Volunteers always repeat history against UK's Wildcats

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- It was going to end. Twenty-four years of Big Blue frustration, pain, anger, helplessness. It was all going to end around 10:15 Saturday night in Kentucky's Commonwealth Stadium, just a few minutes after Tennessee's Luke Stocker had fumbled and UK had a first-and-10 on the UT 13-yard line. This is how the Wildcats had beaten Auburn and Georgia earlier in the season. They had willed a victory from a defeat. So in spite of the Big Orange outgaining them by nearly 200 yards, despite being dominated throughout the final half, the Wildcats were going to stop the Volunteers' winning streak against them at 24 years. At least it looked that way to everyone inside Commonwealth except the Big Orange defense. "We looked at each other and said, 'Somebody's got to make a play,'" said UT junior defensive end Chris Walker. "This was what we'd run sprints for during the summer; this is what we practice so hard for. We weren't going to lose this game." It sounded good. But Tennessee was 0-for-4 when trailing at halftime this season, and the Vols had trailed this one 21-14 at the half. Now, despite being ahead 24-21, it seemed as if all that dark karma was coming back. The Outback Bowl was about to become the Music City Bowl. Tampa sunshine for Nashville gray skies. Unless somebody could make a play. Or two. Or three. So having gained 24 yards on three plays after Stocker's fumble, the Cats gained 7 on the next three. First Dan Williams made a tackle. Then Walker and Williams combined for a tackle. Then Dennis Rogan flew in from nowhere to tackle UK freshman quarterback Morgan Newton and force the field goal that forced the overtime that led to the Vols' 25th straight win over Big Blew when Montario Hardesty galloped 20 yards in overtime for the game-winning touchdown, his third of the night. "This was an example of our will," Walker said afterward. No truer words were ever spoken. Tennessee and Kentucky should be one of the better Southeastern Conference rivalries. Saturday night's game was the 105th between the two in the Vols' 112 years of football . Kentucky is the school that introduced Paul "Bear" Bryant to the SEC as a coach. Unfortunately for the Wildcats faithful, the Vols countered with Gen. Robert Neyland, who pretty much owned the Bear in those days. And try as UK might, it's pretty much been that way ever since. Tennessee's 25th straight win is currently the longest such streak of dominance in major college football between schools who play every year. It's the second longest ever, trailing only Penn State's 27-game win streak over Temple. If you're counting at home, the Vols should take over that record in November of 2012 in Knoxville unless UK abandons the SEC as the Browns once abandoned Cleveland or the Colts fled Baltimore. "It's an embarrassment," UK defensive lineman Corey Peters said before this game. Another teammate called it "ridiculous." And they're right. Against a Tennessee team that has posted losing records three times since UK last won in 1984, the Cats have managed to be worse each time out. Nor have most of them been all that close. The average margin of victory has been nearly 20 points. Six games have been decided by 35 or more -- four by 42 or more, including a 52-0 humbling in 1994, when Bill Curry was coaching the Cats. So, naturally, with Kentucky entering Saturday's game with a 7-4 record to the Vols' 6-5, with the Wildcats having won three SEC road games to none for UT, there seemed a reasonable chance that all this futility might come to an end. And the UK fans certainly tried to make a difference. When Tennessee tied it at 21 late in the third quarter, the entirety of Commonwealth Stadium not tinted orange -- and that was the vast majority of the crowd of more than 70,000 -- screamed "Go, Big Blue! Go, Big Blue!" as they have never cheered. "They kept calling it the biggest game ever here, so you knew they'd play well, especially the first half," UT coach Lane Kiffin said. But by the second half, the emotion began to run low and Tennessee's superiority rose. The fumble by Stocker gave Kentucky a single thin chance. The Volunteers' will snuffed it out. Said a downcast Kentucky fan upon spotting UK president Lee Todd moments after the final whistle: "There's always basketball, Dr. Todd." For 25 straight years, Kentucky fans have had nothing else to say after facing the Vols. E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com