First Scouting Report: Can Kentucky spoil Mike Leach’s return to Lexington?
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Game day: Kentucky vs. Ole Miss
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Mississippi football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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An early look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next football game:
The opponent
Kentucky (0-2 SEC) will face Mississippi State (1-0 SEC) on Saturday (Oct. 10) at Kroger Field. The game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and be telecast by the SEC Network.
After upsetting defending national champion LSU 44-34 at Baton Rouge in the season opener, Coach Mike Leach’s Bulldogs faced Arkansas (0-1 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in MSU’s home opener.
Series history
Mississippi State leads 24-23 and has won nine of the past 11 meetings (though UK has won the past two in Lexington).
Most recent meeting
Mississippi State star running back Kylin Hill ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns and freshman quarterback Garrett Schrader threw for 180 yards and ran for 125 to lead the Bulldogs to a 28-13 victory over UK on Sept. 21, 2019, at Davis-Wade Stadium in Starkville.
Know your foe
1. Mike Leach spent two seasons (1997 and 1998) as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach on Hal Mumme’s first two coaching staffs at Kentucky back during UK’s “Air Raid” era. The former Texas Tech and Washington State head man was hired to replace Joe Moorhead as Mississippi State coach after last season.
2. A graduate transfer from Stanford, Mississippi State quarterback K.J. Costello completed 36 of 60 passes for 623 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions in the opening-game upset at LSU. For his college career, Costello has completed 62.4 percent and thrown for 6,774 yards.
3. The SEC’s leading rusher (1,350 yards) in 2019, Kylin Hill ran for only 34 yards on seven carries in the victory at LSU. But in Leach’s Air Raid, Hill caught eight passes for 158 yards and a touchdown vs. the Tigers.
This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 7:39 PM.
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