Kentucky football suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday, falling 30-23 to No. 20 Ole Miss.
Despite two early interceptions by UK defensive back Ty Bryant leading to a 10-0 advantage in the first quarter, the Wildcats couldn’t get out of their own way on offense during the first two quarters.
In fact, there was no hiding that, situationally, Kentucky was absolutely terrible in the first half.
They burnt all three of their timeouts early on due to confusion, and not having them caused UK to miss
out on potentially three to seven points at the end of the second quarter.
It felt like the Wildcats should have been leading at the half, but instead, Ole Miss took a 17-13 lead into the locker room and quickly extended it to 20-13 less than midway through the third quarter.
Kentucky finally found a pulse on offense, answering with a 75-yard touchdown drive to tie the ballgame, but Ole Miss once again went back down the field and this time captured a TD drive of their own to re-take a 7-point lead.
Quarterback Zach Calzada injured his shoulder late in the fourth quarter, leading to backup QB Cutter Boley being thrown in ice-cold to try and lead a game-tying drive with just over six minutes remaining.
His first pass forced Ole Miss into a PI, and the second snap of that drive brought a 15-yard carry from Dante Dowdell, but Kentucky’s momentum quickly came to a halt moments later after four quick stops — including a sack — by the Rebels’ defense.
Ole Miss took over on downs with 4:10 left in the game and connected on a 37-yard field goal to extend the Rebels’ lead to 10 with 1:10 remaining, which pretty much put winning the game out of reach.
The Wildcats were able to capitalize on a few chunk plays, get into FG range with 13 seconds remaining, and cut the lead back to seven, but an unsuccessful onside kick officially iced the game.
Kentucky’s loss was a game that fans — unfortunately — had seen many times before. Good defense, inconsistent offense, and total mental lapses when it came to situational awareness.
The Wildcats will host Eastern Michigan next Saturday with kickoff set for 7:30 PM ET on ESPNU.
Box Score
Co-MVPs
As Justin Rowland said, Ty Bryant’s start to the game all but wrapped up SEC Defensive Player of the Week and rightfully earned Game MVP honors.
Bryant’s two interceptions were just over five minutes apart and helped Kentucky find a double-digit lead to start the game.
At one point, he had as many return yards as the team had on offense.
Bryant finished the contest with two INTs as well as 10 total tackles, and while his performance was fantastic, so was the effort of Seth McGowan.
The senior running back scored twice for the Wildcats and picked up 88 tough yards on 15 carries while adding one catch for five yards. It’s clear that he and Dowdell are the 1-2 punch that will lead UK’s offense this season.