Kentucky RB Jojo Kemp Foolish to Trash-Talk the Florida Gators

The last time Kentucky beat Florida was November 1986, a little more than halfway through the Reagan Administration. Its 27 consecutive losses in the interim represent the longest active team-to-team losing streak in the FBS.

But apparently, making history for all the wrong reasons has not humbled this current batch of Wildcats, headlined by sophomore running back Jojo Kemp, who all but guaranteed a UK victory after practice Tuesday afternoon.

"A couple of my (high school) teammates actually went to Florida, so I'm familiar with a lot of those guys," Kemp told Kyle Tucker of The Courier-Journal. "It's going to be fun walking out with a victory and rubbing it in their faces."

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Head coach Mark Stoops has Kentucky moving in the right direction, so it's understandable for Kemp—and ostensibly a good deal of his teammates—to think this way before playing Florida. The Wildcats deserve to feel good about themselves after starting 2-0, especially after losing last year's season opener to Western Kentucky.

But there's a locker room beneath Commonwealth Stadium where those feelings of confidence should stay. That's the beauty of a locker room, after all: The other team can't hear what's said within it.

Because no matter how good the Wildcats have looked these first two weeks—and no matter how bad Florida looked in 2013—they do not have the athletes to beat an indignant, motivated, actively inspired Gators team on Saturday.

That's not how these losing streaks end.

These losing streaks end when the underdog catches the favorite napping—or at least starting to semi-doze off. Even last year, when the Gators were at their most vulnerable, they beat Kentucky by 17 points in Lexington. Why wake them up with no need?

Why provide them literal bulletin board material?

Florida did not need the extra motivation after last year's embarrassing 4-8 finish, but now the Gators have it anyway. Now, instead of coming out of the tunnel angry, they're going to come out extra angry. Instead of wanting to win the game just to win the game, they will also want Kentucky to lose.

Kemp will feel the brunt of this the first few times he runs up the middle Saturday, the first few times he's greeted by Dante Fowler, Darious Cummings, Michael Taylor and Antonio Morrison. He'll understand the lunacy of poking a tired bear with a stick.

Taylor, for one, has already taken time to fire back; and Stoops admitted he was furious when he learned what Kemp had said:

When you've been pummeled in the mouth 27 times in a row, you don't get up from the mat, punch-drunk, and wildly ask, "Is that all you got?" You don't beg for that 28th haymaker.

Especially when you're playing in The Swamp.

Kentucky at Florida kicks off Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network