Cats Rebound From Back To Back Losses
After giving away the game at Ole Miss and a bad loss to South Carolina the Kentucky Wildcats desperately needed a win. A third straight loss with games against Tennessee and Georgia still to come and things might have gotten ugly for Mark Stoops’ club. However behind a gutty performance from Will Levis and a huge game from Chris Rodriguez the Cats got back on the smiling side of the scoreboard. Let’s break it down as Kentucky defeats Mississippi State 27-17.
Very Ugly First Half
If you read our game preview we said Kentucky needed to get off to a quick start. Heading into Saturday Mississippi State had outscored their opponents 66-7 in the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Big Blue Nation, it was anything but a good start.
After forcing a punt on the Bulldogs’ first offensive series Kentucky held the ball for nearly five minutes and 11 plays. However, after a 21-yard pass from Levis to Rahsann Lewis the receiver fumbled and MSU got the ball back. Following a battle of punts State finally got on the board after a 48-yard field goal from Massimo Biscardi with 8:26 left in the first half. On Kentucky’s next possession Matt Ruffolo missed a 51-yard field goal.
Kentucky finally got on the board when Ruffolo hit a 28-yard field goal. It wasn’t without some question as UK had the ball on the 10-yard line with 15 seconds left in the half. Instead of running another play toward the end zone, Stoops elected to kick the field goal early.
Another thing that didn’t help was 10 first-half penalties against the Cats stalling a couple of drives. Still going into the break holding Mississippi State to three points was a huge accomplishment for Brad White’s defense.
Turning Things Around
The Wildcats took the second-half kick and marched down the field. However, when Levis hit Barion Brown on a 33-yard pass he took a hard hit and landed on his left shoulder. When he went back to the locker room Kaiya Sheron entered the game. He completed a couple of passes leading to a 37-yard Ruffolo field goal putting the Cats up 6-3.
It’s hard to keep Will Rogers and the Bulldog offense in check for the whole night and they finally appeared to get it going when he hit Austin Williams for a touchdown putting MSU up 10-6. Levis returned leading UK to another score when Lewis got some redemption behind a three-yard score putting the Cats back in front. A Rodriguez touchdown put Kentucky up 20-10 and things were looking good.
Of course, this is Kentucky and nothing’s ever easy. Emmanuel Forbes picked off a Levis pass taking it 59 yards to cut the lead to three. However, another C-Rod score put the Cats up 10. Mississippi State had one more shot but in shades of last year’s Citrus Bowl DeAndre Square picked off Rogers and that was the ballgame as Kentucky defeats Mississippi State 27-17.
Looking Ahead
With the win, the Wildcats head into their bye week sporting a 5-2 record and 2-2 in the SEC. In addition, they’ll hold on to their current ReliaQuest Bowl projection where we have them playing Minnesota. In two weeks they head to Knoxville to face Tennessee.
As for the Bulldogs drop to 5-2 and are also 2-2 in the SEC. They have a tough one next week as they travel to Tuscaloosa for a meeting with Alabama who’s coming off that loss to Tennessee.
Final Thoughts
Give Levis all the credit in the world for his toughness. After the game, he said his injured shoulder was his non-throwing shoulder so who cares. He played like a potential first round quarterback. Last week we all wondered why Rodriguez didn’t get the ball in the second half. This time around it wasn’t an issue as he finished with 197 yards and two touchdowns. That’s only nine off his career high. In the process, he joined some exclusive company.
RB @CROD_JR is the fourth player in Kentucky history to rush for more than 3,000 yards in his career. pic.twitter.com/CTQ3LmRiOk
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) October 16, 2022
The other three are Benny Snell, Moe Williams, and Sonny Collins. For Stoops, it was a big night as he set a school record with his 11th win over an AP Top 25 team.
On the other side of the ball credit White and the defense. They held Rogers to only 203 yards passing and the one interception. In addition, they held the Bulldogs to 17 yards on the ground. They also dominated the time of possession 39:22 to 20:38. That’s how you beat a Mike Leach coached team.
Again Kentucky defeats Mississippi State 27-17 in a game they had to win. Thanks for checking out our recap here at Last Word On College Football.
