Kentucky avoids the shutout but suffers another brutal SEC defeat
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Game day: Kentucky at South Carolina
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After staging a meltdown against Florida and digging itself into too-deep hole at Mississippi State, the Kentucky football team delivered one of its worst showings under head coach Mark Stoops on Saturday night.
South Carolina suffocated the Wildcats, holding them without a point for almost 58 minutes in a 24-7 decision at Williams-Brice Stadium. The Gamecocks pushed Kentucky’s losing streak to three straight and ended a five-game losing streak to the Wildcats in front of 80,828 fans.
UK, with a much-needed bye week up next, is winless (0-3) in Southeastern Conference play after defeating Toledo and Eastern Michigan to open the season. The Cats hadn’t lost three straight against SEC opponents since 2015, when it lost five straight from Oct. 15 to Nov. 14; three blowouts were sandwiched between tight defeats to Auburn (30-27) and Vanderbilt (21-17).
The Cats are off to their worst start in SEC play since 2013, Stoops’ first year in charge of the program. UK went 0-8 in conference play that season; a win over Vanderbilt in 2014 would end what had grown into a 17-game losing streak against SEC foes.
The Gamecocks’ offense wasn’t particularly potent, but no facet of UK’s offense ever got going. Kentucky never made it into the red zone until the game was nearly over.
Sawyer Smith finished 11 of 32 for 90 yards with an interception (and a few more passes that could’ve been). Chris Rodriguez led the Cats in rushing — 65 yards on six carries, all late in the contest — while Ahmad Wagner had 35 yards on two receptions.
UK finished with 212 total yards, its fewest since a 20-14 overtime loss at Texas A&M last year. The Wildcats avoided their first shutout since a 40-0 loss to Vanderbilt in 2012, Joker Phillips’ last season as the head coach, after Rodriguez punched it in from 2 yards out with 2:32 to play.
The Gamecocks on their first drive moved 75 yards on 11 plays in about 4 minutes to go up 7-0. UK advanced 15 yards on its first drive before Sawyer Smith threw an interception, his fourth of the season and his third straight turnover on an opening drive since taking over at Kentucky’s starting quarterback.
A shoestring tackle by Chris Oats on a 3rd and 6 pass kept South Carolina from capitalizing on the interception. UK got pinned inside its own 5 and failed to convert a first down, but a 49-yard punt by Max Duffy hit the foot of a South Carolina return man and was recovered by Brett Slusher. The Cats again couldn’t score; Justin Rigg was stopped a yard short on a fourth-and-6 reception.
The Gamecocks tacked on a field goal early in the second quarter. UK held them scoreless the rest of the half but couldn’t get on the board. It received to open the second half but quickly lost the ball on a fumble by Smith; Rico Dowdle rushed for a 30-yard TD on South Carolina’s first play after the recovery to make it 17-0.
Dowdle finished with 102 yards before leaving the game with an apparent leg injury. Tavien Feaster had 107 yards and scored twice for the Gamecocks, including their final TD in the fourth quarter.
Notes
▪ Jordan Griffin, Kentucky’s only scholarship senior in the secondary and a starting safety, did not start at South Carolina. He played fewer snaps than normal after suffering a leg injury at Mississippi State.
▪ Kash Daniel, a senior who last week was not awarded a captain’s title and was held out of the first quarter, was once again a captain and starter.
▪ Slusher, a senior walk-on who practiced with the team his freshman and sophomore seasons, has been a special teams participant in 15 of the Cats’ last 18 games, including every game this season. The former Beechwood High School standout was a Mr. Football finalist in 2015, the same year for which Daniel won the award out of Paintsville High School.
Next game
Arkansas at Kentucky
Saturday, Oct. 12 (Time and TV to be announced)
This story was originally published September 28, 2019 at 11:07 PM.
