Kentucky football falls to South Carolina again after disastrous offensive showing
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Gameday: South Carolina 31, Kentucky 6
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-South Carolina football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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An afternoon that began with dreams of hosting “ESPN College GameDay” for a matchup with No. 1 Georgia next week ended with Kentucky football’s season already at risk of collapsing following a 31-6 loss to South Carolina.
UK’s offense could duplicate none of the success from its weather-shortened season opening win over Southern Miss against a Southeastern Conference opponent, surrendering five sacks and completing just 6 of 17 passes for 44 yards and two interceptions
The defense held strong for much of the game against a one-dimensional South Carolina offense, but surrendered two touchdowns on blown coverages that proved to be too much for Kentucky’s offense to overcome. South Carolina then put the game out of reach with a Raheim Sanders’ touchdown run that came on a drive that started on UK’s side of the field in the third quarter.
At one point Kentucky ran the ball on 19 consecutive offensive plays. The Wildcats attempted just one pass in the second quarter. That was actually the most successful stretch of offense for Kentucky on the day with two field goals to pull within four points at halftime.
The last hope of Kentucky’s offense finding some rhythm ended in the third quarter when a 25-yard completion was negated by an illegal shift penalty. That started a stretch of three consecutive positive gains negated by UK penalties, backing Kentucky up into the shadow of its own end zone.
Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff finished the day having completed just 3 of 10 passes for 30 yards and one interception that was returned for a touchdown. He was benched in the fourth quarter for backup Gavin Wimsatt, who fared little better, completing 3 of 7 passes for 14 yards and one interception.
TURNING POINT
The momentum appeared to be with Kentucky after the defense forced a punt on South Carolina’s first drive of the second half, but UK’s offense lost 12 yards on its next possession. South Carolina then converted a third-and-14 near midfield with a 32-yard completion to a wide-open receiver. On the next play, quarterback LaNorris Sellers found Joshua Simon for a 16-yard touchdown on another busted coverage.
MVP: South Carolina pass rush
It was a group effort for South Carolina’s defense, but the combination of multiple pass rushers overmatched Kentucky’s offensive line. The Gamecocks record sacks on three consecutive defensive plays across two drives in the first quarter. South Carolina finished the game with five sacks and 11 tackles for loss.
KEY STAT
Vandagriff finished the game with just 30 total passing yards despite logging a 32-yard completion to Dane Key in the first quarter. He did not complete his final six pass attempts with his final completion coming midway through the first quarter. His last pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown.
This story was originally published September 7, 2024 at 6:59 PM.
