Complementary football helps Kentucky end Starkville nightmare

Davis-Wade Stadium has been a house of horrors for Kentucky football in the Mark Stoops era. The all-time winningest coach in program history was 0-5 in Starkville with four consecutive double-digit victories. Riding a three-game losing streak, turning the tables against Mississippi State away from Kroger Field was critical for the Wildcats.

The Wildcats accomplished the mission in a 24-3 victory on Saturday night. While the health status of quarterback Devin Leary looms large, Kentucky got its season back on track in Week 10. How UK do that? By playing dominant complementary football in the second quarter.

Defense flips game in consecutive series

To start the game, Kentucky’s defense posted consecutive three-and-possessions to start the game allowing the Wildcats to jump out to an early 7-0 lead. On their third possession of the game, Mississippi State got the ball on their own 5 with 6:20 left in the first quarter and generated their best drive of the night.

After gaining 27 yards on the first two snaps gave the Bulldogs some breathing room, the Bulldogs would move the chains on four consecutive third down attempts to set up a first-and-10 at the Kentucky 11. Two plays later, Kentucky brought Mike Wright down on a scramble well short of the sticks to force a field goal. Mississippi State would cut the lead to 7-3, but that was a major missed opportunity.

Drive summary: 20 plays, 88 yards, 12 minutes and 29 seconds off the clock, and only three points.

For a Mississippi State offense with some personnel limitations, that was going to be really hard to overcome. To make matters worse, Kentucky pretty much ended the game on the next possession.

After the offense went four-and-out, State got the ball back at their own 23 with some real momentum for the first time in the game with 6:43 left in the second quarter. That would be short-lived.

Twenty-six yard pick 6️⃣, @Derykjackson4.

📺 – @SECNetwork: https://t.co/gEE3tY87Hy pic.twitter.com/r9XxgMDR2m

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 5, 2023

Kentucky drops into zone coverage, and Wright simply loses track of D’Eryk Jackson. The redshirt junior off-ball linebacker records the fourth interception of his collegiate career, and this one might have been the easiest. The only takeaway of the game puts Kentucky up two possessions. That simply was going to be enough to win this matchup against a limited Mississippi State offense.

Kentucky’s offense delivers in the Middle 8

Following the pick-six, Kentucky’s defense would immediately force a three-and-out giving the ball back to the offense with 4:46 remaining. The Wildcats then put together one of their best drives of the season.

Five consecutive runs by Ray Davis created a scoring opportunity, and then a Barion Brown jet sweep created a goal-go series. Two snaps later, Devin Leary found Dane Key in the endzone for a four-yard touchdown.

The Wildcats went 63 yards in nine plays taking nearly four minutes of the game clock. It was a perfect four-minute offense execution and did not give the Bulldogs enough time to hurt what has been a leaky two-minute defense.

Kentucky won the game with complementary football in the second quarter. Once halftime arrived, the contest was pretty much decided. Mississippi State is not built to erase a multi-possession lead. The Wildcats delivered team football in a big spot to end a long drought.

The SEC West road win drought is officially over.