Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 42-41 loss to Mississippi

Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 2020 home opener against SEC rival Mississippi:

1. Whatever you think about Lane Kiffin, the man can flat coach some offense. In his second game as Ole Miss coach, Kiffin’s offense hung 42 points and 459 yards of offense on UK.

Entering the game, Kentucky had not surrendered more than 34 points in 28 straight games nor more than 400 yards in 10 straight games.

2. Mississippi quarterback Matt Corral is really good. The 6-foot-1, 205-pound sophomore, a former Florida Gators recruiting commit, completed 24 of 29 passes for 320 yards and threw four touchdowns with no interceptions.

3. Kentucky’s defensive backfield is struggling. A season ago, UK surrendered only nine touchdown passes all season. Through two games, UK has now given up seven.

Through two games, both losses, Kentucky has not forced one turnover.

4. Two years since he graduated, Kentucky still has not been able to replace Austin MacGinnis at place-kicker. Matt Ruffolo missed a 49-yard field goal and, most painfully, the extra point after UK’s overtime touchdown.

5. The loss spoiled a brilliant showing by Kentucky’s rushing attack. Three different UK runners went over 100 yards rushing as the Cats ran for 408 yards. Christopher Rodriguez ran for 133 yards and two touchdowns; Terry Wilson ran for 129 yards and three TDs; and A.J. Rose had 117 yards and one TD.

This won’t make Kentucky fans feel any better, but do you realize how hard it is to lose a game when you have three players run for more than 100 yards?

Extra point: Kentucky wore white helmets, blue jerseys with white letters and numbers and blue pants.

Since the start of the 2015 season, UK is now 9-8 in white helmets.

This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 7:49 PM.

Mark Story

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-444-4731

Mark Story has worked in the Lexington Herald-Leader sports department since Aug. 27, 1990, and has been a Herald-Leader sports columnist since 2001. I have covered every Kentucky-Louisville football game since 1994, every UK-U of L basketball game but three since 1996-97 and every Kentucky Derby since 1994. Support my work with a digital subscription