The 1947 Kentucky Wildcats football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

as a member of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

during the 1947 college football season. In its second season under head coach Bear Bryant, the team compiled an 8–3 record (2–3 against SEC opponents), defeated Villanova in the

Great Lakes Bowl The Great Lakes Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was played only once, on December 6, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Villanova Wildcats. The game was played at Cleveland Stadium with attendance o ...

, and outscored all opponents by a total of 175 to 73. The team played its home games at

McLean Stadium Stoll Field/McLean Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was the home of the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team. The field has been in use since 1880, but the concrete stands were opened in Oc ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. The 1947 Kentucky team was ranked in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

during three weeks of the season: No. 20 on October 13; No. 14 on October 20; and No. 13 on October 27. Kentucky dropped out of the poll after losing its second game to

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. The team was ranked at No. 29 in the final

Litkenhous Ratings The Litkenhous Difference by Score Ratings system was a mathematical system used to rank football and basketball teams. The Litrating system was developed by Vanderbilt University professor Edward E. Litkenhous (1907 – December 22, 1984) and his b ...

. Three Kentucky players were honored on the 1947 All-SEC football teams selected by both the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

(AP) and

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

(UP): center

Jay Rhodemyre Jay Rhodemyre (June 29, 1923 – June 7, 1968) was a former center in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the seventh round of the 1948 NFL Draft and would play four seasons with the team. Rhodemyer atte ...

(AP-1; UP-1); tackle

Wash Serini William Washington Serini (March 11, 1922 – June 21, 1994) was a guard in the National Football League. He played four seasons with the Chicago Bears before playing his final season with the Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a p ...

(AP-2); and guard Lee Yarutis (AP-3). Junior

George Blanda George Frederick Blanda (September 17, 1927 – September 27, 2010) was an American football placekicker and quarterback who played professionally in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL). Blanda played 26 seasons ...

was Kentucky's starting quarterback in 1947 and 1948. Blanda later played 26 years in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and set the league's all-time scoring record.

Schedule

References

{{Kentucky Wildcats football navbox

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Kentucky Wildcats football seasons

Kentucky Wildcats football The Kentucky Wildcats football program represents the University of Kentucky in the sport of American football. The Wildcats compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern D ...