By Coach Stoney

One question many have posed (or already answered) following UK’s victory over #1 LSU is if it qualifies as UK’s best win ever. Many have answered that question as yes. I would agree that it is, by far, the greatest UK win in the past 50 years. However, I find it hard to say that it is a bigger win than knocking off #1 Oklahoma in the 1951 Sugar Bowl. Especially considering that is the last time UK was in the Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma was the top program in the country, at the time.

One neat item is that I found a site with some video of that UK/Oklahoma Sugar Bowl. UK is on offense in all of the clips (as it is difficult to distinguish teams when both are wearing dark colors in a black and white film). Here is the link: http://www.archive.org/details/CEP482.

Now back to UK/LSU. What I liked most about the win was that it could help propel football in Kentucky to a higher level. Not just UK football; but football at the high school level and beyond. There should be more excitement about football than ever before in Kentucky due to the following:

-UK’s win over #1 LSU giving them a chance for a 10 win season, New Year’s Day Bowl, and consecutive bowl wins

-UofL winning in a BCS bowl last season and playing in 2 straight bowls in the New Year

-WKU football making the move up to 1-A (or the bowl sub-division)

-institution of the 6-class system in high school

Hopefully, after some time and continued success of the big-time programs in the state the sport will continue to grow in importance. With the increased levels of success and excitement surrounding football the high school game can be propelled to new heights. If that happens then it will help the recruiting of all the in-state universities and give them a greater chance to sustain consistent success. I certainly hope that is what happens.