UK football team to play eight home games at The New CWS in 2015
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The fall of 2015 will start a new chapter for the University of Kentucky football program with the opening of The New CWS, and fans can now start making plans for fall trips to Lexington as the Wildcats’ 2015 schedule, including eight home games, was released Tuesday night.
The challenging 2015 schedule includes non-conference home games against UL Lafayette, EKU, Charlotte and Louisville. Kentucky will play an eight-game Southeastern Conference schedule, facing SEC Eastern Division opponents Florida, Missouri and Tennessee at home and South Carolina, Georgia and Vanderbilt on the road. UK will host Auburn on a Thursday night in Lexington, before traveling to Mississippi State the following weekend to complete play against SEC Western Division opponents.
Kentucky will start its 2015 season at home on Sept. 5 against UL Lafayette, marking the second straight season UK has opened a season at home after neutral-site or true road game season openers the previous six seasons. The Wildcats start SEC play at Williams-Brice Stadium against South Carolina on Sept. 12, before returning to Lexington to start a four-game home stretch, including contests against Florida on Sept. 19 and Missouri on Sept. 26 to complete the month of September.
The Wildcats will leave conference play to start October, hosting in-state foe EKU on Oct. 3, before an open date on Oct. 10 and a Thursday home game vs. Auburn on Oct. 15. It will be Kentucky’s first-ever Thursday home game. Kentucky concludes the month of October by traveling to Mississippi State on Oct. 24 and hosting Tennessee on Oct. 31. It will be the earliest UK and UT have met since 1909.
UK starts November on the road, traveling to Georgia on Nov. 7 and Vanderbilt on Nov. 14. The VU game will conclude SEC action for the Wildcats as they play host to Charlotte on Nov. 21 and in-state rival Louisville on Nov. 28 to conclude regular-season play. It will be the first time UK has ended the regular season with consecutive non-conference games since joining the SEC in 1933.
For the 24th consecutive year, the 2015 regular season will culminate with the SEC Championship Game on Saturday, December 5 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The complete 2015 schedule and notes about the schedule are below.
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2015 Schedule Notes:
· UK has eight home games in 2015, the most in a single season since UK also had eight in 2007.
· It will be Kentucky’s first-ever meeting against UL Lafayette and Charlotte. Charlotte is currently a FCS Independent school, but will play its first season as an FBS team (Conference USA) in the fall of 2015.
· For the second consecutive season, the UK-UofL game will be on the final weekend of the regular season. Prior to 2014, the UK-UofL game had been played early in the season since the series renewed in 1994. The 2015 game will be the 22nd straight year the two rivals have met.
· Kentucky and Tennessee will face off in the month of October for the first time since 1909. It will only be the fourth time in UK’s 125-year history it has faced Tennessee in the month of October.
· It will mark the 111th all-time meeting between Kentucky and Tennessee, the most for UK vs. any one opponent. The two teams have met annually since 1919, except for 1943, when Kentucky did not field a team.
· Kentucky will start SEC play against South Carolina for the first time in program history. UK had opened SEC play each of the past six seasons against Florida.
· The Wildcats will have a four-game home stretch from Sept. 19 to Oct. 15, marking the longest home stand since the 2001 team started the season with four straight home games.
· UK’s open date will be Saturday, Oct. 10. UK has had two open dates each of the past two years.
· Kentucky’s game against Auburn will be on Thursday, Oct. 15. It will be the first Thursday home game in program history. UK has played several Thursday road games over the past few seasons (2007 at South Carolina; 2011 vs. WKU in Nashville, Tenn.; 2013 at Mississippi State).
· It will be Kentucky’s first meeting against Auburn since the Tigers’ National Championship season in 2010.
· UK’s permanent SEC West opponent, Mississippi State is on the schedule for the 26th straight season.
· Kentucky and EKU will meet for the first time since 2009. UK leads the series 3-0.
· UK ends the regular season with consecutive non-conference games for the first time since it entered the SEC in 1933.
2015 Kentucky Football Schedule
Date Opponent 2014 Record 2014 Ranking (as of Oct. 12)
Sept. 5 UL LAFAYETTE 2-3 not ranked
Sept. 12 at South Carolina 3-3 receiving votes in AP
Sept. 19 FLORIDA 3-2 not ranked
Sept. 26 MISSOURI 4-2 not ranked
Oct. 3 EKU 6-0 No. 12 in FCS Coaches’ Poll
Oct. 10 Open date – –
Oct. 15 (Thu.) AUBURN 5-1 No. 6 AP; No. 8 USA Today
Oct. 24 at Mississippi State 6-0 No. 1 AP; No. 1 USA Today
Oct. 31 TENNESSEE 3-3 not ranked
Nov. 7 at Georgia 5-1 No. 10 AP; No. 10 USA Today
Nov. 14 at Vanderbilt 2-5 not ranked
Nov. 21 CHARLOTTE 3-4 not ranked
Nov. 28 LOUISVILLE 5-2 receiving votes in AP
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