Ole Miss sends Kentucky to 8th straight SEC home loss
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky’s home-turf blues continued on Saturday in the SEC opener.
Ole Miss overcame an early 10-point deficit to beat the Wildcats 30-23, sending UK to an eighth-consecutive loss in league play at Kroger Field.
“You know, coming down the road in the SEC and winning is a hard thing to do,” Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin said. “We play for it every year, and it’s hard. So, proud of our guys. We started down 10-0, and then we got the ball in our territory, got aggressive, made some plays, and that was a big turning point.”
The No. 20 Rebels (2-0, 1-0 SEC) threw for 235 yards and rushed for 220 in a balanced offensive attack that was able to overcome two early interceptions by sophomore quarterback Austin Simmons deep in his own territory.
Starting the first SEC road game of his career, Simmons bounced back to complete 13 of 24 passes for 235 yards on the day. He also ran for 44 yards and a touchdown.
The ground game was the big difference for Ole Miss as sophomore tailback Kewan Lacy added 138 yards on 28 carries and a touchdown.
“You know going into it that they are a handful,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said of the Rebels. “They are tough to stop. Very Explosive. We got off to a great start, gave ourselves an opportunity, and did many good things. But, you know, certainly we all will look at a lot of negatives and a lot of things we need to get fixed and get cleaned up.”
Kentucky (1-1, 0-1 SEC) could not find the same type of balance as the Rebels. The Cats rushed for 172 yards, including a 93-yard, two-touchdown effort from transfer Seth McGowan, but the passing attack was inconsistent for a second consecutive week.
Starting quarterback Zach Calzada went 15-of-30 for 149 yards but no touchdowns. Under his direction, the UK offense went three-and-out six times before he left the game with an injury in the fourth quarter.
The game was tied 20-20 after an 8-yard touchdown run by McGowan late in the third quarter, but Ole Miss responded by scoring the next 10 points on a 7-yard touchdown run by Simmons to cap an eight-play, 75-yard drive, and a 36-yard field goal by Lucas Carneiro.
The Cats still had opportunities late in the game with redshirt freshman quarterback Cutter Boley, but they were stopped twice on fourth down in the final 6:22 at the Ole Miss 20- and 31-yard line.
Kentucky elected to bypass field-goal attempts on both occasions, and also missed out on a field-goal opportunity at the end of the first half as clock management and operation issues cost them another chance at points.
Said Stoops: “You know, quite frankly, some of them are inexcusable.”
The UK boss added that he’s not sure about Calzada’s injury status, but he wants to get a longer look at Boley at quarterback in the weeks ahead.
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In our “Rapid Recap” feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK loss…
GAME BALL:
Kewan Lacy, Ole Miss — The Rebels’ sophomore running back rushed for 138 yards and a touchdown on 28 workmanlike carries against a really solid UK defense. That helped Ole Miss win the ever-important rushing column 220-172. The team that wins that in SEC play typically wins the game.
BY THE NUMBERS:
1/3 – Drives of 70-plus yards by Kentucky and Ole Miss, respectively.
2 – Interceptions by UK junior safety Ty Bryant.
5 – Straight games between the teams decided by seven or fewer points.
3-for-13 – The Kentucky defense on Ole Miss third-down conversion plays.
23 – Tackles for UK linebacker Alex Afari in his first two games of the season. He followed a 13-tackle effort against Toledo with 10 against Ole Miss.
9-30-2023 – The last time UK’s fans got to see the Cats win an SEC game at Kroger Field. This marked eight straight losses in league play on the home turf.
31-15-2 – The Rebels’ lead in the all-time series against the Cats. Ole Miss took a 12-11-1 lead in games played in Lexington.
QUOTABLE:
“I love the fight of this team, and I love how hard they play. We need to be competitive in every snap, and there are areas where I still need us to improve in that area and there’s other areas where guys were super-scrappy and very competitive and made a lot of good plays. It’s early in the year and we have a lot of football ahead of us, that’s a good thing. And I like this team. I like the way they fight and scrap, and we will improve.” — UK head coach Mark Stoops
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action next week at home against Eastern Michigan. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 ET at Kroger Field with the broadcast on ESPNU. The Eagles (0-1) are playing Long Island University tonight.