Kentucky Wildcats football
The Kentucky Wildcats football program represents the University of Kentucky in the sport of American football. The Wildcats compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Wildcats play their home games at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky and are led by head coach Mark Stoops.
Kentucky Wildcats football
1881; 143 years ago
Mark Stoops
11th season, 73–65 (.529)
Kroger Field
(capacity: 61,000)
Field Turf
Eastern
652–647–44[1] (.502)
12–10 (.545)
2
Centre (rivalry); dormant
Florida (rivalry)
Indiana (rivalry; dormant)
Louisville (rivalry)
Tennessee (rivalry)
Transylvania (rivalry); dormant
Vanderbilt (rivalry)
10[3]
Blue and white[4]
Championships[edit]
National championships[edit]
The NCAA has never officially recognized a national champion from among the bowl coalition institutions, but in 2004 the NCAA commissioned Jeff Sagarin to use his computer model to retroactively determine the highest ranked teams for the years prior to the BCS. His champion for the 1950 season is Kentucky.[125] The polls for the 1950 national champion, taken before the bowl games were played, list either Oklahoma (AP, Berryman, Helms, Litkenhous, UPI, Williamson), Princeton (Boand, Poling), or Tennessee (Billingsley, DeVold, Dunkel, Missouri, Don Faurot Football Research, National Championship Foundation, Sagarin (ELO-Chess)). Tennessee was the winner of the Cotton Bowl and the only team to beat Kentucky during the 1950 season. Oklahoma was named national champion by AP and UPI Coaches' Poll, both which awarded their titles before the bowl games. Kentucky would go on to beat Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.[126] Sports writer Bill Libby, not an NCAA-designated "major selector", selected Kentucky as national champions in his 1975 book Champions of College Football.
Hall of Famers[edit]
Pro[edit]
Two Kentucky players have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Future opponents[edit]
Conference opponents[edit]
From 1992 to 2023, Kentucky played in the East Division of the SEC and played each opponent in the division each year along with several teams from the West Division. The SEC will expand the conference to 16 teams and will eliminate its two divisions in 2024, causing a new scheduling format for the Wildcats to play against the other members of the conference.[151] Only the 2024 conference schedule was announced on June 14, 2023, while the conference still considers a new format for the future.[152]
