Instant analysis: Who’s up, who’s down after UK’s 28-7 win over Mississippi State

Instant analysis from Kentucky’s 28-7 win over No. 14 Mississippi State at Kroger Field on Saturday night:

How the game was won

Benny Snell ran for four touchdowns and the Kentucky defense stoned a high-powered Mississippi State offense as the unbeaten Wildcats (4-0) rocked the nation’s 14th-ranked team.

Game balls

1. Mark Stoops. As Steve Spurrier might put it, the Kentucky head coach has built a heckuva football team.

2. The Kentucky defense. When is the last time a UK “D” dominated a high-octane offense from a ranked team?

Think on it. We’ll wait.

3. Josh Allen. Mississippi State left tackles seemed on the verge of panic attacks all night while trying — and failing — to block Kentucky’s splendid outside linebacker. A dominant, first-team All-America caliber performance.

4. Benny Snell. During the week, the Kentucky star running back talked the talk. On Saturday night, Snell (165 yards rushing) walked the walk against a Mississippi State defensive front considered one of the nation’s best.

5. Kentucky fans. On a rainy night, the Cats fans rocked Kroger Field. A great college football atmosphere.

Running gassers

1. Nick Fitzgerald. The MSU senior quarterback will be seeing Josh Allen in his nightmares.

2. The Mississippi State left tackles. Will be seeing Josh Allen in their nightmares.

3. Joe Moorhead. The new Mississippi State head coach will be seeing Josh Allen — and Benny Snell — in his nightmares.

Key number(s)

Four. The victory over No. 14 Mississippi State is the fourth victory over a ranked foe for Mark Stoops as Kentucky head coach. In UK football history, only Bear Bryant (nine), Fran Curci (nine) and Blanton Collier (five) have more victories over teams ranked in the weekly Associated Press poll than Stoops.

Fashion police

Kentucky wore blue helmets, blue jerseys with white letters and numbers and blue pants. It was only the second time since the start of the 2015 season that UK wore all blue. The only other time was last season at Vanderbilt, a 44-21 Wildcats win.

Fans in the stands

Kentucky announced a crowd of 60,037, by far its largest this season.

Mark Story: (859) 231-3230; Twitter: @markcstory

This story was originally published September 22, 2018 at 10:20 PM.