LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Gators were in the air late Friday afternoon when the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop, less than half an hour before landing in Kentucky.
Florida touched down safely and bused to the team hotel on a rainy Friday evening here, essentially business as usual for coaches and players.
The Gators (5-4, 3-4) face No. 13 Kentucky (7-2, 5-2) in a Southeastern Conference game Saturday night at Kroger Field, seeking to snap a two-game losing streak.
Meanwhile, the host Wildcats are coming off a 28-point loss at Tennessee after a perfect October (4-0) for the first time since 1977.
Florida has struggled to score points over the past two weeks, losing 27-8 to Georgia and 23-7 at home to Oklahoma last week.
First-year Florida coach Jon Sumrall felt the heat from critics who have questioned what has happened to the Gators since their 4-0 start and climb to No. 8 in the national rankings.
Sumrall has stressed that the issues are multifaceted and have exposed the team's weaknesses the staff identified early.
"I believe what we're doing," Sumrall said. "I'm confident that we're gonna get this turned. You know the old adage: 'Tough times don't last, tough people do.' I'm tough. It ain't gonna break me."
The mood at Kentucky is more upbeat, with the Wildcats still in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth under first-year coach Will Stein. The Wildcats lost some momentum a week ago at Tennessee, but with a home game and a struggling UF team, most are picking Kentucky to defeat Florida for the fourth consecutive time at home.
Florida hopes to prove them wrong on Saturday.
Here is our latest edition of The Opening Kickoff for a closer look at the Florida-Kentucky game:
THREE STORYLINES
The Gators need to win at least one of their final three games to become bowl-eligible. Following a 4-0 start, that seemed a lock, but UF has lost four of its last five games. The Wildcats remain in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth despite being blown out at Tennessee last week. Kentucky opened as a 3.5-point favorite and has won three straight at home against Florida. Can the Gators rediscover their offense and pull the upset, or will the Wildcats continue their recent dominance over the Gators at home?
Quarterback Aaron Philo is back as Florida's starter after taking a seat behind Tramell Jones Jr. in last week's 23-7 home loss to Oklahoma. Jones finished 10 of 22 for 133 yards and tossed two interceptions as the Gators' offense once again appeared stuck in mud. Philo has completed 110 of 156 passes (70.5%) with nine touchdowns and five interceptions. However, he played poorly as the starter against Georgia (5 of 7, 26 yards, 2 interceptions) before being benched. Still, Philo looked sharp in the season's first four games and the Gators will try and recapture some of that magic.
These teams differ in two distinct ways: penalties and turnovers. The Wildcats are the least-penalized team in the SEC; the Gators are last in the league in total penalty yards and penalty yards per game (71.1). And despite losing the turnover battle at Tennessee, Kentucky leads the SEC in turnover margin while the Gators are 10th at minus-3.
THREE PLAYERS TO WATCH
This sounds like a broken record, but if Florida is unable to get running back Jadan Baugh going, winning is unlikely. Baugh ranks third in the SEC in rushing (836 yards, 92.9 per game) behind his 600 yards in the first four games. In Florida's last five games, he has rushed for 13, 59, 91, 38 and 35. Baugh didn't forget how to run. A combination of factors has allowed opposing defenses to stuff the box and shut him down.
Wildcats quarterback Kenny Minchey has made the move from Notre Dame seamless. He set a program record with 242 passes to start a season with only one interception, breaking the previous record of 183 passes with only one pickoff by Maxwell Smith in 2013. Minchey has completed 186 of 266 passes (69.9%) after playing sparingly in three seasons with the Fighting Irish.
For the Gators to get the offense going in their sixth consecutive game without injured receiver Vernell Brown III, somebody is going to have to step up at receiver. Dallas Wilson, Bailey Stockton and Eric Singleton Jr. are the obvious candidates. Wilson (104 vs. Campbell) and Stockton (127 vs. South Carolina) have 100-yard receiving games, but Singleton's highest-yardage game came on one catch, a 38-yard reception at Missouri. He has been hobbled by a high-ankle sprain all season, and Gators fans have yet to see the explosive receiver from earlier in his career.
FIVE QUESTIONS WITH … GATORS RB DUKE CLARK
A sophomore running back, Duke Clark returned to action against Oklahoma after missing two games due to injury. He had a career-high four receptions for 70 yards and added 28 yards rushing.
Duke Clark stiff arms Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke in last weekend's loss to the Sooners. (Photo: Cassie Baker/UAA Communications)
Q: How did it feel to get back on the field and contribute?
A: It felt good. Normal. Just being back out there with the guys. I missed it, of course. Just getting back into the rhythm, honestly.
Q: How difficult was the process to return from injury?
A: It wasn't nothing I couldn't stand because the training room is going to always be there. You are going to go in there regardless. So being in and out of there not bad at all, because you always in and out of there. Just take it on the chin, kept my head down, just came back to work.
Q: What's the level of frustration with the offensive struggles?
A: I'd just say everyone's just preaching executing, just doing their job, worried about themselves, because everybody's got one job, and if everybody did their one job, it would just take care of itself.
Q: What's the outlook heading into final three games of regular season?
A: I'd say these three games, I mean it's always still the standard, it's not just three games, like we got to win these three games if we want to get where we want to go.
Q: How important is building some momentum heading into next season?
A: Just to show that everybody finishes, putting their best foot forward and finishing the right way, if you ask me. I'd just say putting your head down and just working, and once they see what happened at the end of this season, it just flow into the next season.
THREE DIGITS
4 — Wins over top-15 teams for former Gators head coach Galen Hall in 1985: No. 6 Auburn, No. 8 LSU, No. 12 FSU and No. 14 Tennessee. Jon Sumrall can become the second first-year UF coach with three if the Gators win at Kentucky. 10 — Years since Florida has played the same opponent on the road in back-to-back seasons. The last time was 2016 when the Florida-LSU game was postponed and later relocated from Gainesville to Baton Rouge due to Hurricane Matthew. The Gators are at Kentucky for the second consecutive season as a byproduct of the SEC adopting a nine-game conference schedule in 2026. 12 — Offensive yards (rushing and receiving): Gators running back Jadan Baughneeds to reach 3,000 career yards, becoming the 10th UF player and the first since Lamical Perine (3,159 from 2016-19) to reach that mark. Baugh has 2,679 career rushing yards and 309 receiving yards.
This is the 77th all-ime meeting between the SEC rivals and 36th matchup in Lexington. Florida leads the all-time series 54-22, including 22-13 at Kroger Field.
Since the Gators won 31 consecutive games over the Wildcats from 1987-2017, they are 3-5 against Kentucky.
The Wildcats are coming off a loss at Tennessee, but Will Stein was the first Kentucky coach to start 7-1 in his first season since E. R. Sweetland won seven of his first eight games in 1909. Stein is also first coach in UK history to begin 5-1 in SEC play in his first season (SEC football began in 1933).
The Gators will be without starting safety Bryce Thornton, who will not play due to an undisclosed injury. Thornton leads all UF defensive players with 30 career starts.
Former Gators defensive backs Jordan Castell and Aaron Gates (see below) have combined for 15 starts for the Wildcats after transferring. Castell has started all nine games and is tied with teammate Ty Bryant atop the SEC with four interceptions.
Gators sophomore defensive tackle Jeramiah McCloud, who has started five games, rejoined the team Monday (see below). McCloud is second among UF's interior linemen with 22 tackles.
This will be the fourth consecutive game the Gators have started a different quarterback since Tramell Jones Jr. replaced injured Aaron Philo at Texas. Philo returned against Georgia, was replaced in the second quarter by Jones, who then started against Oklahoma. Philo is set to start against the Wildcats.
Gators junior safety Cam Dooley, who has played in six of nine games and has two tackles, spent his first two seasons at Kentucky. He started the final three games a season ago but has found playing time hard to come by at Florida.
Florida running back Jadan Baugh needs 154 yards to become the first player in program history with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
THEY SAID IT
"As a head coach, you're always in the moment, but you always have to think like a year out, too, The bye week, spent a lot of time on what we need for '27 to be the best we can be moving forward." — Gators head coach Jon Sumrall on balancing in-season the planning for next season
"By that point in the game, when they get in a certain formation, you should know what play is coming. You should be able to anticipate it. It shouldn't feel like every play is a new play. That's part of this process. I don't want to talk about it anymore." — Florida defensive coordinator Brad White on Oklahoma's 20-play, 89-yard drive that ate up nearly 13 minutes
"You know, made sure he understood that our desire was for him to return, but his return was going to be on my terms, not his terms, and the program's terms and his teammates' terms and our leadership council's terms. No one individual is bigger than the program. That includes myself or anybody in the building." — Sumrall on his conversation with defensive tackle Jeramiah McCloud, who returned to practice Monday following a one-game suspension for conduct detrimental to the team
They rediscover an offensive identity with quarterback Aaron Philo back as the starter. Florida's best moments of the season came with Philo taking snaps. UF head coach Jon Sumrall said after the Gators' season-low 203-yard output against Oklahoma that the offense was lost. While the defense couldn't get off the field on the Sooners' game-clinching drive, the offense did nothing to help. The Gators have a shot if both units play well.
WHY WILDCATS WILL WIN
They have used a proven formula to win seven of their first nine games under first-year head coach Will Stein. Kentucky leads the SEC with a plus-10 turnover margin, and quarterback Kenny Minchey has passed for 1,979 yards, 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions. If the Wildcats do more of the same, it could be a long night for the Gators, who have lost three straight at Kentucky—the last two in similar fashion. The Gators fell behind early, and the Wildcats took advantage of every mistake, winning the past two by a combined score of 71-21.
