Kentucky vs. Vanderbilt
95 of their 98 meetings are on file: they first met in 1896, and the earliest on file is 1906; officially, Kentucky leads 48–45–4; as played, 49–42–4 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s Kentucky 7–3, and Vanderbilt has won the last 2. The NCAA vacated Kentucky’s win (2021); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played. Share
- Official series
- Kentucky leads 48–45–4
- Kentucky wins on file
- 49
- Vanderbilt wins on file
- 42
- Ties
- 4
- Earliest on file
- 1906 first met 1896
- Longest streak
- 7 Vanderbilt
- Current streak
- 2 Vanderbilt
- Last 10 meetings
- Kentucky 7–3
- Most recent
- 2025
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 0–2 | ||||||||||
| 1910s | 0–4–1 | ||||||||||
| 1920s | 0–5 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 1–2 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 2–4–1 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 3–3–1 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 7–2–1 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 8–2 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 5–5 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 7–3 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 6–4 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 3–3 |
- Both ranked
- 1 meeting: Kentucky 1, Vanderbilt 0
- Average margin
- 13.7 points; 37 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At Kentucky
- 26–17–2 Kentucky’s record at home
- At Vanderbilt
- 25–23–2 Vanderbilt’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 18
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- Kentucky’s biggest win1978: Kentucky 53, Vanderbilt 2by 51 points
- Vanderbilt’s biggest win1916: Vanderbilt 45, Kentucky 0by 45 points
- Upset2022: Vanderbilt 24, Kentucky 21Vanderbilt had a 16% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset2024: Vanderbilt 20, Kentucky 13Vanderbilt had a 26% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1939: Kentucky 21, Vanderbilt 13Kentucky had a 27% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown1947: Kentucky 14, Vanderbilt 0No. 20 Kentucky at No. 10 Vanderbilt
Coach against coach
| Years | Kentucky | Series | Vanderbilt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920–1922 | William Juneau | 0–3 | Dan McGugin |
| 1940–1942 | A.D. Kirwan | 0–2–1 | Red Sanders |
| 1946–1948 | Bear Bryant | 2–1 | Red Sanders |
| 1954–1961 | Blanton Collier | 4–3–1 | Arthur Guepe |
| 1963–1966 | Charley Bradshaw | 3–0–1 | Jack Green |
| 1969–1972 | John Ray | 2–2 | Bill Pace |
| 1975–1978 | Fran Curci | 3–1 | Fred Pancoast |
| 1979–1981 | Fran Curci | 3–0 | George MacIntyre |
| 1982–1985 | Jerry Claiborne | 2–2 | George MacIntyre |
| 1986–1989 | Jerry Claiborne | 3–1 | Watson Brown |
| 1991–1994 | Bill Curry | 0–4 | Gerry DiNardo |
| 1997–2000 | Hal Mumme | 3–1 | Woody Widenhofer |
| 2003–2009 | Rich Brooks | 5–2 | Bobby Johnson |
| 2014–2020 | Mark Stoops | 6–1 | Derek Mason |
| 2021–2025 | Mark Stoops | 2–3 | Clark Lea |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Kentucky’s side (Juneau 0–3 against McGugin). 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.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Diego Pavia Vanderbilt | 33 of 39, 484 yards, 5 TD, 1 INT | 2025 Passing | |
| Andre’ Woodson Kentucky | 29 of 42, 450 yards, 4 TD | 2006 Passing | |
| Jay Cutler Vanderbilt | 39 of 66, 395 yards, 5 TD | 2005 Passing | |
| Rafael Little Kentucky | 28 carries, 198 yards, 3 TD | 2005 Rushing | |
| Earl Bennett Vanderbilt | 11 catches, 220 yards, 1 TD | 2006 Receiving | |
| Maxwell Hairston Kentucky | 4 tackles, 2 INT, 2 TD | 2023 Defense |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1911 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Nov 12, 1911
1916 · The Birmingham age-herald, Oct 15, 1916
1917 · The Birmingham age-herald, Alabama, Oct 21, 1917
1918 · The Birmingham age-herald, Nov 3, 1918
1919 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Nov 2, 1919
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
| 2025 | ABC | 1.1 million viewers |
Viewers: Nielsen, as compiled by nschultz7’s ratings tracker.
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.