Kentucky must have learned this trick from the Gumps Bryant coached at the University of Kentucky for eight seasons. Under Bryant, Kentucky made its first bowl appearance (1947) and won its first Southeastern Conference title (1950). The 1950 Kentucky team concluded its season with a victory over Bud Wilkinson's #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners in the Sugar Bowl. The living players from the 1950 team were honored during halftime of a game during the 2005 season. Bryant also led Kentucky to appearances in the Great Lakes Bowl, Orange Bowl, and Cotton Bowl Classic. Kentucky's final AP poll rankings under Bryant included #11 in 1949, #7 in 1950, #15 in 1951, #20 in 1952 and #16 in 1953. The 1950 season was Kentucky's highest rank until it finished #6 in the final 1977 AP poll, but was eventually recognized as a national champion. (Kentucky was actually not given a National Championship in 1950. A computer simulation by Jeff Sagarin in 1996, roughly 46 years after the fact, estimated that Kentucky was possibly the best team that year. Kentucky is not recognized as having National Championship in football by the NCAA, the AP, the UPI or any other recognized authority; it should be noted that during the time, the final polls came before the postseason games; the AP experimented with it in 1965, but made it permanent after 1968; the coaches' poll final poll was moved to after postseason games in 1974.).
