Kentucky dominates Vanderbilt on the ground and in the stands
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Game day: Kentucky at Vanderbilt
Click below to view more of Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s 38-14 University of Kentucky football victory over Vanderbilt at Nashville, Tenn.
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Instant analysis from Kentucky’s 38-14 win over Vanderbilt:
How the game was won
Kentucky dug itself a 14-3 first-quarter hole, then dug itself out with a punishing rushing attack led by Lynn Bowden, Christopher Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke that allowed the Cats (5-5, 3-5 SEC) to score touchdowns on five straight possessions in what became a 35-0 run.
Who’s hot
1. Lynn Bowden. The wide receiver playing quarterback is now 3-2 as UK’s starting QB; has run for over 100 yards (17 carries, 110 yards and a TD; 8-of-10 passing for 104 yards and a TD) in four of five quarterback starts; and has single-handedly put Kentucky in position for a fourth straight bowl game.
2. Christopher Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke. UK’s redshirt freshmen running backs were boffo performers in the Music City. Rodriguez ran 15 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns; Smoke carried 15 times for 95 yards and a TD and also turned a screen pass on a third-and-26 play into a 28-yard gain.
3. Kentucky offensive line. When you run for over 400 yards (401) in an SEC game, your offensive line has done a day’s work.
4. Mark Stoops. With his team coming off a crushing defeat a week ago and playing in a venue perfect to produce a letdown, the UK head man got the Cats to take care of business.
5. Kentucky fans. If it hadn’t been for Wildcats backers, this would have been an SEC football game in an almost empty stadium.
Who’s not
1. A.J. Rose. The UK junior running back was off to a robust start — 67 yards on four carries — but lost a fumble that Vandy’s Allan George returned 67 yards for a touchdown to put the Commodores up 14-3 in the first quarter.
Rose did not return to the game. Meanwhile, UK’s other backs had a field day.
2. Riley Neal. The Vanderbilt quarterback, a graduate transfer from Ball State, has had a rough go in attempting the transition from the MAC to the SEC.
3. Derek Mason. Vandy’s head coach saw his struggling team (now 2-8, 1-6 SEC) manhandled in a stadium where there was not much of a home crowd.
When you are working for an athletics administration that did not hire you, that’s not a great recipe for job security.
Key number(s)
Three. Kentucky finished the SEC portion of its 2019 schedule with a 3-5 league mark. It is the fourth straight season — 2016 (4-4), 2017 (4-4), 2018 (5-3) — that UK has won at least three conference games.
You have to go back to the mid-1950s — 1953 (4-1-1), 1954 (5-2), 1955 (3-3-1) and 1956 (4-4) — to find the last time Kentucky won at least three SEC games in four straight seasons.
Fashion police
For its final road game of 2019, Kentucky wore white helmets, white jerseys with blue letters and numbers and white pants. Since the start of the 2015 season, Kentucky is 3-4 in all-white uniforms.
The ‘Cat-mosphere’
1. The smallish Vanderbilt Stadium crowd of 23,288 was dominated by fans in Kentucky blue.
2. In a road game, UK players were waving their arms exhorting the crowd to cheer before big plays.
3. A chant of “Go Big Blue!” filled Vanderbilt Stadium as the final seconds of the game ticked off.
This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 7:08 PM.
