5 things you need to know from UK football’s embarrassing 45-17 loss at Vandy
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Gameday: No. 12 Vanderbilt 45, Kentucky 17
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Vanderbilt football game in Nashville, Tennessee.
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5 things you need to know from UK football’s embarrassing 45-17 loss at Vandy
Full stats and notable numbers from Kentucky football’s 45-17 loss at Vanderbilt
Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 45-17 blowout loss to No. 12 Vanderbilt:
1. Diego Pavia dazzles. According to BetOnline.ag, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia entered play this week as the fourth choice to win the Heisman Trophy at 20-1 odds.
Against UK, Pavia looked every bit worthy of a trip to New York City.
The 6-foot, 207-pound super-senior dazzled. In the first half alone, Pavia completed 18 of 22 passes for 279 yards and two long touchdown passes to Tre Richardson of 71 and 56 yards.
Pavia repeatedly extended plays against the Kentucky pass rush with his legs and made deft throws while on the move.
The Vanderbilt QB tacked on two second-half TD throws and finished the game 33 of 39 passing for 484 yards and four TDs with one interception off a deflection.
The 469 passing yards were a new Vandy single-game record, eclipsing the 461-yard performance by Whit Taylor against Tennessee in 1981.
Pavia was also Vanderbilt’s rushing leader, running for 48 yards on 15 attempts.
In two starts vs. UK, Pavia went 2-0 and completed a combined 47 passes versus only nine incompletions.
2. Another tough day for Cutter Boley on the road. The Kentucky redshirt freshman quarterback entered the Vandy game having not played nearly as well on the road in 2025 as he had at Kroger Field.
In five starts plus a late-game substitute role vs. Mississippi at Kroger Field, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Lexington Christian Academy alumnus completed 74.6% of his throws for 1,270 yards with 10 touchdowns versus three interceptions.
Conversely, in his three prior road starts at South Carolina, Georgia and Auburn prior to Saturday, Boley had completed 59.5% of his throws for 510 yards with three TDs versus five picks.
Against Vanderbilt, Boley had another rough go, although he didn’t have much help.
The Vandy defense stoned the UK running game, holding the Cats to a net-3 rushing yards in the first half and 31 yards for the game.
With no running game to keep the Commodores honest, Boley was under constant pressure when he dropped back to pass. Vanderbilt had two sacks and seven quarterback hurries.
As a result, Boley never looked comfortable in the pocket and was not as accurate with his throws as he has typically been in games in Lexington.
At the end of the third quarter, Boley was 13 of 23 passing for 77 yards.
After a big fourth quarter, he finished the game 26 of 44 passing for 280 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions (one on a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the first half; the second on a bad read at the Vanderbilt goal line).
Adding to his tough day, Boley left the game with 3:47 left in the first half with an injury after being hit while completing a 13-yard pass to Willie Rodriguez. Backup Zach Calzada came in and ran five plays spread over two series before Boley returned to action.
3. Cats fail to achieve bowl eligibility. The end of Kentucky’s three-game win streak left the Wildcats with a 5-6 record and means UK will travel to intrastate rival Louisville next week needing a victory to become postseason eligible for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons.
What had been an eight-year Cats bowl streak ended last season when Kentucky endured a 4-8 slog.
Since the Wildcats-Cardinals rivalry moved to the final game of the regular season in 2014, UK has entered the game needing a victory to play in a bowl game twice.
In both 2014 and 2015, the Cats failed to earn the win they needed, falling 44-40 in The Ville in 2014 and 38-24 the following season at the venue then known as Commonwealth Stadium.
4. A meaningful Kentucky football streak now in grave jeopardy. With its loss to No. 12 Vandy, UK’s streak of five straight seasons with at least one win over a team ranked in the AP Top 25 is in grave peril.
Louisville, Kentucky’s foe in next week’s regular-season finale, is unranked this week and was drubbed 38-6 on Saturday at SMU.
It would appear UK’s only chance to extend its streak of seasons with a ranked victory to six would have to come in a bowl game. Having lost to Vanderbilt, Kentucky (5-6, 2-6 SEC) must beat Louisville next week to become bowl eligible.
The most recent season in which UK did not have a win over a ranked opponent was 2019, when the Wildcats went 0-2 in such games.
UK is now 0-5 this season against the AP Top 25.
5. Cats lose their hold on Vandy in the Music City. Kentucky’s loss to Vanderbilt snapped a four-game UK win streak over Vandy in the Commodores’ home stadium.
UK had not lost to Vanderbilt in Nashville since a 21-17 loss in 2015.
Next week, Kentucky will seek to extend another four-game win streak over an opponent, Louisville, at the Cardinals’ home stadium, the venue now known as L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium.
Fashion police
For its 11th game of the 2025 season, Kentucky wore blue helmets, white jerseys with blue letters and numbers and blue pants.
UK is now 1-2 this season in blue-white-blue.
This story was originally published November 22, 2025 at 7:15 PM.
