No, the Kentucky Wildcats did not make it to a post-season bowl game last year.
Despite exceeding expectations, going 7-5 overall last season and beating in-state rival – nationally ranked Louisville – on the road and SEC West champ Arkansas, nobody on the college football landscape really paid attention, or cared. The Wildcats weren’t eligible for bowl play due to NCAA violations.
The lasting image in the mind of college football fanatics was the Gatorade dousing that then Wildcat head coach Guy Morriss took as Kentucky was just seconds from pulling off an upset at home against defending SEC Champion LSU.
One problem, the upset never happened.
As students and fans rushed the field to celebrate, LSU quarterback Marcus Randall heaved a 75-yard Hail Mary touchdown pass to Devery Henderson as time expired to defeat Kentucky, 33-30.
This year will be different for the Wildcats. For one, Kentucky is eligible for post-season play. Secondly, Morriss bolted for Big 12 doormat Baylor University and was replaced by Rich Brooks, former Oregon and St. Louis Rams head coach.
“Coach Morriss did a good job a year ago of turning the corner off those 2-9 seasons,” Brooks said at SEC Media Days. “My goal is to win enough games for this senior class to have them leave with a bowl game under their belt for all the hard work they put in [during] their years at Kentucky.”
The team returns starting quarterback Jared Lorenzen and wide receiver Derek Abney. Lorenzen, now at a trim 6-foot-4, 260 pounds, leads a potent Wildcat passing attack after throwing for 2,267 yards and 24 touchdowns last year.
“Jared finished spring in excellent shape, he lost a lot of weight,” Brooks said at SEC Media Days. “I told him in January not to make weight an issue with the media and make his conditioning an issue.”
Abney is Lorenzen’s top returning target. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound return specialist caught 40 passes for 569 yards and four touchdowns, but returned six kicks for touchdowns, setting an NCAA record last season.
“When you’ve got guys that have been through it and understand that you can score at any point in the game, that helps out a lot as a returner,” Abney told the Associated Press. “You understand that every play can be a potential touchdown.”
The defense only returns six starters. Vincent “Sweet Pea” Burns headlines the returners after a three sack, 65 tackle season.
Burns said the new defensive system could pay dividends.
“The biggest difference has been the scheme switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense,” he said at SEC Media Days. “We’ll have a lot more linebackers moving around in this scheme. Overall the defense will be a whole lot better this season.”
Kentucky opens the SEC season at Florida on Sept. 25. After hosting Bama and South Carolina, the Wildcats will hit the road to face Auburn and Mississippi State. Kentucky will finish the year with Georgia and Vanderbilt at home before closing out the 2003 SEC season with a road contest at Tennessee.