LEXINGTON, Ky. _ It was a good day to be a Kentucky senior at Kroger Field on Saturday.
The biggest plays _ the biggest moments _ of the No. 17 Cats' 34-23 victory over Middle Tennessee all came for the UK seniors, including two new quarterback sacks records for linebacker Josh Allen.
Kentucky (8-3) led by as many as 17 points early before the Blue Raiders came roaring back, pulling within eight points early in the fourth quarter behind Brent Stockstill.
The big Senior Day started with senior safety Mike Edwards snagging an early Stockstill pass out of the air with one hand and taking it back 66 yards for the touchdown.
Edwards, who had 12 tackles, was back at it again on the next possession, forcing a fumble. Kentucky responded by promptly marching down the field 50 yards for a 7-yard Benny Snell touchdown run.
Snell led the way for the Cats offense with 116 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. UK had 203 rushing yards.
Kentucky was outgained 392-324 by the Blue Raiders, who were paced by Stockstill, who connected on 30 of 33 pass attempts for 293 yards and three touchdown passes.
Senior Miles Butler, who had been benched in favor of true freshman Chance Poore the past three games, was back out versus the Raiders and nailed a 38-yard field goal to make it 17-0 late in the first quarter.
Butler hit an important 32-yarder in the fourth quarter that helped keep separation from a surging Raiders team and make it 34-23 with four minutes to go.
Middle Tennessee got its first score, capping a long, 11-play, 75-yard drive with a Chaton Mobley 6-yard scoring catch from Stockstill, who completed 10 of his 12 passes for 127 yards in the first half.
Another UK senior, this time tight end C.J. Conrad, got into the act with a crazy 11-yard touchdown catch from Terry Wilson with 8:40 to go in the first half.
Wilson made it happen with a nifty spin move that bought the sophomore enough time to find Conrad among three defenders in the UK end zone.
That score looked destined to go to A.J. Rose, but the running back flew out of bounds just inches from the end zone after a 31-yard run. Then his second near-touchdown _ a short run out of the wildcat formation _ was negated by a holding call on the offensive line.
A few minutes later, Middle Tennessee forced a quick three-and-out and then nearly blocked a Max Duffy punt. The sophomore got it off, but just for 20 yards.
The Blue Raiders took advantage of the good field position and got three points just before the half on a 33-yard Crews Hold field goal to make it 24-10 at the break.
Not all of the best moments were saved for seniors, though.
The feel-good story of the day for Kentucky was the return of sophomore defensive end Josh Paschal, who was diagnosed with malignant melanoma this summer and had been undergoing treatment.
Paschal was a starter for the Cats defense on Saturday and got his first tackle of the season on a third-down play with 3:22 to go in the first half.
It was just the third time this season that Kentucky's offense scored more than 30 points and the first time since the Cats topped Murray State, 48-10, on Sept. 15. UK hadn't scored more than 15 points in each of its last four games.
Other big senior moments included Allen becoming Kentucky's all-time sacks leader, besting Oliver Barnett. He also took over the single-season sacks record late in the game. He finished with 15 tackles on the day.
This UK team is just the fourth team to win eight regular-season games in the past 57 years.
It's the first time Kentucky has had eight wins in the regular season in 34 years when the 1984 Cats did it. The only other times it has been done is 1976 and 1977.
