The Kentucky Wildcats football team got one of its biggest wins in program history on Saturday when they upset Ole Miss 20 – 17. The Rebels were ranked fifth in the US LBM Coaches Poll, and it was the Wildcats highest ranked road win since 1977.
It was a close game throughout, with the lead going back and forth until the end. There were a lot of great plays by both sides, but the biggest play of the game wasn’t a touchdown. It came on fourth down in the fourth quarter, with Kentucky down by four points.
The Wildcats gave up a 48 yard touchdown pass on a fourth down play in the third quarter that put them behind 17 – 13. They then traded punts a few times before Kentucky got the ball with just under five minutes in the game.
They began the drive on their own 17 yard line and a three yard scramble got them to the 20. However, a few incomplete passes left them with a fourth and seven on their own 20 with 3:51 to play. Mark Stoops is conservative on these situations usually, but not today.
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Kentucky went with three wide receivers, in 11 personnel for the play. Vandagriff was in the shotgun.
Ole Miss had one deep safety on the play, with four defensive linemen. They elected to blitz with the linebackers, which were picked up nicely by Kentucky. Dane Key was double-teamed, leaving Barion Brown one-on-one with his man on the far side of the field.
When the ball was snapped, Brown got outside of his man. The deep safety was positioned in the middle of the field too far away to get involved, so it was Brown versus the cornerback.
Vandagriff threw it high and down the sideline. The coverage was tight, but the ball dropped into the perfect spot and Brown brought it in. He then made a few moves and when all was said and done, it was a 63 yard gain on fourth down. It set up the go-ahead score and Kentucky would hold on.
It was a perfect throw, and great ball-tracking by Brown, and it’s a play that will go down as one of the all-time greats in Wildcats history.