It’s been nearly 20 years since Kentucky pulled off one of the biggest wins in program history, toppling No. 1 LSU in a triple-overtime classic. Jacob Tamme still sees echoes of that 2007 team in this year’s Wildcats, and for him, it starts under center.
The former Kentucky tight end pointed to the quarterback play first, drawing a line between Andre Woodson and Kenny Minchey. In Tamme’s eyes, the resemblance isn’t just about style - it’s about poise.
“Our No. 3 back in my day and this No. 3 appear to have a lot in common to me, in my eyes. You said it in your question, that steadfast and steady; if you just look at Kenny Minchey, that’s all you see.
You can see the inner poise that he has. Now, he’s got some dog in him too.
You can see it come out. But dude, he’s cool, calm and collected,” said Tamme.
Tamme said Woodson had that same kind of steady presence, the sort of quarterback who keeps everything from unraveling when the pressure climbs.
“If you look back at Andre Woodson, that’s exactly how Andre was built. We always had a cool, calm, collected, and steady dude in the huddle that also could make plays, get the ball out on time to the right spot, which to be candid, I don’t think we’ve had that in our quarterback play for the last decade-ish.
Kenny gets the ball out on time to the right spot and has that inner poise, which is all that matters. It’s been fun to watch.”
Tamme also believes the broader feel of this Kentucky team matches what he remembers from 2007. He said that group had talent, but it also had a toughness that showed up when games got messy.
“I think our team in ’07 had a lot of grit. He had a lot of really good players, and also a lot of grit, something deep down, which all great teams have… I think this team has that same grit,” Tamme told 11 Personnel this week.
He tied that idea to the way Kentucky has handled games on the road, and to the way the offense has found production even with rough stretches on third down.
“You get into a game, and no football game is perfect. Look at how bad we’ve been on third down, both sides of the football, offensively in particular.
We have not been good on third down. We have been actually really efficient and good offensively.
How is that possible? We’ve been great on early downs, and pretty good on fourth, and we’ve had a lot of explosives.
Above and beyond all of that, we just have some grit.”
Tamme’s memories of that LSU upset are less about individual plays and more about the emotion that came with it. What stuck with him was the atmosphere after the win and the feeling around the program.
“Feeling the energy and excitement, that feeling in pride from our fanbase in the football program was what I remember about that game. I don’t remember the specific plays other than a couple.
I was really fortunate to play in a bunch of games over my career. I don’t remember specific plays from almost any of them; here and there.
But the feeling of what we had accomplished by beating that team and the celebration of that with the fanbase and all of Big Blue Nation, I remember that feeling.”
He also said he spent part of his NFL career talking trash to former LSU players, which only added to how that night lingered for him. But for Tamme, the bigger takeaway is simple: the 2007 Wildcats had grit, and he sees the same quality in this team now.
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