Kentucky football recaps historic win at Ole Miss

Saturday in Oxford could have been a movie, Kentucky defeating No. 6 Ole Miss as three-score underdogs and doing so in Oscar-worthy fashion — backs against the wall and against all odds with a mix of good fortune and guts being enough to take down the best offense in college football.

That’s why UK Sports Video turned it into a cinematic experience for Big Blue Nation to sit back and enjoy with some popcorn and a soda for a minute — eight, to be specific.

The video starts with the lead-up, pulling soundbites from the College GameDay crew picking the Rebels in a clean sweep.

“I’ve got Ole Miss big in this one,” co-host Desmond Howard says. “Are we going against the spread or what?”

Then we peek into the locker room where Mark Stoops stresses the Wildcats needed to “line up, lock in, focus, execute: “You’ve got to go take it, you’ve got to go make plays. We will. Believe it.”

We see Willie Rodriguez’s bone-crushing hit on the opening kick, followed by Ole Miss’ quick score and Kentucky’s response with a field goal the other way, then Dane Key’s touchdown grab to take a 10-7 lead going into the half.

“It’s your grit that got you to this point. It’s got to be our toughness and our grit to bring us home and finish this thing,” Stoops told the team. “You put it in your mind, do whatever you have to do on every single solitary play and get that grit and toughness. We deserve it. You are better, go play better and finish it — but one play at a time.”

One play at a time, they did just that, the defense putting on a clinic in the second half while the offense hit on some explosives to help solidify the 20-17 win — the missed game-tying field goal in the final minute being the icing on the cake.

Celebration, crowdsurfing, victory.

Want to know what it’s like to be in that other locker room? Ole Miss shared a behind-the-scenes look at the loss through the Rebels’ eyes — weird if you ask me, but hey, I’m happy to drink up Lane Kiffin’s tears.

“That’s what’s going to happen, man, when you play in this league,” Kiffin told the team. “It’s good good players and good teams. You let them hang around, OK? You had great momentum, you did great things in the third quarter, but you have to finish them off. This is a great lesson.”

It sure was, buddy.

Go Cats.