Halftime: Kentucky 21, Mississippi State 3

Kentucky Football has the halftime lead on Mississippi State through two quarters down in Starkville, Mississippi. At intermission, the Davis Wade scoreboard reads Kentucky 21, Mississippi State 3.

If the scoreboard counted pushing and shoving, those numbers would be much higher. These teams clearly don’t like either other.

We’ll start there.

Bad Blood

At least twice in the first quarter, officials pulled the teams together to tell them to cut out the altercations between plays. There were early scuffles on each sideline that needed to be broken up, plus the extracurricular stuff you typically see between teams that don’t like each other; things like holding onto jerseys, helmet-butting, arm-swatting, and, I assume, lots of dialogue we can’t hear on TV.

The chippiness continued throughout the second quarter, and with under five minutes left in the half, Mississippi State’s DeShawn Page caught a 15-yard penatly for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Bulldogs were penalized three times to Kentucky’s two.

Defer, Force The Punt, Score

Kentucky won the coin toss and elected to kick, and it all worked to plan in the beginning. The Bulldogs moved only a yard on its opening drive as Kentucky forced a three-and-out with shutdown cornerback play.

Trevin Wallace used the hit stick to stop the run on first down. Mike Wright threw an eight-yard incompletion to his right on second down. Then Max Hairston broke up a deep ball on third down, forcing Mississippi State to punt on its first possession.

When Kentucky took over, Devin Leary led the Wildcats down the field with a near-perfect drive for seven points. Leary completed five of six passes for 62 yards and a touchdown to Demie Sumo-Kargnbaye, his old NC State teammate, in the back of the end zone.

Tayvion Robinson caught two passes for 44 yards to set up the touchdown-scoring throw. Barion Brown and Dane Key also got involved with early receptions.

DSK gets the Cats on the board first 💪 pic.twitter.com/UopTQXNFpk

— KSR (@KSRonX) November 5, 2023

The teams traded punts before the first quarter ended with a 7-0 score.

Mississippi State’s Long, Touchdown-less Drive

With barely more than two minutes in total time of possession on its first two drives, Mississippi State found some offense at the end of the first and beginning of the second quarters, keeping the ball for over 12 minutes on the Bulldogs’ third possession. However, the 20-play drive that gashed Kentucky’s defense and traveled 88 yards, resulted in a field goal from inside the 10-yard line.

A wasted drive and opportunity in touchdown territory.

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Pick 6!

Momentum swung back in Kentucky’s favor when D’Eryk Jackson intercepted a pass and took it back to the residence for a defensive score.

Forgot how good Pick-Sixes felt 🙌 pic.twitter.com/D2kulZTURw

— KSR (@KSRonX) November 5, 2023

The defensive TD was Kentucky’s fourth this season.

Leary, Key Add To Lead Before Halftime

With a minute to go before halftime, Devin Leary hit Dane Key with a four-yard dart for a touchdown. The tight throw wrapped up a nine-play, 63-yard scoring drive.

Leary is in the locker room with 101 yards passing and two scores.

More in the halftime box score: