Five things you need to know from No. 12 Kentucky’s 31-17 loss to the Mississippi State Bulldogs:
1. Mike Leach gets revenge.
A year ago, when the former Kentucky offensive coordinator made his return to Lexington as a head coach, the UK defense completely grounded the Air Raid offense. In a 24-2 UK victory, the Wildcats picked off six passes and held a Leach-coached offense to the fewest points one had ever scored.
On Saturday night in Starkville, Miss., Leach got payback in a major way.
After a scoreless first quarter, Leach’s dink-and-dunk offense got in rhythm and dominated Kentucky.
A season after watching his QBs throw six picks, Leach saw his current starter, sophomore Will Rogers play “Air Raid quarterback” about as well as it can be played.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound sophomore from Brandon, Miss., completed an amazing 36 of 39 passes for 344 yards and one touchdown.
This year, Mississippi State threw no interceptions.
Seeing UK was deploying a smaller, speedier defensive front, Leach even used his running game to good effect. Mississippi State ran the ball 35 times for 94 yards.
The Bulldogs controlled the ball more than twice as long — 41:10 to 18:50 — than Kentucky had the ball.
2. The Mississippi State 'D' shut down Kentucky again.
It didn’t get much attention last year because of the game’s outcome, but Mississippi State defensive coordinator Zach Arnett led a unit that held the Wildcats to 157 yards of total offense in 2020.
Saturday night, things weren’t much better for UK. Arnett’s defense held Kentucky to 216 total yards and forced a whopping four turnovers.
For all the acclaim the Mississippi State offense gets with Leach as head coach, it is Arnett’s unorthodox 3-3-5 defense that Kentucky better get figured out going forward.
3. A rough night for Will Levis.
The Kentucky quarterback had played quite well in UK’s 42-21 win over LSU and in the Wildcats’ 30-13 loss at No. 1 Georgia two weeks ago.
However, Saturday night saw the Penn State transfer revert to some of his early-season issues.
Due errant throws, Levis misfired on some potential big plays early in the game.
On Kentucky’s first drive, Levis had Wan’Dale Robinson behind the Mississippi State secondary for what would have probably been a TD. However, the UK QB underthrew the route and it went for an interception.
During Kentucky’s final drive of the first half, Levis overthrew a wide-open Josh Ali for what would have been a sure touchdown just before halftime.
Two plays later, Levis threw into double-coverage trying to hit Izayah Cummings on first-and-goal from the Mississippi State 14. The ball was tipped and picked with nine seconds left in the first half.
The third Levis pick, intercepted by the Mississippi State nose guard Cameron Young off a deflected pass in the third quarter, set up Mississippi State's final touchdown.
Throw in another lost Christopher Rodriguez fumble, and Kentucky’s four turnovers took itself out of any chance to win.
4. The 'Starkville hex' lives.
Kentucky has still not won at Davis Wade Stadium since Randall Cobb quarterbacked the Wildcats to a 14-13 victory in 2008.
Under Mark Stoops, Kentucky hasn’t even come close to winning in Starkville since 2013. After the Wildcats lost by six, 28-22, in 2013, the Cats have since fallen by scores of 42-16, 45-7, 28-13 and 31-17.
Against the SEC teams that UK plays every season — meaning East Division foes and permanent inter-division rival Mississippi State — the Wildcats have gone the longest without recording a road win at Mississippi State.
Kentucky’s last away victories against its other annual SEC opponents: Florida (2018), Georgia (2009), Missouri (2018), South Carolina (2021), Tennessee (2020) and Vanderbilt (2019).
5. Mark Stoops ties Bill Curry for unwanted mark.
With the loss, Mark Stoops is now 55-52 (since 2013) as UK head coach. He has tied Bill Curry (26-52 from 1990-1996) for the most coaching losses in Kentucky football history.
Stoops is now 5-15 vs. SEC West opponents.
The Kentucky head man is now 5-7 in the first games immediately following open dates.
