Teams' Belt Records

Previous Belt Meetings: None

The top-ranked, 3-0 Florida Gators of coach Urban Meyer traveled to Lexington to meet the 2-0 Kentucky Wildcats with coach Rich Brooks.  The Gators jumped to a 31-0 lead in the 1^st quarter on their way to a 41-7 rout of the Wildcats.  The only blemish Florida suffered came in the 3^rd quarter when All-SEC QB Tim Tebow was knocked unconscious when sacked by Kentucky's DE Taylor Wyndham.  The hit came when the Gators were deep in Wildcats' territory & holding a 31-7 advantage.  Tebow was hit cleanly but when he fell his head hit the knee of Florida's OT Marcus Gilbert & the quarterback lay motionless for several minutes before walking off the field.  He had to be ambulanced from the stadium.  Prior to the injury, Tebow's rushing & leadership were helping Gators build an insurmountable lead.  Florida got a 22-yard field goal from PK Caleb Sturgis on their opening drive & when the defense forced Kentucky to punt from their own 5-yard line, the Gators had the ball back at the Wildcats' 36-yard line.  A penalty against Kentucky, a 14-yard run by Tebow, a 10-yard run by RB Jeff Demps, set-up Tebow's 3-yard touchdown run for a 10-0 Florida led midway through the opening quarter.  Gators' RB Chris Rainey recovered a blocked Wildcats' punt & ran 23 yards for another score as Florida pushed the lead to 17-0.  The Gators' next drive covered 58 yards in 6 plays with Tebow carrying the final 2 yards for a 24-0 lead with 2:09 left in the 1^st quarter.  As the quarter ended, Tebow threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to All-American TE Aaron Hernandez as Florida closed opening stanza with a 31-0 advantage.  Kentucky's only score came after a 14-play, 58-yard drive in the 2^nd quarter with QB Mike Hartline throwing a 2-yard touchdown pass to TE Ross Bogue.  After Tebow was knocked out of the game in the 3^rd quarter, Sturgis kicked a 32-yard field goal & the Gators finished the scoring with a 8-yard touchdown pass from back-up QB John Brantley to WR Riley Cooper in the 4^th quarter.  Tebow finished with 103 yards passing with a touchdown as well as 123 yards rushing with 2 scores.  Hartline threw for 85 yards with a touchdown & 2 interceptions in the loss.  Florida finished the season 13-1, ranked 3^rd nationally while the Wildcats finished 7-6.  Kentucky would play for The Belt again in 2010.