Vandagriff tosses 3 TD passes, Kentucky earns lightning-shortened 31-0 shutout of Southern Miss

LEXINGTON, Ky (AP) — Brock Vandagriff emerged from a two-hour-plus lightning delay to throw three touchdown passes in his Kentucky debut to lead a 31-0 opening-game shutout of Southern Miss on Saturday night in a game that was called for good with 9:56 remaining in the third quarter after a second delay.

Lightning in the area delayed the scheduled 7:45 p.m. start to 10:05 p.m., and the Georgia transfer took charge to throw for 169 yards and two 12-yard scores to Barion Brown in the first half and a five-yard score to Jordan Dingle in the third before the second lightning delay early Sunday morning.

A release stated that the termination was “by mutual agreement of the participating institutions as permitted by NCAA rules” and considered final and complete.

“(That was a) very strange situation there,” Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said. “I’ve been here 12 years and I’ve never been through the delays like that. I was proud of our team and coming out and playing relatively clean.”

Tate Rodemaker threw for 126 yards for the Golden Eagles along with two interceptions, with one ending their best scoring chance when Kentucky's JQ Hardaway picked off a tipped pass in the end zone with 13:37 left in the first half.

Vandagriff, making his first collegiate start, completed passes to five different receivers, including Dane Key, who had three catches for 60 yards and North Texas transfer Ja’Mori Maclin, who had two catches for 66 yards.

Vandagriff’s opening drive ended when his tipped pass was intercepted by Dylan Lawrence. But he led the Wildcats 59 yards in 10 plays on the next, capped by his TD pass to Brown with 11:57 left in the first quarter.

After an Alex Raynor 41-yard field goal, Demie Sumo-Karngbaye scored on a 1-yard run with 3:07 left in the first half. A failed fake punt gave Kentucky possession at the Southern Miss 29 with 1:52 left in the first half to set up Vandagriff's second scoring pass to Brown.

“It was kind of the first time I’ve ever had a monster delay like this. There’s several times we’re getting up, putting our shoulder pads on, getting ready to walk out,” Vandagriff said. “There’s definitely some stuff we had to figure out in that first and second drive with crowd noise and stuff like that."

NEW LOOK OFFENSE

Not only was it Vandagriff’s first game, but it was also the first game for new offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. Even in the shortened game, the Wildcat offense got plays off quicker than last year when they ranked last in FBS at 54.9 plays per contest. Hamdan’s offense ran 42 plays before the game was called.

THE TAKEAWAY

Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles could not muster any kind of a running attack, gaining a net five yards on 12 carries, including two sacks of Rodemaker. They finished with just 131 yards on offense, 63 coming on passes of 34 yards to Kyirin Heath and 29 yards to Dannis Jackson.

Kentucky: Outside of allowing three third-down conversions on one drive, the Wildcat defense was stout. They had seven tackles for loss for 22 yards. Linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, another Georgia transfer, had an interception on Southern Mississippi’s opening drive. Saturday's shutout was the second in coach Mark Stoops' tenure.

UP NEXT

Southern Miss will host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday.

Kentucky will open Southeastern Conference play next Saturday at home against South Carolina.

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Steve Mcclain, The Associated Press