Kentucky’s defense puts pride on the line, picks off 6 passes in 24-2 win
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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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Coming off a shootout that ended in a one-point loss, Kentucky found itself in an 0-2 hole with another offensive savant coming to town in Mike Leach, whose Air Raid offense spent its adolescence in Lexington.
Mississippi State racked up more yards than Kentucky, 295 to 157, but its offense failed to generate a single point in the Wildcats’ 24-2 win Saturday night at Kroger Field.
In fact, the Bulldogs finished with more turnovers (six, all interceptions) than points scored. It was the first time Kentucky held a Southeastern Conference opponent without an offensive score since a 25-0 shutout of Vanderbilt in 1996.
Kentucky’s six picks, all by different defenders, tied for the second most in a single game in school history (Xavier, 1948), and was only one shy of the seven passes intercepted against Florida in 1993.
After failing to generate a turnover in either of its first two games and giving up more points per game than almost every other team in the SEC, the Wildcats played one of their best games on that side of the ball since Mark Stoops was hired. The two points were the fewest UK has allowed in a game since 2009.
“We were just tired of giving up a lot of points and not showing everybody who we really are,” outside linebacker Jordan Wright said. “This week were were just trying to stay focused on that and play one for another. … Everybody was locked in and we took this like it was our last game. We were on it.”
Wright came up with Kentucky’s fifth interception and returned it eight yards for a touchdown to put the game on ice with 6:25 to play. Matt Ruffolo tacked on a field goal with 49 seconds left to make the difference, and true freshman D’Eryk Jackson soon after grabbed interception No. 6 near midfield as time expired.
Up until Wright’s lead-extending score, Kentucky clung to a 14-2 advantage despite getting next-to-nothing from its offense.
Following a missed field-goal attempt by the Bulldogs, the Cats drove 62 yards — the bulk of it via a 51-yard rush by quarterback Terry Wilson — and scored on a 12-yard pass from Wilson to Keaton Upshaw. UK went three-and-out on its next series but came up with its first interception of the night on Mississippi State’s ensuing possession; Josh Paschal picked off K.J. Costello and returned it 76 yards, setting up a 2-yard TD run by Chris Rodriguez on the next snap.
The Cats’ offense from that point — they took a 14-0 lead with 3:48 left in the first half — was dreadful: they netted over 33 yards on its final seven offensive series.
Head coach Mark Stoops expected some negative plays against the Bulldogs’ unusual 3-3-5 defense, but …
“We usually create our explosive plays, whether it’s in the run game or in the pass game,” Stoops said, “and that didn’t happen enough tonight. We just got stalled out. We didn’t run enough plays.”
Kentucky finished with 53 plays to Mississippi State’s 84, and averaged only 3 yards per play (the Bulldogs weren’t much better at 3.5 per play). It also lost its fourth fumble of the year; A.J. Rose coughed up the ball at Mississippi State’s 28 after the Bulldogs turned the ball over on downs in their own territory.
“Offensively, we’ve got to get some things corrected,” Stoops said. “It was aggravating and not good enough for us. We’ll go back to work and try to put it together completely. …
“A win’s a win and I’m really pleased with certain phases of the game today.”
Duffy difference
Max Duffy punted eight times for 359 yards on Saturday, an average of 44.9 yards per punt. His most heady play, though, came on a botched snap that sailed past him and toward the Wildcats’ goal line.
Instead of grabbing the ball and attempting to recover it, which would have put Mississippi State in the red zone, Duffy kicked the ball through the end zone for a safety. Those points, put on the board with 5:49 to play in the third quarter, turned out to be the only ones State would score all night.
“Amazing, really,” Stoops said of Duffy. “He really is. That momentum could have slipped away from us there with the bad snap.”
Kentucky has a new long snapper, Cade DeGraw, this season. The freshman up until that snafu had been perfect.
“Hopefully we won’t see that again, ‘cause he’s been really impressive for a freshman,” Stoops said.
Duffy handled the free kick that followed the safety, and delivered it 75 yards down the field to the Bulldogs’ 5-yard line. It was returned 11 yards and the subsequent Mississippi State drive ended at its own 32.
“To come back and boom that punt was really important, and really all night he did that,” Stoops said.
Etc.
▪ Paschal, UK’s starting defensive end, suffered a knee sprain late in the first half and did not play in the second half. “Hopefully it’s nothing major,” Stoops said. “We’ll see how it goes. Obviously, it was enough that he couldn’t go back in the game.”
▪ Backup nose guard Marquan McCall sat out Saturday because of a violation of team rules. He will be available at Tennessee next Saturday, Stoops said.
▪ Wide receiver Bryce Oliver missed his third straight game with an undisclosed injury.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 1:14 AM.
