Kentucky wears out Mississippi State to get season back on track

With their backs against the wall facing one of the hottest teams in college football, Kentucky delivered its best performance of the season.

The Wildcats were able to wear down Mississippi State in the second half at Kroger Field for a significant 27-17 win to get the 2022 season back on track. Kentucky is back in the win column and will have a chance to go on a special run to end the season.

Let’s dive into the biggest win of the year.

Brad White, Kentucky counterpunch

All anyone wanted to talk about in this game is how Kentucky had no answers for Mike Leach’s Air Raid passing game last year in Starkville. In the 31-17 win, Will Rogers sliced and diced the Kentucky defense as Mississippi State pulled away in the second half for an easy win.

Kentucky and defensive coordinator Brad White returned the favor on Saturday night at Kroger Field. The defensive play-caller has now smothered Leach’s offense twice in three meetings.

The Bulldogs finished the game with only 10 offensive points in eight non-kneel offensive possessions, got off just 46 snaps, collected an inefficient 32 non-sack rushing yards, passed for 5.5 yards per attempt on 37 throws, went 4 of 13 on third/fourth down, and finished the game with a bad success rate (34.8%).

Kentucky put the clamps on one of the most efficient offenses in college football as Leach and Rogers seemingly had no answers on Saturday night in Lexington.

White and the entire Kentucky defense can take a bow. They were terrific in the first conference home win of the season.

Hammer time in Lexington

For the second home game in a row, Kentucky entered the contest facing a defensive front with leaky run defense. Only this time, the Cats rode their workhorse in the second half.

Chris Rodriguez Jr. finished the night with a career-high 30 carries for 196 yards and two touchdowns on an astounding 63.3 percent success rate with six rushes of 10-plus yards. The All-SEC tailback had a few grown man runs and played a big role as the offense scored points in five of its last seven possessions and could have had more points if the offense did not get into victory formation late.

Rodriguez played like an All-American as Kentucky rushed for 244 non-sack rushing yards, and the offense looked like old Kentucky. The offensive line created movement at the point of attack, and Rodriguez barreled away for a big night.

Kentucky wore Mississippi State’s 3-3-5 defense down with a dominant run game as offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello’s unit appeared to find its groove after halftime.

Sloppy play

In the first half, things were not pretty for Kentucky. There were multiple pre-snap penalties, and that even leaked into special teams as a punt return touchdown by Barion Brown was negated. Luckily, Kentucky’s defense was lights out for the first 30 minutes.

The Cats ruined multiple scoring opportunities in the first half and allowed Mississippi State to hang around. Kentucky was able to hit the gas in the second half, and pull away but a fourth-quarter interception turned into a pick-six to give the Bulldogs life.

At times, Kentucky could not get out of its own way due to self-inflicted errors. That must be fixed in the bye week as the Big Blue needs to get back to playing clean football for a full game.

Will Levis flashes toughness

The performance of Will Levis was very good on Saturday. Kentucky’s QB1 finished the game with 10 yards per attempt on 23 throws taking only one sack with four completions of 30-plus yards. However, this game will be remembered for his gutty performance.

Levis was knocked out of the game in the third quarter with a left shoulder injury but returned to the lineup on the next possession to give Kentucky the lead with a fourth-down goal-to-go dart to Rahsaan Lewis. From there, the quarterback was surgical on third downs (8/8, 157 yards) and made some big boy throws to extend drives.

On two of his biggest completions, Levis took some shots but delivered the ball with accuracy. Kentucky seemed to unlock some things on offense against Mississippi State and the gritty play from its quarterback was a big reason why.

Perhaps no one needs a bye week for than No. 7. The first-round prospect was terrific in Kentucky’s big win and will now look to get healthy as the Cats attempt to close the season strong.

Kentucky saved its season

The dream of hosting Georgia on Nov. 19 for the SEC East title still seems very unlikely, but it’s not dead yet. Most importantly, Kentucky saved its season from going into a tailspin by beating Mississippi State.

The team was reeling after consecutive conference losses to Ole Miss and South Carolina and desperately needed something good to happen. The Cats were a wounded animal backed into a corner on Saturday and played like that at Kroger Field. Slowly but surely, the team that played harder and with more aggression pulled away from the road team in a monster home win for Mark Stoops.

Now all eyes go down the road as Kentucky will make the road trip to Knoxville to face a red-hot Tennessee team on Oct. 29. The Vols will very likely be 7-0 and ranked inside the top three after a huge home win over Alabama. Meanwhile, Kentucky has gotten off the mat and will be ranked in the teens.

We are about to enter one of the biggest games of the Mark Stoops era at Kentucky in a couple of weeks. The Cats will have a golden opportunity to get right back in the division title hunt when the Big Blue faces the Big Orange at Neyland Stadium.

The Cats will be a plucky underdog heading to Rocky Top and that is when they have historically played their best under Stoops. Buckle up for what will be a wild ride to a monster matchup.