LEXINGTON, Kentucky (Ticker) -- It took a while, but Chris Leak showed why he was one of the most heavily recruited players in the country.
The freshman directed three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter as 25th-ranked Florida rallied from a 17-point deficit to defeat Kentucky, 24-21, in a Southeastern Conference contest.
In danger of falling under .500 for the first time in 11 years, Florida (3-2, 1-1 SEC East) capped the comeback on Ron Carthon's one-yard TD run with 3:15 left.
The Gators recorded the biggest road comeback in school history, surpassing a 17-point comeback at South Carolina in 1993.
"As I told our football team, I'd rather not make it like that," Florida coach Ron Zook said. "We learned an awful lot today, though. Once again we've said we're a football team that's going to get better each game, and I think we'll continue to get better. We stunk it up in the first half."
Leak, just the fourth true freshman to start a game for Florida, completed 20-of-35 passes for 268 yards. He hit Kelvin Knight for the conversion pass to make it 24-21 as the Gators posted their 17th straight win over Kentucky. Florida has not lost in the series since 1986.
"He (Leak) did some things he know he can't do," Zook said. "We've said all along the only way he's going to get experience is if he plays. This was a big win for him."
The Wildcats (2-3, 0-2) reached Florida's 31-yard line on their ensuing possesion, but Taylor Begley badly missed a 50-yard field goal with 44 seconds left. His kick was wide right and well short.
"That's about as tough as it gets," Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said. "It was a game that I thought we did a lot of good things in and obviously had a chance to seal the deal and couldn't finish it."
Zook made a change after last week's loss to Tennessee, benching Ingle Martin in favor of Leak. For nearly three quarters, Florida sputtered on offense, managing only a 42-yard field goal by Matt Leach with just under six minutes left in the second period.
Arliss Beach rushed for three short touchdowns for the Wildcats, including a two-yard run that staked Kentucky to a 21-3 lead with 3:23 left in the third quarter.
"This game was a heartbreaker," Arliss said. "We thought we were going to win at the end."
The momentum turned when Kentucky was called for having 12 men on the field during a Florida punt on the ensuing possession. The Gators kept the ball and and took full advantage, closing to 21-9 on Leak's three-yard TD reception to Carlos Perez five seconds into the fourth quarter.
Kentucky cornerback Bo Smith appeared to end Florida's hopes, intercepting Leak inside the 5-yard line. But cornerback Keiwan Ratliff returned the ensuing punt to the Kentucky 29-yard line, setting up Leak's 10-yard TD pass to Perez with 4:46 left.
On the Wildcats' next series, Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen made a critical mistake. Instead of throwing the ball away while being rushed, he threw it up for grabs. Cornerback Johnny Lamar came up with an interception and returned it to the one-yard line.
"I saw the ball in the air and saw it as an opportunity to put our team on the scoreboard," Lamar said. "Unfortunately, I was knocked out at the 1."
But Two play later, Carthon scored to give Florida its first lead.
"Our guys just hung in there and kept grinding," Gators offensive tackle Max Starks said. "It was an awesome game, the kind of game you want to be a part of."
Kentucky controlled the game for nearly three quarters, rushing for 175 yards - 74 more than its season average.
Florida was held to only 93 yards on the ground, with Carthon running for only 43 yards on nine carries. The Gators' first four possessions resulted in two punts, an interception and fumble.
After Florida's first punt, Kentucky marched 42 yards on 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead on Beach's one-yard TD run with 8:08 left in the first period.
The Wildcats converted Florida's second turnover into a 14-0 lead on Beach's second one-yard TD burst with 6:38 remaining in the half.
Lorenzen completed 18-of-27 passes for 179 yards and also rushed 12 times for 36 yards. He moved past Shane Matthews into fourth place on the SEC's all-time total offense list with 9,305 yards. Lorenzen also become the seventh quarterback in SEC history to pass for more than 9,000 yards.
