Kentucky-Ole Miss Football Postgame Notes

KENTUCKY FOOTBALL POSTGAME NOTESKENTUCKY at #6/#5 OLE MISSVAUGHT-HEMINGWAY STADIUM; OXFORD, MISS.SEPT. 28, 2024 

FINAL SCORE: KENTUCKY 20, OLE MISS 17

Team Records and Series Information

• Kentucky is 3-2 on the season and 1-2 in the Southeastern Conference, while Ole Miss is 4-1 on the season and 0-1 in the SEC.
• The Rebels remain the leader in the all-time series, 30-15-1, including 9-3 in Oxford.
  • It is Kentucky’s first win at Ole Miss since 1978.
  • Kentucky is now 5-10 all-time against ranked Ole Miss teams.

Next Game

• On Oct. 5, Kentucky has the first of two bye weeks during the season. It will return to the field Oct. 12, when it hosts Vanderbilt at Kroger Field.

What the Victory Means

• Kentucky is now 53-215-5 all-time vs. teams ranked in the Associated Press Poll, including 1-1 this season.
• The Wildcats are 8-9 in their last 17 games against teams ranked in the AP Poll.
  • Since 2018, UK is 12-16 vs. AP-ranked teams.

• The win marked the highest AP-ranked triumph of the Mark Stoops era (previously at No. 9 Louisville in 2023).
  • The two highest-ranked wins of the Stoops era are road games.
  • It is the highest AP-ranked road win since a victory at No. 4 Penn State in 1977.
  • It is the first victory over an AP-ranked top six team since a victory over No. 1 LSU in 2007.
• The win marked UK’s highest-ranked road win at an SEC campus stadium in school history.
  • The 1964 win over No. 1 Ole Miss was in Jackson.
  • The previous record for highest-ranked road win at an SEC campus stadium was at No. 10 Vanderbilt (14-0) in 1947.
• Kentucky has won three of its past four “true” road games.

Coach Mark Stoops

• Mark Stoops is in his 12th season as Kentucky’s head coach, a school record for the most seasons as the UK head coach and has the longest term of any current Southeastern Conference coach.
• Stoops extended his school records for most total victories (66), SEC victories (31) and victories against ranked opponents (12).

Team Notes

• Kentucky scored on a field goal on its opening possession, the first time this season the Wildcats have scored on their opening possession.
• The game-winning score came with 2:25 remaining, the latest game-winning score for Kentucky in an SEC game since 2018, when C.J. Conrad caught a game-winning pass on an untimed down at Missouri.
• Kentucky totaled 20 points, 336 yards of total offense, 93 rushing yards and 243 passing yards.
  • Ole Miss entered the game first in the nation in scoring defense (5.5 points per game) and rushing defense (34.5 yards per game) while rating 12th nationally in total defense (239 yards per game).
• Ole Miss totaled 17 points, 353 yards of total offense, 261 passing yards and 92 rushing yards.
  • The Rebels entered the game leading the nation in scoring (55 points per game), total offense (670.8 yards per game) and passing offense (422.8 yards per game), while ranking 12th in rushing offense (248 yards per game).

• Kentucky recovered a fumble deep in its own territory in the third quarter.
  • Kentucky has earned at least one turnover in each game (five) this season.
• Ole Miss had punted four times total in its first four games but were forced to kick it away five times in the game.
• UK has allowed 67 points this season, fewest in the first four games of the season since 2018 (63 points in first five games).

Player Notes

• QB Brock Vandagriff completed a career-high 18 of his 28 pass attempts for a career-high 243 yards.
  • He also rushed 17 times for a net three yards (includes 45 sack yards lost), with an 11-yard long.
  • He had five rushing first downs.
• QB Gavin Wimsatt ran nine times for 26 yards.
• WR Barion Brown had five catches for 88 yards, including a 63-yarder on 4th-and-7 from the UK 20-yard line to set up Kentucky’s game-winning touchdown.
  • For his career he has 110 receptions for 1,345 yards. He surpasses Wan’Dale Robinson for 18th on UK’s career chart.
• WR Dane Key, who had a career-high eight catches for 105 yards and one touchdown during the game, recorded his 100th career catch on a five-yard touchdown reception late in the second quarter to put UK up, 10-7, just before halftime.
  • It is the second straight game he has set or tied a career best for catches in a game.
  • In the first half alone, he caught six passes for 69 yards and a touchdown, while also drawing three defensive penalties in the first half.
  • It marked his third 100-yard game of his career, and his second in a row.
  • He moved into UK’s all-time top 10 at ninth with 1,524 career receiving yards. He moved up from 15th.
  • He became the 21st player in UK history to catch 100 in a career.
• RB Demie Sumo-Karngbaye had 11 rushes for 47 yards to lead the Cats.
  • He added one reception for six yards.
• RB Jamarion Wilcox had seven carries for 23 yards.
• TE Willie Rodriguez made his first career reception, a 25-yarder in the fourth quarter.
• TE Josh Kattus was Johnny-on-the-spot, recovering a fumble at the two-yard line and lunging in the end zone for UK’s game-winning touchdown.
• LB D’Eryk Jackson eclipsed 200 career tackles, recoding seven tackles, including 1.5 TFL in the game.
  • He came into the game with 197 career tackles and now has 204 stops.
• DB JQ Hardaway recorded a career-high and team-high11 tackles in the game, including the first forced fumble of his career.
  • OLB Noah Matthews recovered that forced fumble.
• DL Octavious Oxendine registered a career-high two sacks and three total tackles.
  • He now has 7.5 career sacks.

• OLB J.J. Weaver had a sack on Ole Miss’s final possession that helped hold the Rebels to a field goal attempt.
  • He now has 19.5 for his career to move past Dennis Johnson and Jamar “Boogie” Watson for fourth on UK’s career chart.

• K Alex Raynor extended his streak to 14 straight field goals – a personal best that began last season against Tennessee at Kroger Field on Oct. 28, 2023 – with two connections in today’s game.
  • His 14 straight field goals extend his school record for most consecutive field goals, which he broke with his 12th straight against Ohio on Sept. 21.
    • The previous record was 11 by Austin MacGinnis, who did it twice – in the 2014-15 season and the 2017 season.
    • His personal career best had been 13 straight while at Georgia Southern.
  • His pair of kicks today were made from 27 yards and 48 yards.
  • Raynor is now 21-of-22 at field goals and 59-of-60 at extra points in his career at Kentucky.
    • His career made percentage of .955 is first all-time at UK for his career.

Game Captains

• DL Deone Walker, C Eli Cox, DB Zion Childress, WR Dane Key