Kentucky might be the only school in the SEC where the football team gets overshadowed by the basketball team. At times, the program has been overlooked on campus, and cheap Kentucky football tickets have been widely available. But the Wildcats have found a way to hold their own on the football field. Nowadays, when the Wildcats are playing one of their SEC rivals, scoring last-minute Kentucky football tickets can be something special.

The Great Bear

Most fans realize that Kentucky doesn’t have the greatest football tradition. But most don’t know that the great Paul “Bear” Bryant coached at Kentucky before his days at Alabama. Needless to say, Bryant’s eight seasons with the Wildcats were some of the best in program history. Bryant took Kentucky to its first four bowl games in program history and also led the Wildcats to their first SEC championship in 1950.

21st Century Resurgence

After Bryant left Kentucky after the 1953 season, it took the Wildcats nearly a quarter-century to get back to another bowl game. The second half of the 20th century was not particularly kind to Kentucky football, as the Wildcats won just one SEC title, sharing the honors with Georgia in 1976. But head coach Rich Brooks helped get the program on track, starting a string of five consecutive bowl berths in 2006 to get the ball rolling.

On My Stoop

Mark Stoops also had success in rebuilding the program, practically from scratch. Stoops coached a 2-10 team during his first season in 2013. But five years later, he led Kentucky to its best season in program history when the Wildcats went 10-3, won the Citrus Bowl, and finished the season no. 12 in the AP poll. It was the first true taste of success for the Wildcats since the days of Bear Bryant and a sign that Kentucky can be more than a basketball school.