Kentucky gets its 1st win, and its doubted defense was the main reason why
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Game day: Kentucky 24, Mississippi State 2
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Mississippi State football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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For the first time in 2020, defense ruled the day for the Kentucky Wildcats. And for the first time this year, they came out on top.
It was as ugly a win as you’ll see, but it was a victory nonetheless: UK ruined Mike Leach’s homecoming, grounding his famous Air Raid offense in a 24-2 decision at Kroger Field on Saturday.
A Kentucky defense that failed to generate a single turnover in its first two games came away with six against the Bulldogs. Their six interceptions, all by a different defender, tied one other game for the second most in a single game in school history (Xavier in 1948). The school record for single-game interceptions, seven, was set against Florida in 1993.
Quarterback Terry Wilson was held to 73 yards on 8-for-20 passing but led the Cats in rushing with 50 yards on 13 carries.
How it happened
Kentucky drove into Bulldogs territory on its first possession but was forced to punt from their 47. Max Duffy pinned them at the Cats’ 5-yard line, and UK quickly got the ball back at the Bulldogs’ 46. The Cats were stalled again, this time at State’s 37.
A pass breakup by Cedrick Dort Jr. ended a streak of four straight completions by K.J. Costello and forced a second State punt, which rolled to UK’s 11. After a false start pushed it back 5 yards, the Cats appeared to recover a fumble and get tackled for a safety in their own end zone. But the officials following video review nullified the Bulldogs score, ruling that the play resulting in a safety was actually an incomplete pass. Kentucky failed to advance very far after that and punted a third time.
Mississippi State strung together its best drive up to that point — 24 yards on 10 plays — but a false start and incomplete pass stunted their movement at UK’s 38. A 56-yard field goal try was a few yards short.
Wilson made up for a second-and-6 sack with a 51-yard rush to the Bulldogs’ 14-yard line. A.J. Rose carried it 2 yards further before Wilson threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Keaton Upshaw to give UK a 7-0 lead with 12:13 to play in the first half.
A 15-yard penalty, the Bulldogs’ fourth foul of the game, helped Kentucky get them off the field again without points. The Cats started at their own 13 and were forced to punt again.
Mississippi State drove 47 yards, its longest trip on offense in the first half, before a second-and-5 pass by Costello was intercepted by Josh Paschal and returned 76 yards to the Bulldogs’ 2-yard line. The turnover, UK’s first of the season, was turned into a touchdown one play later by Chris Rodriguez. Kentucky got its second turnover later in the same quarter when Jamin Davis intercepted Costello in the end zone to finish off the first half.
The Bulldogs to start the second half turned the ball over on downs in their own territory, but Kentucky failed to capitalize after a fumble by A.J. Rose. It was forced and recovered by Fred Peters at his team’s 25-yard line. State didn’t have it back long, though: Costello four plays later was picked off by Kelvin Joseph. UK went three-and-out for the third time, however, and Duffy’s punt was returned to the Bulldogs’ 35. Costello was flagged for an illegal forward pass, forcing a fourth-down punt to end a short series.
UK’s next drive provided MSU its first points: a bad snap shot past Max Duffy, who eventually kicked it through the Cats’ end zone for a safety. Will Rogers, a true freshman making his college debut, replaced Costello on the Bulldogs’ next series but the result was unchanged; their punt was downed at UK’s 2-yard line.
The Cats went three-and-out and the ensuing punt was returned to their 41. Rogers drove Mississippi State to UK’s 18, but a pass that at first appeared to be completed was ripped out of Osirus Mitchell’s hands by Jamar “Boogie” Watson for a fourth Wildcat interception. The Cats again went three-and-out, and then punted once more after forcing a three and out by the Bulldogs, before adding their third touchdown on an interception return, an 8-yard score by Jordan Wright.
Matt Ruffolo made a 35-yard field goal with 49 seconds left following a 22-yard drive quarterbacked by Joey Gatewood, making his debut as a Wildcat. True freshman D’Eryk Jackson ran out the game clock with — what else? — an interception.
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 11:01 PM.
