Alabama vs. Kentucky
Alabama and Kentucky have 43 meetings on file, the first in 1917; Alabama leads the series 40–2–1 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Alabama 9–1, and Alabama has won the last 9. Share
- Alabama wins
- 40
- Kentucky wins
- 2
- Ties
- 1
- Earliest on file
- 1917
- Longest streak
- 16 Alabama
- Current streak
- 9 Alabama
- Last 10 meetings
- Alabama 9–1
- Most recent
- 2026
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 1–0 | ||||||||||
| 1920s | 7–1 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 9–0–1 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 7–0 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 2–0 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 4–0 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 1–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 4–0 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 2–0 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 3–0 |
- Both ranked
- 2 meetings: Alabama 1, Kentucky 0
- Average margin
- 20.7 points; 7 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Alabama
- 22–0 Alabama’s record at home
- At Kentucky
- 2–18–1 Kentucky’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 17
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Alabama’s biggest win2020: Alabama 63, Kentucky 3by 60 points
- Kentucky’s biggest win1997: Kentucky 40, Alabama 34by 6 points
- Upset1997: Kentucky 40, Alabama 34Kentucky had a 33% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1947: Alabama 13, Kentucky 0No. 18 Alabama at No. 13 Kentucky
- Ranked showdown1939: Alabama 7, Kentucky 7 (tie)No. 19 Alabama at No. 15 Kentucky
Coach against coach
| Years | Alabama | Series | Kentucky |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1924–1926 | Wallace Wade | 3–0 | Fred Murphy |
| 1927–1930 | Wallace Wade | 4–0 | Harry Gamage |
| 1931–1933 | Frank Thomas | 3–0 | Harry Gamage |
| 1934–1937 | Frank Thomas | 4–0 | C.A. Wynne |
| 1938–1944 | Frank Thomas | 5–0–1 | A.D. Kirwan |
| 1973–1981 | Bear Bryant | 3–0 | Fran Curci |
| 2013–2023 | Nick Saban | 4–0 | Mark Stoops |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Alabama’s side (Wade 3–0 against Murphy). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
From the newspapers
1917 · The Birmingham age-herald, Alabama, Nov 18, 1917
1922 · The Birmingham age-herald, Alabama, Nov 19, 1922
1923 · The Birmingham age-herald, Alabama, Nov 11, 1923
1924 · The Birmingham age-herald, Alabama, Nov 9, 1924
1927 · Evening star, Nov 6, 1927
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
On television
| 2026 | ABC | 7.3 million viewers |
Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field.