Injuries too much to overcome as Kentucky football falls short in upset bid at Tennessee

Kentucky football avoided the blowout most had predicted against No. 7 Tennessee on Saturday, but a strong effort to overcome a rash of injuries was still not enough to avoid the latest in a long line of disappointing losses to the Volunteers.

Mark Stoops’ team entered the day without five normal starters and several more important backups then lost wide receiver Barion Brown and quarterback Brock Vandagriff to injuries during the game. Still, the Wildcats had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead in the fourth quarter of what ended up a 28-18 loss.

Redshirt freshman running back Jamarion Wilcox opened the game with a 50-yard carry on Kentucky’s first offensive play, but the Wildcats failed to convert a fourth-and-2 at the Tennessee 5-yard line later in the drive.

Tennessee answered the fourth-down stop by quickly driving down the field into the red zone, but a sack and a holding penalty ended the drive, and kicker Max Gilbert missed a 43-yard field goal attempt.

Kentucky scored its first points on the next drive on a 27-yard pass from Vandagriff to tight end Josh Kattus. After Gilbert issued his second field goal attempt of the game, this one from 40 yards, early in the second quarter, Tennessee finally got on the board with a 1-yard touchdown run from Peyton Lewis with 4:47 left in the half.

UK responded with a 10-play, 61-yard drive that ended with a 32-yard Alex Raynor field goal for a 10-7 halftime lead.

Gilbert missed his third field goal attempt of the game from 34 yards on Tennessee’s opening drive of the second half, but three plays later the Volunteers regained possession with a strip sack of Vandagriff at the UK 28-yard line. Tennessee cashed in that turnover with a 7-yard Dylan Sampson touchdown run for its first lead of the game at 14-10.

Vandagriff took another hard hit on a third-down sack on UK’s next drive that forced him to the sideline. He did not return to the game.

Backup quarterback Gavin Wimsatt was intercepted on his first pass attempt (after seven straight runs to start the drive). While Wimsatt chased down Tennessee safety Will Brooks after a 66-yard return, the Volunteers needed just two plays to score a touchdown to go up 21-10 with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

Wimsatt gave Kentucky hope early in the fourth quarter with a perfect pass to wide receiver Ja’Mori Maclin for a 32-yard touchdown then hit Maclin again for the two-point conversion to pull the Wildcats within three at 21-18 with 13:31 left, but Kentucky could gain just one first down after its defense forced a three-and-out.

Tennessee then marched 91-yards to essentially clinch the win on a Sampson 6-yard touchdown with 4:55 remaining.

TURNING POINT

All the momentum looked on Kentucky’s side after Gilbert’s third miss of the game with a 10-7 lead early in the third quarter. The ensuing drive started promisingly with a 9-yard run from Vandagriff followed by a 6-yard run from Jamarion Wilcox, but Vandagriff lost a fumble while being sacked on the next play that set up Tennessee’s go-ahead touchdown. That was one of several hard hits Vandagriff took in the game. The next one, a third-down sack on Kentucky’s next drive, ended his night.

MVP

Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava recorded his best performance against an SEC opponent of the season by completing 28 of 38 passes for 292 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Iamaleava, a former five-star recruit, had not thrown for more than 200 yards in an SEC game before Saturday.

KEY STAT

Kentucky’s failed fourth-down attempt on the opening drive marked the fourth consecutive week the Wildcats failed to score points on a drive that reached the opponent’s 5-yard line. Two of those came on failed fourth-down attempts. One ended with a botched field goal and the other was an interception in the end zone. UK has yet to score more than 20 points in an SEC game this season.

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