Kentucky defeated Southern Miss, 31-0, Saturday night at Kroger Field in its 2024 season opener.
Under the circumstances, the Wildcats (1-0) had as strong a start to their season as one could have probably hoped for.
Too bad Mother Nature put a damper on the festivities.
Marred by a delay of almost 2 hours, 30 minutes due to lightning strikes, the game didn’t kick off until around 10 p.m. in the Bluegrass State. Shortly before midnight ET, with Kentucky well in control, another wave of nearby lightning caused the game to be delayed again with just over five minutes gone by in the third quarter.
It took until shortly after 12:30 a.m. locally before officials ruled that the contest was completed.
By mutual agreement of the participating institutions as permitted by NCAA rules, tonight’s game between Kentucky and Southern Mississippi has been terminated and is considered a complete game with a final score of 31-0 in favor of Kentucky. All statistics in the game are… pic.twitter.com/SYqwQzWgT4
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 1, 2024
Here’s what happened when there wasn’t lightning in the skies.
The Wildcats got three touchdown passes from Georgia transfer quarterback Brock Vandagriff, and the defense held Southern Miss (0-1) to just 131 yards of offense. Kentucky posted 317 total yards and had 18 first downs to the Golden Eagles’ seven.
After Vandagriff was intercepted in Southern Miss territory on the Wildcats’ first drive of the game, Golden Eagles quarterback Tate Rodemaker returned the favor when he threw a pass that was picked off by linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, another Georgia transfer from the offseason.
On the ensuing Kentucky possession, Vandagriff scrambled and converted on a 3rd-and-8 from the 12-yard line to find Barion Brown in the front corner of the end zone for the Wildcats’ first score and a 7-0 lead with 6:03 remaining in the first quarter.
With Southern Miss on the move at the Kentucky 8-yard line on its next offensive series, Rodemaker was picked off again when JQ Hardaway intercepted a pass in the end zone.
Senior kicker Alex Raynor booted a 41-yard field goal midway through the second quarter for a 10-0 Wildcats lead, and on its next possession, Kentucky went 75 yards on seven plays. They capped their third scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown run from Demie Sumo-Karngbaye for a 17-0 lead with 3:07 to play in the half.
With their offense stuck in neutral, Southern Miss unsuccessfully tried a fake punt on a 4th-and-4 from their own 31. Kentucky took over at the Golden Eagles’ 29 with 1:52 to play.
From there, Vandagriff hit Dane Key for 21 yards and a first down to the 12-yard line. Brown then took a pitch from Vandagriff and ran 12 yards for another touchdown that capped the first half scoring at 24-0 with 31 seconds remaining until halftime. To that point, the ‘Cats had scored on three straight possessions.
Following a brief 10-minute halftime, Vandagriff completed his third touchdown pass of the night when he found Jordan Dingle for 5 yards to give Kentucky a 31-0 lead with 9:56 left in the third quarter.
It would be the final play of the game before play was suspended for good due to lightning.
Vandagriff finished his Kentucky debut 12 of 18 for 169 yards, adding 35 yards on the ground on five carries. He had a 35-yard completion to Key that set up the Wildcats’ third score of the night, and a 46-yard completion to Ja’Mori Maclin on the final drive. Maclin had two catches for 66 yards while Key added another 60 yards on two grabs.
Sumo-Karngbaye led the rushing attack with 59 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. The Wildcats ran for 148 yards to only five rushing yards total for Southern Miss.
Rodemaker, a transfer from Florida State, was 13 of 19 for 126 passing yards to go with the two turnovers.
NEXT UP
Kentucky will host South Carolina, Sept. 7 at 3:30 p.m. ET at Kroger Field. The game will be televised on ABC. The Gamecocks rallied in the fourth quarter Saturday to get past Old Dominion, 23-19.