Kentucky finishes second in SEC East with 34-17 win at Vanderbilt
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Game day: Kentucky 34, Vanderbilt 17
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s Kentucky-Vanderbilt football game at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.
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Kentucky got off its three-game slide with a 34-17 victory at Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Wildcats improved to 7-3 with two games remaining in the regular season.
Let’s break down the impact of the result beyond the win-loss record.
Relief
UK came into the Vanderbilt game in bad shape on defense. The Commodores provided much-needed relief, at least in the first half.
Vanderbilt didn’t score a touchdown until there were five minutes and 53 seconds left in the third quarter. UK got its first interception since its win over Florida, and returned it for a touchdown, to boot. Quarterback Ken Seals was sacked three times in the first half, twice by Josh Paschal and once by Justin Rogers. The Wildcats built their largest halftime lead over an Southeastern Conference foe in Mark Stoops’ tenure.
Caveat No. 1 : Vanderbilt is really, really bad. The Commodores (2-8) entered with bottom-ten offensive and defensive statistics, so that Kentucky put a hurtin’ on them wasn’t shocking. That it started so lopsided, though, was a bit eye-opening; the hosts had played well enough to give themselves an opportunity to win their last two games against teams from the SEC East. Kentucky, which opened as a 19-point favorite, swiftly ended any dreams of an upset and earned victory No. 1 of three needed to close out the regular season on the highest note possible.
Caveat No. 2: The Commodores found some relief of their own with Mike Wright under center in the second half; he led two Vandy touchdown drives to get and had a chance to engineer a third in the waning minutes. Both UK’s offense and defense looked like Hyde to the first half’s Jekyll, which against a stronger foe could have been damning.
Bowl outlook
Winning out will put UK in the best possible position to be the pick of the litter after higher postseason assignments — the Sugar Bowl and Citrus Bowl — are situated. Its résumé against those of teams from the SEC Western Division that should finish with similar records will be weaker, but UK fans’ past attendance performance for the postseason should play well when the match-makers start pairing programs.
The Outback Bowl is part of the “Pool of Six” group, but historically is considered the best bowl of the lot. That game will pit the SEC representative against a Big Ten squad, possibly one ranked in the College Football Playoff’s top 25 at the end of the season. There are several possible opponents — Iowa, Penn State and Purdue, to name three — against whom Kentucky could be paired for dramatic effect. Getting a win on national TV over any top-25 team in that league would have a positive impact on the Cats’ recruiting, which under Stoops and Co. has thrived on poaching talent from Big Ten territory.
That destination — Tampa — would be the “best” available for Kentucky, but a similar matchup could also occur in the Music City Bowl, which will also host a Big Ten-SEC battle. Based on the number of UK fans in attendance on Saturday, and the Music City Bowl coming off a year in which it didn’t host a game, its officials might do all they can to lobby for the Wildcats to return in December.
Notes
▪ Kentucky’s win ensured it of a second-place finish in the SEC East, and a winning record in league play. It’s the second time under Mark Stoops that UK’s done each; the other instance came in 2018.
UK only 12 other times in its history has finished with a winning record in the SEC, of which it has been a member since its formation in 1932.
▪ UK won its sixth straight game over the Commodores, matching its longest win streak in the series (1976-1981). Vanderbilt owns the longest win streak in the series; it won the schools’ first nine meetings. Of the Commodores’ 42 wins, 16 occurred before World War II.
▪ Wan’Dale Robinson recorded six catches, bringing him to 77 on the season. Kentucky’s school record for receptions in a single season is 90, set by James Whalen in 1999.
▪ Chris Rodriguez finished with 114 rushing yards, bringing him to 1,032 on the season. It is the 14th time in school history, and sixth time under Stoops, that a running back has recorded a 1,000-yard season. Stanley “Boom” Williams in 2016 kicked off a stretch of four straight such seasons; Benny Snell achieved the feat in 2017 and 2018 before Lynn Bowden did so in 2019. Rodriguez was UK’s leading rusher last season at 785 yards.
Before Williams, the last UK running back to have a 1,000-yard rushing season was Rafael Little (2007).
This story was originally published November 13, 2021 at 10:12 PM.
