Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 28-18 loss to No. 7 Tennessee

Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 28-18 loss to Tennessee:

1. Kentucky quarterback situation. A week after Brock Vandagriff was benched in favor of Gavin Wimsatt for the second half of what became a 24-10 Kentucky loss to Auburn, it appeared the transfer from Georgia was going to take all the snaps for UK at Neyland Stadium — until an injury intervened.

With under seven minutes left in the third quarter, Vandagriff had played every play from scrimmage for the UK offense. On a third-and-1 from the UK 34-yard line, however, Vandagriff dropped to pass and was emphatically crushed by Tennessee star pass rusher James Pearce Jr.

The Kentucky starting quarterback appeared to enter the injury tent on the UK sideline, then was seen walking off the field with a towel over his head toward the locker room.

Only then did Wimsatt enter the game.

Both UK QBs led touchdown drives, threw costly interceptions — and had to run for their lives behind Kentucky’s struggling pass protection.

Vandagriff finished the game 10-of-17 passing for 123 yards with one TD throw and one pick.

Wimsatt went 4-of-10 passing for 69 yards with a touchdown pass and an interception. The former Owensboro High School star also ran for 20 yards on four carries.

The Tennessee defense was credited with three sacks and seven QB hurries.

2. A Kentucky defensive first. Tennessee’s first offensive drive of the game featured a 10-play, 70-yard march from the UT 5-yard line to the Kentucky 25. A missed 43-yard field goal by the Volunteers’ Max Gilbert ended the drive.

That was significant because it was the first time in the four seasons in which Josh Heupel became Tennessee coach that the UK defense kept UT from scoring a touchdown on its initial drive.

In 2021, in UT’s 45-42 win in Lexington, the Volunteers scored on their first play from scrimmage on a 75-yard pass.

During 2022’s 44-6 Tennessee victory over Kentucky, the Vols scored on their fifth play on a 55-yard pass.

Last season, in UT’s 33-27 win at Kroger Field, the Volunteers again scored on their fifth play from scrimmage on a 52-yard run.

3. Kentucky’s reduced roster. On a Saturday night in Knoxville, UK channeled “The Thin Thirty.”

Due to injuries, the Wildcats began the game without five starters — Maxwell Hairston (cornerback), D’Eryk Jackson (weakside linebacker) and J.J. Weaver (rush end) on defense and Jordan Dingle (tight end) and Gerald Mincey (right tackle) from the offense.

UK was also without regular defensive back contributors Jantzen Dunn and DJ Waller plus special teams players Quay’sheed Scott, Jayvant Brown and Steven Soles Jr.

In addition to Vandagriff, Kentucky lost starting wide receiver/dynamic kickoff returner Barion Brown in the first half to an injury and starting cornerback JQ Hardaway to cramping.

After the game, Mark Stoops said UK finished the game down 10 starters.

“That’s not an excuse,” Stoops said. “It’s just a fact.”

4. UK run defense. A struggling Kentucky run defense entered the game having given up a whopping 523 rushing yards combined in back-to-back losses to Florida (197) and Auburn (326).

Tennessee came into Saturday night’s contest seventh in the country in rushing, averaging 241.6 yards a game on the ground. Vols star junior running back Dylan Sampson came into the contest 14th in the FBS in rushing (838 yards) and third in rushing touchdowns (17).

Sampson ran for 141 yards and two scores, but Kentucky held Tennessee below its season rushing average with 199 yards allowed.

5. Tennessee domination of Kentucky rolls on. UT has now beaten UK in 37 of the past 40 meetings.

The Volunteers have won 19 of the past 20 games against the Wildcats at Neyland Stadium.

Mark Stoops is now 2-10 vs. Tennessee.

All-time, Tennessee leads the series with Kentucky 85-26-9.

When ranked in the AP Top 25, the Vols are now 37-4-1 versus the Cats.

UK’s only wins over ranked UT teams are:

1955: Kentucky 23, No. 17 Tennessee 0;

1957: Kentucky 20, No. 6 Tennessee 6;

1959: Kentucky 20, No. 20 Tennessee 0;

2020: Kentucky 34, No. 18 Tennessee 7.

Fashion police

For its ninth game of the 2024 season, Kentucky wore silver chrome helmets, white jerseys with blue letters and numbers and white pants.

Since the start of the 2020 season, Kentucky is now 2-2 in silver chrome, white, white.

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