Vanderbilt leads Kentucky by a touchdown at the half

Kentucky and Vanderbilt are halfway through one game in Lexington, playing in front of a blacked-out Kroger Field on homecoming weekend. The weather’s great for the first October home game in the Bluegrass. The score is not.

Let’s run through it.

Kentucky’s opening drive came up empty-handed, partly because of two costly penalties that took 25 yards away, resulting in a punt. Dane Key‘s 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the Vandy 29 was a huge detriment. A holding call on Gerald Mincey was the other.

On Vandy’s first drive, Diego Pavia pumped-faked his way down the field for an eight-play, 92-yard touchdown drive. Pavia ran for 50 yards and completed one pass for 20 yards on the Commodores’ first possession. The 20-yard throw found the end zone to put the visiting team up seven early.

Vanderbilt 7, Kentucky 0

The Wildcats responded, using a two-QB system with Gavin Wimsatt in the Wildcat plus a heavy dose of Demie Sumo-Karngbaye in the backfield. After driving 77 yards in 11 plays, Sumo-Karngbaye punched in Kentucky’s first score of the game, a one-yard run into the end zone. DSK had eight touches on the first two possessions.

PUNCH IT IN, DEMIE SUMO-KARNGBAYE 👊

📺: @SECNetwork pic.twitter.com/fh5cxUEEPS

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) October 13, 2024

Kentucky 7, Vanderbilt 7

Pavia and Vanderbilt took over 13 minutes before halftime and quickly picked up two first downs, moving the ball across midfield with a pivotal third-down conversion. However, Kentucky’s defense earned its first takeaway of the game one snap later. Linebacker D’Eryk Jackson intercepted Pavia to put the ball back in Brock Vandagriff‘s hands in a tie game.

Kentucky would give it back with a turnover of its own, but not without moving the ball a bit. Dane Key caught three passes, only to fumble the ball back to Vanderbilt at the 32-yard line. Kentucky took four minutes off the clock in seven plays.

Vanderbilt’s third drive fell behind the chains when Jamon Dumas-Johnson sacked Diego Pavia for a 12-yard loss on 2nd-and-6, resulting in Vandy’s first punt two plays later.

With only a couple of minutes before halftime, Kentucky’s offense threw three incompletions and punted the ball back. The punt went 39 yards.

Vanderbilt seized the opportunity, adding a touchdown with 13 seconds on the clock. Pavia’s second TD throw was an 18-yarder, completing a six-play, 62-yard drive in a minute and 22 seconds.

Halftime Score: Vanderbilt 14, Kentucky 7