Kentucky football vs. Ole Miss: 3 takeaways from Wildcats' loss

OXFORD, Mississippi — The lasting, lopsided image of the Kentucky football team’s visit here on Saturday might be of quarterback Will Levis’ left hand, injured and crooked as he came off the field in the first half. 

It was the epitome of No. 7 Kentucky’s ongoing struggles to protect its top NFL prospect, a Big Blue bugaboo that bubbled up again at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium on Saturday in a 22-19 loss to No. 14 Ole Miss. 

The Cats were ultimately doomed by a sack. 

Levis fumbled on a sack at the Ole Miss 25-yard line with 51 seconds to play, all but sealing the Rebels’ win. It was his second fourth quarter fumble, the first being on a QB play with 2:55 left. 

Both fumbles were recovered by the Rebels (5-0, SEC 1-0). 

This was Kentucky's 15th consecutive road loss against SEC West rivals. UK coach Mark Stoops is currently 0-11 against the SEC West in road games.

Kentucky had a chance after Levis passed wide receiver Barion brown a short pass that resulted in a big gain. But an illegal motion penalty on UK nullified Levis’ 7-yard touchdown pass to freshman Dane Key. 

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Levis was sacked three times and hurried once, but the numbers didn’t speak to how little time he had to make plays in the pocket. On one second-quarter play — taking the ball in the shadow of his own goal post — Levis sought to make a play and held the ball too long. 

The result was a throwaway that led to an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone — a safety and two points for Ole Miss. 

Levis was 18-for-24 passing for 220 yards with two touchdowns. 

The stress on Levis — he’s been sacked 18 times this season — was a contrast to the Kentucky defense’s struggles to get pressure on Ole Miss QB Jaxon Dart. The Rebels’ shifty, speedy running game gave him opportunities to pick apart the Cats’ secondary. 

Dart completed 15 out of 29 passes for 213 yard. 

It didn’t help that Kentucky — already down a linebacker in J.J. Weaver — lost another in senior Jacquez Jones. Jones, a former transfer from Ole Miss was out of the game in the third quarter. 

But UK’s struggles to contain the Rebels’ rushing came down to more the injuries. Ole Miss’ speed was a problem for a Kentucky team that hadn’t seen a comparably fleet and aggressive group of running backs. 

The Rebels’ Quinshon Judkins rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries (7.1 yards per carry). 

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Star running back Chris Rodriguez had to wait until Kentucky’s fifth game to get on the field. 

The Wildcats didn’t make him wait long to get involved. 

He carried on UK’s first play for 6 yards — right around his career average of 6.5 — and had nine carries in the first half. Rodriguez finished the game with 72 yard and a touchdown on 19 carries. His 3.8 yards per tote was not much better than the team’s 2.9 average of 37 attempts.

He caught three passes totaling 40 yards. 

Rodriguez's importance

His return was positive for a mostly scuffling Kentucky running game, but not a solution for its blocking issues. He was dropped for a four-yard loss in the first half on which Ole Miss’ Ladarius Tennison had a clean path to him.  

Rodriguez also laid some competent blocks for Levis, and his return ultimately should help the Wildcats’ pass protection. But it wasn’t nearly enough Saturday. 

Rodriguez still showed his ability to take a hit, push a pile forward and the threat of him set up some play calls for Kentucky. This included an end sweep for Izayah, and a tight shovel pass from Levis, to Tayvion, for a touchdown. 

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Kentucky last played Ole Miss in 2020. Kicker Matt Ruffolo lost an extra point in overtime which would have tied the game. Instead, the Rebels won in Lexington 42-41. 

Ruffolo was again in trouble against Ole Miss on Saturday. 

He missed a field goal from 39 yards out in the first half and had an extra point blocked for the second half. A bad snap resulted in a second extra point. 

It was part of a rough afternoon for the UK Special Teams, which also saw a Chance Poore kickoff out of bounds during the third quarter.  

Perhaps because of these struggles, Kentucky seemed reluctant to kick in half-time. UK gave Rodriguez the ball on a fourth and 1 at the Ole Miss 26 in quarter three. He took the yard for the first down. 

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Levis tried a pass to Rodriguez on fourth-and-1 from the Ole Miss 32 that was broken up by the Rebels’ Otis Reese. 

The UK's special teams had one saving grace: Barion Brown, a kick returner. He had returns of 85 yards and 54 yards, but neither got him into the end zone. He already has one return touchdown this year.

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Ole Miss fans showed their support in color-coordinated clothes, stripping Vaught-Hemingway Stadium sections in red and blue. 

The Kentucky faithful transformed a few sections into checkerboards, with blocks of blue-white. The Grove, Ole Miss’ renowned on-campus tailgate spot, was peppered with UK fans before the game, and their significant presence was apparent inside the stadium well before kickoff. 

Tom Leach, in his 25th season as Kentucky’s radio play-by-play voice, said at halftime that Saturday’s Cat-fan turnout “might” have been the biggest he’s seen at an SEC road game. 

The only other contender, he said, was a 2018 visit to Texas A&M, UK’s first trip there after the Aggies joined the SEC. The Kentucky team had started the season at 5-0 and rose to No. 13 in The Associated Press Top 25 after losing 20-14 in College Station (Texas) 

Reach Louisville men’s basketball reporter Brett Dawson and bdawson@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @BDawsonWrites.