Kentucky ends 17-game losing streak at Tennessee with authoritative victory
READ MORE
Game day: Kentucky 34, Tennessee 7
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee football game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.
Expand All
“Rocky Top” was not home sweet home for Tennessee on Saturday.
Kentucky, a loser of 17 straight in Knoxville, never trailed in a 34-7 victory over the Volunteers.
It was the Wildcats’ first win at Tennessee since 1984, and their first victory in the series since a 2017 decision at Kroger Field.
Quarterback Terry Wilson was 12 of 15 for 101 yards and a touchdown throw. Chris Rodriguez rushed for a team-high 73 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Three interceptions by Kentucky defenders in the first half set the tone, helping the Wildcats build a 17-0 lead and never look back.
How it happened
A.J. Rose picked up 3 yards on the Cats’ first play but they failed to move any further on their first series. Tennessee marched into field-goal range but a 6-yard sack by Jamar “Boogie” Watson, wearing Chris Oats’ No. 22 jersey, on third-and-11 forced a UT punt.
A fumble by Josh Ali after picking up a first down near midfield put the ball back into the Volunteers’ hands. Soon after converting a fourth-and-3 pass to Kentucky’s 34, however, UT quarterback Jarrett Guarantano fumbled and it was recovered by backup nose guard Marquan McCall.
Back-to-back completions from Wilson, for 8 yards to Justin Rigg and 10 yards to Allen Dailey, and a rush by Rodriguez got Kentucky to midfield on its third drive but a holding penalty (assessed to Drake Jackson) and multiple negative plays kept the Cats from advancing.
Tennessee’s next drive was short-lived: it picked up 20 yards over four plays before Kelvin Joseph jumped a route and returned an interception 41 yards for a touchdown, giving Kentucky a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Volunteers’ next drive went deeper — to Kentucky’s 36 — but Guarantano was picked off again, this time by Jamin Davis, who returned it 85 yards to extend UK’s lead to 14-0.
Yet another interception, by Ty Ajian, set up a field goal by Matt Ruffolo (Wilson put a touchdown pass right into the hands of Keaton Upshaw, but it was dropped a play earlier). Tennessee responded with its first scoring drive, a 75-yard march that ended with 10 straight rushes and a touchdown run by Ty Chandler to get the Vols on the board before halftime.
Tennessee went three-and-out to open the second half. Kentucky started its next drive at its own 24 but used a couple of big plays — a 16-yard reception to Ali from Wilson and a 25-yard rush by Rodriguez — to get into UT territory. Rodriguez rushed three more times, picking up a third-and-short, before Wilson pushed the ball to the goal line with a carry. Rodriguez attempted to punch it in on the next play and was stalled, but Wilson followed that with a TD throw to the corner of the end zone to Allen Dailey Jr. to make it 24-7, Wildcats, with 7:24 left in the third quarter.
UT again went three and out and UK again capitalized. It drove to the Volunteers’ 9-yard line but couldn’t get further and had to settle for a second Ruffolo field goal to swell the lead to 27-7 with 1:02 left in the period.
Tennessee was forced to punt to start the fourth quarter. Kentucky with 54 yards on seven plays; Chris Rodriguez drove in the dagger to make it 34-7 with 10:54 left to play.
Next game
Kentucky at Missouri
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 3:05 PM.
.JPG)
