Brock Vandagriff breaks down 63-yard bomb to Barion Brown: "I just put the ball up and he did the rest."

Barion Brown wanted the opportunity. He felt the space all day long, getting open on the Ole Miss secondary throughout the afternoon, but couldn’t connect with Brock Vandagriff on the explosives he knows he can convert.

His receptions went for two yards, then another two yards before a nice 18-yard conversion to move the chains, followed by another quick-hitter for three yards — 25 yards on his first four targets.

Then Kentucky was backed up to its own 20 facing a 4th and 7 with the game on the line. Fail to convert and it’s all over but the shouting. That’s why Brown called for it, Vandagriff trusting the speedy receiver to come up with the game-changing reception to put the Wildcats in position to score and pull off the upset.

“Barion Brown, the whole game he said, ‘I’m burning him! I’m burning him! I’m burning him!’ So I was saying, ‘OK, OK, OK,'” Vandagriff said. “And man, I’ll be danged. They line up in man and I got to give one of the best wideouts in the game a go ball. Man, he just made a play. I just put the ball up and he did the rest.”

Was it the best throw of his career? If not his best, it was certainly the most important.

“I’m not sure [laughs]. I’ll have to look at it on film, but it felt great,” Vandagriff added.

QB1 could’ve gone a number of different directions with it, depending on how the defense adjusted at the line of scrimmage. The alignment worked in the offense’s favor, the Rebels setting up some one-on-one opportunities to let the best man win.

And there isn’t a better mismatch than Barion Brown on the outside.

“It’s a couple different options. We had different answers for man or zone. They end up going man and pretty much every route except one on that concept is a man-beater,” he said. “You just pick your matchup and let it fly.”

Finding Brown in particular was special. He’d only racked up 90 yards on the season with just 12 total receptions, failing to hit on the home runs we all know the junior is capable of smacking out of the park.

Then he got his chance.

“I’m really excited for that dude. He’s a great kid, great dude in the locker room, good teammate. He’s a guy you want on your team and in your locker room,” Vandagriff said. “We were able to connect earlier in the game on kind of a little comeback route on the hash, he made a good, physical catch.

“That’s just what it takes. In the SEC, these games and these matchups are going to be tough. They’re going to be physical, not going to have as much space. Our dudes went out there and competed.”