I am old enough to remember when the Kentucky Wildcats football program produced more heartbreak than Jake Gyllenhaal.
So the biggest change Mark Stoops has wrought in Kentucky football is this: When games get tough, the Wildcats have become increasingly resourceful in finding ways to win.
No. 22 Kentucky's gutty, back-from-the-dead, 20-17 victory over No. 15 Iowa (10-4) in Saturday's VRBO Citrus Bowl deserves to be remembered as one of the more inspirational wins in UK sports history.
Due to a mix of injuries, COVID-19 testing and contact-tracing issues, UK (10-3) was playing without five starters and four other important contributors.
Hit particularly hard was the Kentucky defensive front, which was without five players, including its star end (Josh Paschal), best edge rusher (J.J. Weaver) and starting middle linebacker (Jacquez Jones).
Once the game started, the UK offense blew a chance to put Iowa in a deep first-half hole when it turned three trips inside the Iowa 10-yard line into only 13 points.
That failure to maximize opportunity allowed Iowa to storm back from a 13-3 deficit to take a 17-13 lead in the fourth quarter.
After Iowa rallied from 10 down to up four under the blaring Orlando, Florida, sun, the depleted Wildcats defensive front appeared to be out of petrol.
As a result, it seemed really bad news that Kentucky had put itself into the position of needing its defense to stop Iowa down the stretch just to get the ball back for a chance to rally.
Meanwhile, a reshuffled UK offensive line — necessitated by the unavailability due to injury of starting left tackle Dare Rosenthal — could not keep Iowa pass rushers off of quarterback Will Levis (sacked six times, hit many more).
As a result, it seemed really bad news that Kentucky had put itself in position of needing to pass to win.
Yet with a motley collection of backups — including players who have already placed their names in the transfer portal — playing key roles for the Cats, the UK defense forced not one but two Iowa three-and-outs.
After the second one, what had been leaky Kentucky pass protection stiffened just enough that quarterback Levis could get the ball to the remarkable Wan'Dale Robinson for four receptions and 76 yards that marched the Cats to the cusp of the Iowa goal line.
That put Kentucky star running back Chrisopher Rodriguez in position to run through an attempted tackle for loss by Iowa's best defensive lineman, end Zach VanValkenburg, in the UK backfield and score the go-ahead touchdown on a 6-yard run.
What were the odds? A UK two-minute offense that had flailed through most of 2021 came up huge on the first day of 2022.
"We haven't been very successful in two-minute drives so far this year, so it's great to see the work on that pay off in the biggest moment possible," Levis said.
All of that set up the dramatic finish, in which Kentucky senior linebacker DeAndre Square — previously ruled out of the game after suffering an ankle injury — made the game-sealing interception while essentially playing on one leg.
"Somehow, someway, we fought our way out of it," UK's Stoops said.
Before our eyes, we are watching Kentucky football rewrite its prevailing narrative.
Counting the Iowa win, UK went 5-1 in one-possession games (decided by eight points or less) in the 2021 season. During what is now a six-year Kentucky bowl streak, the Wildcats are 20-9 in such contests.
Those late-game heroics vs. Iowa — Robinson's clutch receptions, Square's one-legged pick — are only the latest scenes on a growing reel of moments that reflect UK football's changing storyline.
Run them back in your mind:
Jacquez Jones knocking away Florida's final pass as the Kentucky defense stopped UF on seven straight plays in the red zone in September to preserve a 20-13 upset of the No. 10 Gators.
Lynn Bowden — a wide receiver playing QB — throwing a touchdown pass to Josh Ali in the final seconds at the end of an 18-play, 85-yard drive to beat Virginia Tech in the 2019 Belk Bowl.
Josh Allen stripping the ball from Feleipe Franks on the last play in 2018 to preserve Kentucky's first win over Florida in 32 years.
Stephen Johnson diving into the end zone in the final minute to beat Tennessee in 2017.
Austin MacGinnis booming game-winning field goals in the final seconds to sink Mississippi State and No. 11 Louisville in 2016.
While the financial-services firms tell us that past results are no guarantee of future performance, I'm not sure that is fully true in sports.
Just as UK football once had a penchant for soul-crushing defeats that seemed self-perpetuating, coming through when it matters can also become a habit.
Against historical program precedent, Kentucky has begun building a history of such successes to be drawn upon in the future.
