Kentucky football’s hopes of remaining in the SEC East race ended in embarrassing fashion Saturday with a 44-6 loss at Tennessee.
For just the third time in 118 meetings between the programs, both Kentucky and Tennessee entered a matchup ranked. The No. 3 Volunteers were strong favorites thanks to their undefeated record and win over Alabama, but the No. 19 Wildcats had actually been picked to finish ahead of Tennessee in the East this summer and were coming off a bye week following a win against a ranked Mississippi State team.
There was reason to wonder if Tennessee might look past Kentucky to its matchup with No. 1 Georgia next week, but Josh Heupel’s Volunteers needed just five plays to score their first touchdown of the game on a 55-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hendon Hooker to a wide-open Jalin Hyatt.
