WATCH: SEC refs award Kentucky extra yard, first down on awful spot Saturday
Kentucky was the benefactor of a extremely generous spot from officials Saturday against Missouri, resulting in a first down to keep its drive alive in the third quarter.
Facing third-and-1, the Wildcats handed the ball off to running back Chris Rodriguez, who was stuffed by defensive lineman Isaiah McGuire at the line of scrimmage. However, despite the replay obviously showing Rodriguez was short, officials moved the chains anyway without even going to take a second look.
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Kentucky ended up scoring on the drive to go up 14-3 in what was an eventual 21-17 victory. Had the spot been correct, it could have resulted in a different outcome as the Wildcats would have been forced to choose between going for it on fourth down or kicking a field goal.
Instead, they improved to 6-3 on the year to become bowl eligible for the seventh straight season. It will be interesting to see whether the SEC addresses the call in the coming week, as it’s clear from the video evidence that the spot was incorrect.
Either way, Kentucky will hope to move on from the erroneous first down spot as it prepares to take on Vanderbilt at noon ET on Saturday in Lexington.
Mark Stoops impressed by heads up play from Colin Goodfellow, updates injury status
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops was impressed with the effort of punter Colin Goodfellow late in the fourth quarter Saturday. With the Wildcats leading Missouri 21-17, the set up to punt it away with 2:20 remaining, but the snap flew way over Goodfellow’s head to inside the five-yard line.
Goodfellow never gave up on the play, however, chasing it down and getting a punt off as he was hit. That drew a roughing the punter penalty, which gave the Wildcats a fresh set of downs to work with as they ran off more time on their way to a victory.
“It was just a remarkable play by him,” Stoops said in his postgame press conference. “At first, I was like, ‘I wish he would have taken the safety.’ But he made a remarkable play. The way it was explained to me, he was in the tackle box still.”
But as great of a play as it was, it cost both Goodfellow and the Wildcats. The punter was injured on the play and had to be carted off the field and back to the locker room.
Mark Stoops revealed postgame that Colin Goodfellow was in “severe pain” as a result of the hit, but could not offer a diagnosis or timetable for return at this point.
“Unfortunately for him, he is injured,” the coach said. “He was in some severe pain. So I hope it’s nothing major, (but) I know he’s hurting bad.”