Know Your Foe: Kentucky will try again to break through vs. Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss

Scouting Kentucky football’s next opponent, the Ole Miss Rebels:

Game details

Kentucky (2-2, 0-2 SEC) will play its first road game of the 2024 season against the Mississippi Rebels (4-0, 0-0 SEC) at noon EDT on Sept. 28 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Miss.

The game will be telecast by either ABC or ESPN.

Coach Lane Kiffin’s Rebels defeated Georgia Southern 52-13 on Saturday.

History and trends

Mississippi leads the all-time series with Kentucky 29-13-1.

As Kentucky coach, Mark Stoops is 0-3 against the Rebels with the three losses coming in agonizing fashion by a combined seven points.

Rebels head man Lane Kiffin is 2-0 versus UK as Ole Miss coach and is 3-0 overall against the Wildcats.

Over the past three seasons (2021 through 2023), Kentucky is 6-6 in SEC road games.

In the same time frame, Mississippi is 10-2 in SEC home games.

Most recent meeting

On Oct. 1, 2022, No. 7-ranked Kentucky seized a 22-19 defeat from the jaws of victory at No. 14 Mississippi with a mistake-filled effort that cost Stoops and the Wildcats what would have been a season-altering win.

UK missed two extra points and a 38-yard field goal. The Wildcats gave Ole Miss a safety by taking an intentional grounding penalty in the Kentucky end zone. Kentucky lost fumbles on its two final drives of the game.

Worst of all, what would potentially have been a 7-yard, game-winning touchdown pass from Will Levis to Dane Key in the final minute was called back due to an illegal motion penalty on the Cats.

Quarterback Jaxson Dart threw for 213 yards with an interception, and running back Quinshon Judkins ran for 106 yards and a TD to pace the Rebels.

Pride of the program

In an iconic three years (1968-70) quarterbacking the Mississippi Rebels, Archie Manning became a college football icon. The 6-foot-3, 212-pound product of Drew, Mississippi, led Ole Miss to a combined 22-10-1 record in his three seasons as a starter, while throwing for 4,753 yards and 31 touchdowns and running for 823 yards and 25 TDs.

Chosen the 1969 SEC Player of the Year by the Southeastern Conference’s coaches, Manning finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting in 1969 and was third in 1970.

Beloved in Mississippi for both his football heroics and his charitable work, Manning was chosen the 1981 Mississippian of the Year.

In 1989, Manning was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Interestingly, one of the most stunning defeats Manning suffered as Ole Miss QB came in Lexington. On Sept. 27, 1969, a Kentucky Wildcats team that would go on to finish the season 2-8 stunned Manning and the No. 8 Rebels 10-9.

Three things to know

1. Lane Kiffin’s high-flying offense leads the FBS in total yards a game (670.8), passing yards a contest (422.8) and scoring offense (55.0 per game) and is 12th in rushing yards a game (248.0).

Kiffin’s Rebels have put 76, 52, 40 and 52 points on the scoreboard in its victories.

2. Through three games, BetMGM.com had Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart (odds of plus-700) tied with Alabama QB Jalen Milroe as the second choice to win the 2024 Heisman Trophy. Only Miami Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward (plus-450) had shorter odds to win the Heisman than Dart.

Dart is first in the FBS in passing yards (388.5 per game) and tied for fourth in passing touchdowns (12). He has completed 95 of 119 passes and thrown two interceptions.

3. One advantage Kentucky could have against Mississippi is being the more-tested team. The Wildcats, of course, have already played SEC contests against South Carolina (3-1) and Georgia (3-0).

Meanwhile, this season’s first three Ole Miss opponents — FCS foe Furman, Conference USA’s Middle Tennessee State and Wake Forest of the ACC and — all had 1-2 records entering Saturday’s games. Georgia Southern, Mississippi’s opponent in Week 4, is now 2-2.

What if I told you the main criticism of Mark Stoops is completely backward?

In 2024, Mark Stoops again faces task of meeting raised UK football expectations

With Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC, Kentucky fans now face a conundrum

When he needed a career reset, Gavin Wimsatt found his way home to Kentucky

An Eastern Kentucky basketball hero comes home to create ‘a treasure in the mountains’

As Dan Issel is thrilled to tell you, reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated