Kentucky 10 - 7 Tennessee (Final)

I know that Eric is very happy that his guy, Joker Phillips, pulled out a huge win over the Tennessee Volunteers to end the nation's longest continuous losing streak of one D-1 team against another at 26. And so am I. But before we stop talking about the streak, let's figure out how UK got into such a mess.

I personally believe that this streak was the single most embarrassing record in college football. Consider the following facts:

1. While Tennessee is a pretty good football team, the Vols are hardly an overwhelming power. Of the 26 Tennessee teams that beat Kentucky, only five won or tied for the SEC title.

2. The University of Kentucky and the University of Tennessee are both public schools with very similar demographics. This isn't like Navy vs. Notre Dame or Vandy vs. Florida.

3. The Tennessee game is Kentucky's last game of the year every single year. The end of the year rivalry is the life's blood of college football. It's supposed to be the whole "throw out the record books" deal. If anything, you would expect Kentucky to pull more upsets against Tennessee than against schools like Georgia, Alabama, or LSU.

4. It's pretty unusual for anything to happen 26 times in a row. The odds of probability are against it. For example, assume that one team has a 95 percent chance of beating another team in a single matchup. The favored team's chances of winning 14 such matchups in a row is less than 50 percent. The favored team's chances of winning 26 such matchups in a row is only 26.3 percent.

So how can we explain this extraordinary streak? I think there were two factors at work. First, Tennessee did have some good fortune -- a lot of the games in the streak were quite close, and several of them went to overtime. But second, and more important, I don't think Kentucky was coming into this game with the sort of red-hot intensity you would expect from an underdog in a college rivalry game. As I wrote last year, I think that's a mistake. To me, the number one goal of the UK football team should be to beat Tennessee. That's UK's rival, and you're supposed to beat your rival. Period.

Now UK has finally done so, and we will hope that they do so again. Maybe some of the bad luck that's worked against them in recent years will start to even out. But my guess is that Tennessee will be back with a new coach and a much stronger program in the near future. It will be interesting to see how Kentucky responds.

Mitch Barnhart came out with a number of strong statements today supporting Joker Phillips -- even before the game was played. I don't understand this at all. While I certainly wish Joker Phillips all the best in the world, I just haven't seen any evidence that he is a unique talent or that Kentucky should be making a huge effort to keep him. In two years at Kentucky, he has gone 4-12 in SEC play. This year his only conference wins were against a Mississippi team that has already fired its coach, and a Tennessee that should certainly do so. He also lost to Vandy by a score of 38-8; something that should never happen to any coach.

Anyway, I know some people will think this post is too negative for such a glorious day. So let me say that I am very, very happy Kentucky won this game -- and I would like to have this feeling again before 2038.