1976 Kentucky Wildcats football team

1976 Kentucky Wildcats football
Peach Bowl Champions
Peach Bowl, W 21-0 vs. North Carolina
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
AP	No. 18
1976 record	8-4 (4-2 SEC)
Head coach	Fran Curci
Home stadium	Commonwealth Stadium

1976 SEC football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#10 Georgia $	5	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
#11 Alabama	5	–	2	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
#20 Mississippi State	4	–	2	–	0	9	–	2	–	0
Florida	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
#18 Kentucky	4	–	2	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Ole Miss	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
LSU	2	–	4	–	0	6	–	4	–	1
Tennessee	2	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Auburn	2	–	4	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	6	–	0	2	–	9	–	0

$ – Conference champion Mississippi State later forfeited all 1976 wins due to NCAA violations. Rankings from AP Poll

The 1976 Kentucky Wildcats football team represented the University of Kentucky in the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. The Wildcats beat four different ranked teams during the season, scoring 209 points while allowing 151 points. Kentucky won the 1976 Peach Bowl and finished the season 8-4 and ranked #19 in the country.

Season

Kentucky opened the season with a 38-13 victory over Oregon State. Next was a 16-37 loss at Kansas. The following week, Kentucky defeated West Virginia 14-10.^[1]

On October 10,^[1] Kentucky hosted #20 ranked Penn State.^[2] The 57,733 in attendance was the largest crowd ever for a football game in the state of Kentucky up to that time.^[2] Kentucky quarterback Derrick Ramsey ran for 95 yards and a touchdown; running back Chris Hill added 106 yards and a touchdown, and safety Rick Hayden had two intereceptions.^[2] Kentucky held Penn State to 212 yards of total offense and won 22-6.^[1] Penn State coach Joe Paterno commented after the game, "That was a good football team we played. What can you say after you get the devil kicked out of you?"^[2]

That victory was followed by a 7-14 loss at Mississippi State, a team that would finish the season with a 9-2 record.^[1] The following week, Kentucky defeated LSU 21-7.^[1] A 7-31 loss to Georgia was next, followed by a 14-24 loss at Maryland.^[1]

Kentucky went undefeated in November, defeating Vanderbilt 14-0 and Florida 28-9, and beating Tennessee 7-0 in Knoxville.^[1]

Kentucky finished the season in the 1976 Peach Bowl against 9-2 North Carolina,^[1] ranked #18.^[3] Kentucky outgained North Carolina 334 yards to 109; the Wildcat defense held the Tar Heels to a total of five first downs and the Wildcats forced five turnovers.^[4] Kentucky won 21-0 and ended the season ranked #19 in the AP poll.^[1]^[3]^[4]

Schedule

Date	Opponent^#	Site	Result
September 11	Oregon State*	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 38-13
September 18	at No. 13 Kansas*	Memorial Stadium • Lawrence, KS	L 16-37
September 25	West Virginia*	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 14-10
October 2	No. 20 Penn State*	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 22-6
October 9	at Mississippi State	Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium • Jackson, MS (Rivalry)	L 7-14
October 16	No. 16 LSU	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 21-7
October 23	No. 10 Georgia	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	L 7-31
October 30	at No. 5 Maryland*	Byrd Stadium • College Park, MD	L 14-24
November 6	at Vanderbilt	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 14-0
November 13	No. 15 Florida	Commonwealth Stadium • Lexington, KY	W 28-9
November 20	at Tennessee	Neyland Stadium • Knoxville, TN (Battle for the Barrel)	W 7-0
December 31	vs. No. 19 North Carolina	Fulton County Stadium • Atlanta, GA (Peach Bowl)	W 21-0
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll.

Team players in the 1977 NFL Draft

Player	Position	Round	Pick	NFL Club
Warren Bryant	Tackle	1	6	Atlanta Falcons
Randy Burke	Wide Receiver	1	26	Baltimore Colts

^[5]

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1976 Kentucky Wildcats games and scores
1 2 3 4 Story, Mark, UK football's greatest wins at Commonwealth, Lexington Herald-Leader, September 4, 2011
1 2 "AP Poll Archive". Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
1 2 2001 Kentucky Wildcats Football Media Guide, '1976 Peach Bowl', p. 166
↑ http://www.pro-football-reference.com/draft/1977.htm

Kentucky Wildcats football

Venues	Stoll Field/McLean Stadium (1916–1972) Commonwealth Stadium (1973–present) E.J. Nutter Training Facility (practice)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Centre Indiana Louisville (Governor's Cup) Mississippi State Tennessee Transylvania Vanderbilt

Culture & lore	The Wildcat Scratch Blue "On, On, U of K" "Kentucky Fight" Marching band 2003 Arkansas game

People	Head coaches Statistical leaders NFL draftees

Seasons	1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

National championship seasons in bold

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/20/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.