Rich Brooks is expected to be in the stands when Kentucky takes on LSU Saturday for homecoming. The former Wildcats coach endured his share of ups and downs against the Tigers during his seven-year tenure in Lexington.
Brooks led the Wildcats to an unforgettable upset - a 43-37 triumph in three overtimes over the top-ranked and eventual national champion Tigers in 2007. It was and remains one of the most memorable wins in school history.
Kentucky won six of its first seven games that season en route to an 8-5 campaign that ended with a 35-28 win over the late Bobby Bowden and the Florida State Seminoles.
The win over Florida State in Nashville was the second of four consecutive bowl appearances under Brooks, who retired at the end of the 2009 season. Prior to the Mark Stoops era, it was the longest postseason streak in school history.
A year prior to handing the Tigers their only loss of the 2007 season, Brooks and the Wildcats were at a crossroads as he began the fourth season. The Wildcats had won just nine games from 2003-05 and were coming off a 3-8 season. Many started doubting whether or not Brooks could turn the proverbial corner and resurrect a program that had fallen on hard times at the end of the Hal Mumme ear. Guy Morriss had the program on the right track, but Morriss left for Baylor following the 2002 season.
Kentucky opened with a 3-4 record, a stack of losses that included a 49-0 blowout loss to LSU in Baton Rouge. Things weren't looking too promising for Brooks and the Wildcats down the stretch, but the loss to LSU was the turning point that season.
The Cats got hot and turned things around, winning five of their last six games and defeating Clemson 28-20 in the Music City Bowl. They came within five points of ending a decades-long losing streak to Tennessee and set the tone for the final three years of the Brooks era.
The "LS Who?" victory at Kroger Field took place 20 years ago and helped ease the pain of a 33-30 loss to the Tigers on a Hail Mary pass play in the closing seconds that stunned the Kentucky contingent after watching late coach Guy Morriss receive a Gatorade bath prematurely minutes earlier.
Two decades after the milestone win, the Wildcats have a chance to give first-year Wildcats coach Will Stein his first signature win at home.
The Wildcats are going all out, bringing back the Power K helmets and attire that were ditched more than three decades ago against an LSU team that is now coached by Lane Kiffin, who is 4-1 against the Wildcats.
All five of Kiffin's games against Kentucky while coaching at Tennessee and Ole Miss, respectively, were decided by seven points or less, with two of those games decided in overtime.
As indicated by the past, the games with Kiffin are close, and this one will be no different to open the second month of the season.
Photo courtesy of UK Athletics
