up. This was before the game, not after. It seemed like the least upset UT person in that whole stadium was Johnny Majors.

I also remember walking into Chase Dry Cleaners on the afternoon of the IU game. The old fellow in there had the game on the radio, and Cawood was calling the action. As I was paying for my dry cleaning, we went up 41-14, and the guy said to me, "They ain't foolin' around today, are they?" I remember that very clearly...cool memory. :)

[BOURBON TOWN CAT FAN]

Let's pray that we don't repeat a walloping by two of the top SEC schools like we did that year after a 5-0 start.

[BigBlueManiac]

We beat Wisconsin and Al Toon in the Hall of Fame Bowl on a late field goal.


At the team hotel after the Bowl game, one of the players told a group of us about Coach Claiborne's pre-game speech to them.

Part of it was as follows (paraphrased):

"Kentucky is not a rich state. There are a lot of people who may have given up some of their Christmas to come to Birmingham, because they love this school and this team. We need to show them this sacrifice was the right thing to do."

He said the players were ready to run through a block wall after that.

[UedK]

At the team hotel after the Bowl game, one of the players told a group of us about Coach Claiborne's pre-game speech to them.

Part of it was as follows (paraphrased):

"Kentucky is not a rich state. There are a lot of people who may have given up some of their Christmas to come to Birmingham, because they love this school and this team. We need to show them this sacrifice was the right thing to do."

He said the players were ready to run through a block wall after that.

Sort of a modern day parallel here:

I don't have a link, but go to youtube and watch Steve Johnson's rap-style video of his Arkansas pre-game locker room rap to the UK players. Go to youtube and search " Steve Johnson Kentucky Football Pre Game" It's really well done, someone set it to a beat and added some visual effects.

He makes a big point of doing it for the fans....

"Shouts of Go Big Blue all night in the hotel.........there's even babies shouting it......"

Doing it for the fans and for the the Kentucky on the front of the jersey is a huge part of his rap.

I am quite blown away by the players love for us fans. It seems the support we give is returned two-fold.

[bellbrass]

That is my favorite rap ever!