Tag: Kentucky Wildcats

Best photos of Kentucky football’s stunning upset win over Ole Miss

We take a look at some of the best photos from the Wildcats’ 20-17 upset win over the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday.

The Kentucky Wildcats pulled off the biggest upset of the 2024 college football season on Saturday when they took down the Ole Miss Rebels, 20-17, at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford.

The biggest win of the Mark Stoops era came two weeks after arguably the most agonizing loss against another top 5 opponent — the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

In that game, Stoops made the widely panned decision to punt the ball back to Georgia with only three minutes left on the clock. The Bulldogs ultimately prevailed, 13-12.

But Stoops was anything but conservative with his team trailing late in the game against Ole Miss, ranked No. 5 in the US LBM Coaches Poll entering the day. Facing a 4th and 7 from Kentucky’s own 20-yard line with just under four minutes to play and the Wildcats trailing 17-13, Stoops rolled the dice in a big way.

It worked to perfection when quarterback Brock Vandagriff found Barion Brown for a 63-yard catch and run to the Ole Miss 17-yard line. Two plays later, Josh Kattus recovered a Gavin Wimsatt fumble in the end-zone for a Kentucky touchdown and a 20-17 lead.

RELATED: The top 100 players in Kentucky football history: 60-41

Ole Miss kicker Caden Davis shanked a potential game-tying field goal wide left as time expired to preserve the win for Kentucky, its first in Oxford since 1978. It was also the Wildcats’ first win over a top 10 team on the road since taking down then-No. 4 Penn State at Beaver Stadium in 1977.

Kentucky has a bye next Saturday before returning to SEC play on Oct. 12 against the Vanderbilt Commodores in Lexington.

Here are some of the best photos from Kentucky’s upset win over Ole Miss.

Kentucky stuns Ole Miss as Rebels miss last-minute field goal

Kentucky went into Oxford and stunned Ole Miss

It wasn’t a chip shot. Lane Kiffin still needed Ole Miss kicker Caden Davis to deliver from 48 yards on Homecoming Saturday for the Rebels.

He didn’t and, in the powerhouse SEC, Kentucky stunned Ole Miss, 20-17, dealing the Rebels their first loss.

It was the first win in Oxford for the Wildcats since 1978. Knocking off the sixth-ranked team was their best victory over a ranked opponent on the road since upsetting then-No. 4 Penn State in 1977.

Been a long time.

The winning score came  when Josh Kattus grabbed a fumble by backup QB Gavin Wimsatt and fell into the end zone with 2:25 left. It capped a six-play, 83-yard drive.

Kentucky came in 2-2 and was a 17-point underdog despite losing to then-No. 1 Georgia by one point in mid-September.

Ole Miss was 4-0 and had won those games by 198 points combined. However, SEC play is far different than Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern.

Kiffin’s 100th career victory will have to wait for another day.

 

 

Cameras caught Ole Miss seemingly telling a player to fake an injury to stop the clock

Was this a real injury or just a really bad flop?

No. 6 Ole Miss running back Matt Jones didn’t seem all that concerned with how obvious his flop looked during his team’s game against Kentucky.

Jones’ team got a clock stoppage during its Saturday matinee when the running back fell to the ground at the suggestion of Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart.

The team seemed to want Jones to fall down to earn an injury timeout, which felt, well, a bit suspicious at first glance. He really seemed ready to go for the next play until Dart made the motion for him to fall to the ground.

We’re not here to judge whether or not Ole Miss wanted Jones to fake an injury to stop the clock, but we’re not saying that’s what’s not happening here, either.

However, ESPN broadcaster Sean McDonough apparently thought it was clearly a blatant faked injury for Ole Miss. You be the judge.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

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Kentucky basketball game against Clemson in SEC/ACC Challenge gets late tipoff

It will be a late tipoff between Kentucky and Clemson in their marquee nonconference showdown in the SEC/ACC Challenge in December.

If you’re looking forward to seeing the Kentucky Wildcats square off against the Clemson Tigers as part of this year’s SEC/ACC Challenge, you might need an excuse to miss work the following day.

That’s because Kentucky basketball’s game against Clemson will be a late tipoff. The Wildcats and Tigers will get underway at 9:30 p.m. locally in the Bluegrass State when the two teams meet on Dec. 3 at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson. The game will be televised on ESPN, who announced start times for the SEC/ACC Challenge on Monday.

Kentucky hasn’t faced Clemson on the hardwood since the beginning of the 1997-98 season, a 76-61 Wildcats victory at the Premier Classic in Phoenix that November. Tubby Smith and Rick Barnes were the head coaches at Kentucky and Clemson, respectively, at the time.

The Wildcats went on to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship against the Utah Utes, led by the late Rick Majerus, at the Alamodome in San Antonio in March 1998.

A year earlier, Clemson beat Kentucky, 79-71, on Nov. 15, 1996 in the BCA Classic at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. It would turn out to be Rick Pitino’s final season as Wildcats head coach. Pitino would lose his bid at a second straight title months later with a loss to Arizona in the national championship game — also at RCA Dome.

Kentucky leads the all-time series against Clemson, 12-4.

RELATED: Kentucky basketball offers 2026 five-star guard Jordan Smith Jr.

Clemson is coming off its best season in over 40 years. The Tigers reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament last March for only the second time in school history — and the first time since 1980.

Kentucky was a No. 3 seed in the tournament but fell to No. 14 seed Oakland in the first round in John Calipari’s final game as Wildcats coach after 15 seasons. Amid mounting pressure, Calipari left Lexington for the Arkansas Razorbacks’ coaching job weeks later.

Mark Pope is entering his first season as Kentucky’s coach. A former Wildcats player who was a member of the school’s 1996 national championship team, Pope returned to Lexington back in April after five seasons as head coach at BYU.

Kentucky-Ole Miss football game gets one of ESPN’s top broadcast crews

Here’s who will be on the call for ABC when the Kentucky Wildcats visit the Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford Saturday.

ESPN is sending one of its top broadcast crews to Oxford for the Kentucky Wildcats’ Week 5 visit to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to take on the fifth-ranked Ole Miss Rebels this Saturday.

It’s a crew that Kentucky football fans are familiar with. ESPN’s No. 2 broadcast team of Sean McDonough (play-by-play) and Greg McElroy (analyst) will have the call of Kentucky vs. Ole Miss from the booth. Molly McGrath will serve as sideline reporter.

It’s the third time in five games this season that the McDonough-McElroy booth will call a Kentucky game. The duo also worked the Wildcats’ Week 2 and Week 3 games against the South Carolina Gamecocks and top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs, respectively.

Unlike those games, this week’s matchup against Ole Miss will be televised on two different platforms. The main broadcast will air on ABC, while a separate multicast “Command Center” viewing option will be shown on SEC Network. The SEC Network broadcast will feature live and enhanced stats and other techniques typically reserved for ESPN’s College Football Playoff broadcasts.

Kickoff for Kentucky vs. Ole Miss is set for noon ET.

The Wildcats defeated the Ohio Bobcats, 41-6, last Saturday to improve to 2-2 on the year. Ole Miss is 4-0 and fresh off a 52-13 victory over Georgia Southern. The Rebels’ average margin of victory through four games this season is 49.5 points. Their closest game was a 40-6 win at Wake Forest in Week 3.

RELATED: Kentucky winners and losers from the Wildcats win over Ohio

AROUND THE “TUBE”

ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ and No. 1 broadcast crew of Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst) and Holly Rowe (sideline) will be in Tuscaloosa Saturday for a Top-5 showdown between the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs and the fourth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide at 7:30 ET. The game can be seen on ABC.

Other SEC games of interest are the No. 21-ranked Oklahoma Sooners vs. the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC). That game will mark Oklahoma’s first-ever visit to Auburn and will be just the second all-time meeting between the two schools.

Opposite Kentucky vs. Ole Miss in the noon ET window is a Top 25 battle between No. 20 Oklahoma State vs. No. 23 Kansas State on ESPN. The No. 12-ranked Michigan Wolverines will host the Minnesota Golden Gophers at noon ET on Fox.

Follow us @UKWildcatsWire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Kentucky Wildcats news, notes and opinions.

Best photos from Kentucky football’s Week 4 victory over Ohio Bobcats

We take a look at some of the best photos from the Wildcats’ 41-6 win over Ohio on Saturday.

The Kentucky Wildcats got back in the win column Saturday with a much-needed 41-6 victory over the Ohio Bobcats at Kroger Field.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak after Kentucky was blown out by South Carolina in Week 2, only to take the top-ranked Georgia Bulldogs down to the wire a week later in Lexington.

After a slow start Saturday, the offense found the end-zone for the first time in nine quarters. Demie Sumo-Karngbaye had two short touchdown runs and Barion Brown had a 23-yard rush for a score.

Quarterback Brock Vandagriff finished 17-of-24 for 237 yards with receiver Dane Key hauling in seven catches for a career-high 145 yards. The Wildcats finished the afternoon with 488 total yards.

Defensively, Kentucky held Ohio to 223 yards. Cornerback Maxwell Hairston had a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter that gave Kentucky a 27-0 lead en route to the victory.

RELATED: Social media reacts to Kentucky football’s blowout of Ohio

Kentucky will face No. 5 Ole Miss next Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon ET.

Here are some of the best photos from Kentucky’s victory over Ohio at Kroger Field Saturday.

Kentucky football’s offense comes to life as Wildcats beat Ohio, 41-6

Kentucky got back in the end-zone — and the win column — Saturday at Kroger Field against the Ohio Bobcats.

The touchdown drought ended for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Kentucky racked up 488 yards of total offense, and the Wildcats defeated the Ohio Bobcats, 41-6, at Kroger Field Saturday.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak in which Kentucky (2-2) had failed to reach the end-zone against either South Carolina in Week 2 or the No. 1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs last Saturday.

The drought ended when running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye found the end-zone from a yard out in the opening seconds of the second quarter to put Kentucky ahead, 10-0, after Alex Raynor’s extra point.

Brock Vandagriff’s 15-yard completion to receiver Dane Key on 3rd-and-9 set up the Wildcats’ first touchdown in nine quarters and capped a seven-play, 80-yard drive that took 3:29 off the clock.

RELATED: SEC Football 2024 season leaders in total QBR entering Week 4

Earlier in the game, coach Mark Stoops had received some boos after sending Raynor on for a 30-yard field goal on a 4th-and-3 from the Ohio 12-yard line with 5:48 to play in the first quarter.

Sumo-Karngbaye finished with two second-quarter touchdown runs after adding another score on Kentucky’s next series. Ohio had driven all the way to the Kentucky 5-yard line before backup quarterback Nick Poulos, starting in place of an injured Parker Navarro, fumbled. JJ Weaver recovered the ball for Kentucky.

On the next series, Vandagriff and Key hooked up twice — including on a 4th-and-7 from the Bobcats’ 38 — as the Wildcats finished with an 80-yard scoring drive on eight plays. Sumo-Karngbaye capped it with a 2-yard run for a 17-0 lead at halftime.

Maxwell Hairston had a walk-in 25-yard interception return for touchdown in the third quarter to extend the lead to 27-0. Barion Brown then found the end-zone on a 23-yard touchdown run that made the score 34-6 with 11:38 to play in the game.

Backup quarterback Gavin Wimsatt scored from two yards out with 3:45 left to cap the scoring and give Kentucky a much-needed victory before the Wildcats resume SEC play next Saturday against the Ole Miss Rebels.

Vandagriff finished the day 17-of-24 for 237 yards passing. Key had a career day for Kentucky, catching seven passes for 145 yards. Freshman Jamarion Wilcox led the Wildcats’ rushing attack with 82 yards on eight carries.

Kentucky’s defense held the Bobcats to 223 yards, well below Ohio’s season average of 391 per game. The 41 points scored by Kentucky were the most since their 45-28 win over Vanderbilt last September.

The Wildcats improved to 37-5 all-time against MAC competition.

NEXT UP

Kentucky visits No. 5 Ole Miss next Saturday for a noon ET kickoff at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The game will be televised on either ABC or ESPN.

Kentucky football unveils classic uniform combination for Week 4 matchup vs Ohio Bobcats

Here’s what the Kentucky Wildcats will be wearing when they take the field against the Ohio Bobcats Saturday at Kroger Field.

When the Kentucky Wildcats host the Ohio Bobcats in Week 4 of the 2024 college football season at Kroger Field, they’ll be wearing an iconic look that’s no stranger to Big Blue Nation.

As they do each Friday ahead of game day, Kentucky football unveiled its weekly uniform combination across the team’s various social media platforms. Against Ohio, the Wildcats will be wearing their classic blue jerseys over white pants with white helmets.

It’s the first time this season that Kentucky will don the white headgear, a far more classic look than the team’s gray or “anthracite” combination worn in last week’s 13-12 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs.

Mark Stoops’ team last wore this uniform set in Week 2 of last year when they defeated Eastern Kentucky, 28-17.

 


RELATED: Five questions ahead of Kentucky football’s Week 4 game vs Ohio Bobcats

Kickoff for Kentucky vs. Ohio is set for 12:45 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on SEC Network.

Follow us @UKWildcatsWire on X and on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Kentucky Wildcats news, notes and opinions.

How does Kentucky football fare all-time against MAC opponents?

A look at Kentucky football’s history against MAC opponents, including Saturday’s foe.

You may have heard that a MAC school defeated a top 10 team this year when Northern Illinois went into South Bend and stunned No. 5 Notre Dame during Week 2 of the college football season.

As Mark Stoops’ Kentucky Wildcats prepare to face one of the MAC’s charter members in the Ohio Bobcats Saturday at Kroger Field, we decided to take a look at Kentucky’s history against one of the country’s most recognizable Group of Five conferences.

RELATED: Five questions ahead of Kentucky football’s Week 4 matchup vs Ohio Bobcats

MAC schools have been some of the most common opponents on Kentucky’s nonconference schedule. Between 2019-2023, the Wildcats played two games against MAC teams in three of those six seasons. A year ago, Kentucky beat Ball State, 44-17, and Akron, 35-3.

All told, the Wildcats have faced 10 current members of the MAC: Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Toledo, and Ohio.

The Wildcats’ all-time record against those schools is a combined 36 wins to 5 losses. Only two of those teams have beaten Kentucky twice, one of which is Ohio. Kentucky and the Bobcats will meet for the sixth time since 1971. Kentucky holds a 3-2 edge in the series and won the last meeting, 20-3, in Week 2 of the 2014 season.

Ohio’s last win in the series was in 2004, Rich Brooks’ second year as Kentucky coach. The Bobcats won, 28-16, with the Wildcats in the midst of one of the worst seasons in program history; Kentucky finished 2-9 that year. Ohio is the last MAC team to beat the Wildcats.

The Bobcats’ only other win in the all-time series came in October 1971, a 35-6 victory in Lexington against coach John Ray’s team. The two schools met again 16 years later, when Jerry Claiborne’s team won 28-0 at Commonwealth Stadium.

Ironically, it would take another 16 years for Kentucky and Ohio to play again. In 2003, the Wildcats posted a 35-14 victory over the Bobcats in the Wildcats’ seventh game of the season.

Against the rest of the MAC’s current members, Kentucky football has faced Miami the most times with 14 meetings between the schools — most recently in 2022, a 37-13 Wildcats victory in Lexington. While Miami has beaten Kentucky four times, two of those wins came between 1912-1920 before the MAC was founded.

Kentucky’s only other loss to a current MAC team was against Bowling Green, 30-26, to open the 1985 season.

Kentucky has met Kent State and Central Michigan seven times apiece. The ‘Cats are 7-0 all-time against both teams. Kentucky is also 2-0 in all-time head-to-head meetings against Akron, Ball State and Eastern Michigan. The Wildcats won the only meetings they’ve played against Northern Illinois (2022) and Toledo (2019).

Kickoff for Kentucky vs. Ohio is set for 12:45 p.m. ET Saturday at Kroger Field. The game can be seen on SEC Network.

Kentucky transfer guard named among nation’s top 3-point shooters

Veteran college basketball analyst Andy Katz named this Kentucky transfer as the top 3-point shooter in the nation.

The Kentucky Wildcats’ basketball season opener is less than two months away. The Wright State Raiders will visit Lexington for the season’s opening tip at Rupp Arena on Monday, Nov. 4.

At 6’7, shooting guard Koby Brea will bring his size and elite shooting to Lexington, where he’ll make his much-anticipated Kentucky debut this season.

A transfer from the Dayton Flyers, Brea is one of the nation’s top three-point threats, having shot 49.8 percent from beyond the arc last season. The two-time Atlantic 10 Sixth Man of the Year averaged three made 3-pointers per game, playing a pivotal role in the Flyers’ 25-8 record and NCAA Tournament appearance. Brea’s sharpshooting should make an immediate impact for the Wildcats.

Veteran college hoops expert Andy Katz recently ranked Brea as the best three-point shooter in all of college basketball. Brea was ahead of players like Mark Sears of the Alabama Crimson Tide, RJ Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels, and Josh Hubbard of the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

 

Brea is excited to see what he can do in Pope’s offense, which he cited as the reason he transferred to Kentucky after four seasons at Dayton.

“That was the biggest draw for me. I was probably coming here just to see how perfect the system was for me. Coach Pope did a great job of explaining to me where I can excel in the offense, the hit system in general, and the defensive system as well.”

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