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.
Kentucky did score its only touchdown of the game on its second possession, but Matt Ruffolo’s point-after attempt was blocked to prevent the Wildcats from tying the game at 7 with just less than five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
Tennessee put the game out of reach by halftime with three second-quarter touchdowns, the last of which came after a shanked Kentucky punt gave the Volunteers the ball at the Kentucky 35-yard line with 37 seconds left in the second quarter. That touchdown came when Kentucky left Hyatt wide-open again, this time for a 31-yard pass into the end zone.
Any hope of Kentucky making things interesting in the second half ended when quarterback Will Levis was sacked on consecutive plays to end the Wildcats’ first drive of the third quarter in a three-and-out. Levis threw interceptions on the next two drives.
Turning point
Kentucky’s stated plan of trying to limit Tennessee’s possessions by controlling the clock was actually working for much of the first half, but that strategy was only going to find success if the Wildcats avoided the self-inflicted mistakes that had plagued the team for much of the season. Another of those mistakes popped up on Kentucky’s first drive of the second quarter when wide receiver Tayvion Robinson dropped what would have been a long gain for a third-down conversion. Instead, Kentucky punted. Tennessee drove 77 yards on eight plays on the ensuing drive for a two-score lead. The game quickly spiraled out of control from there with Tennessee scoring just before halftime for a 27-6 lead.
MVP: Hendon Hooker
On a night that was billed as a matchup between a Heisman Trophy contender and a quarterback actually considered a better NFL Draft prospect, Hooker easily outplayed Levis. The Volunteers quarterback completed 19 of 25 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored on an 8-yard keeper in the third quarter. Hooker’s Heisman candidacy might be decided by how he plays against Georgia next week, but he gave the NFL scouts in Knoxville to see him and Levis something to think about, too.
Key stat
One game is unlikely to dramatically alter Levis’s first-round NFL Draft projection, but his three interceptions ended any chance of Kentucky pulling off the upset. The first interception bounced out of the hands of wide receiver Dane Key and into the arms of a Tennessee defender after a bone-crushing hit. That miscue might not have been Levis’s fault, but his two third-quarter interceptions were both bad throws.
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