The clock is ticking down on the Kentucky career of Christopher Rodriguez. When Saturday morning dawned, UK’s redshirt senior running back was down to his final six regular-season games in Wildcats blue and white.
Having missed the first four contests of UK’s 2022 season due to an eligibility-related suspension, “C-Rod” had every reason to feel urgency.
So on Saturday night, against a Mississippi State defense that had twice shut him down in the past, Rodriguez played with ferocity. The 5-foot-11, 224-pound back ran for 197 yards and two touchdowns to lead No. 22 Kentucky (5-2, 2-2 SEC) to a 27-17 upset of No. 16 Mississippi State (5-2, 2-2 SEC).
In a game that was vital to stabilizing the UK season after back-to-back, dispiriting losses at Mississippi and to South Carolina, Rodriguez reminded all 61,451 fans at Kroger Field plus the SEC Network television audience why he is one of the best running backs in the talent-rich Southeastern Conference
“That running back, he played as good a game as I’ve seen, to be perfectly honest, (as good) as anybody (has) play(ed) in the conference so far this year,” Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach said afterward of Rodriguez.
Over the two prior meetings between UK and MSU, the Bulldogs’ unorthodox 3-3-5 defense had limited Rodriguez to 72 yards combined on 15 carries.
Not this time. The bruising Kentucky back carried the ball 31 times, yet seemed to be getting stronger the longer the game progressed. Rodriguez gained 136 of his rushing yards and scored both his TDs (runs of 16 and seven yards) in the second half.
Even more impressive, he gashed Mississippi State while fighting off leg cramps.
“Oh my God, I was on the verge of a really bad cramp,” Rodriguez said.
That led the UK star into an inner monologue that might as well have been classified a debate with himself.
“I was like, ‘I am just coming out of the game,’” Rodriguez said. “Then I was like, ‘No, I can’t do that.’”
On a night when Kentucky achieved perfect offensive balance — 239 yards rushing; 239 yards passing — it was the punishing running of Rodriguez that galvanized the UK attack.
Boosted by the best performance the previously struggling Kentucky offensive line has produced this year, Rodriguez powered through actual holes even as he also ran through myriad MSU tackle attempts.
“In this conference, having a big-time back is everything. It just really is,” new UK offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said. “You have to be able to rely on those guys to make hard yards. It can’t be perfect blocking all the time.”
The “hard yard” masterpiece of C-Rod’s domination of Mississippi State came on the McDonough, Ga., product’s second TD — as impressive a 7-yard run as one will ever witness. Running off right tackle, Rodriguez ran through two arm tackles near the 5-yard line, carried three defenders on his back and plowed over the goal line.
“It’s literally so much fun to watch,” said UK quarterback Will Levis. “… Just to see (Rodriguez) get to the second level, just flat out making guys look silly, it’s so cool.”
What allows Rodriguez to be the epitome of a “pile mover,” Scangarello said, is that he “just runs behind his pads. He’s always able to get on edge of his player. He never stops his feet on first contact and he’s got an incredibly strong lower body.”
Boosted by “C-Rod’s” efforts, Kentucky held the ball for a whopping 39:22. That meant Mark Stoops and troops had Leach’s prolific Air Raid attack pinned to the bench for a good bit of the night.
UK defensive coordinator Brad White said “that was huge” toward helping the Wildcats “D” hold State to only 203 passing yards and 22 rushing yards.
If you are looking past Kentucky’s impending open date to the Wildcats trip to Knoxville on Oct. 29 to face undefeated Tennessee, a pretty good recipe for trying to control Hendon Hooker and the Volunteers’ uptempo offense would be to keep them on the bench with a similar performance to the one Rodriguez and the UK offensive line produced vs. MSU.
The 197 rushing yards vs. State elevated Rodriguez in the Kentucky record books. It gave him 3,135 career rushing yards, pushing him past Rafael Little (2,996) for fourth place on the all-time UK rushing list. The performance made “C-Rod” only the fourth rusher in UK history to exceed 3,000 yards, joining Benny Snell (3,873), Sonny Collins (3,835) and Moe Williams (3,333).
Rodriguez needs 200 yards to pass Williams for third, 702 to pass Collins for second, and 740 yards to pass Snell at No. 1.
If you assume Kentucky likely has six games remaining — five in the regular season, plus a potential bowl — then Rodriguez needs to average 123.3 yards a contest to break Snell’s record.
Rodriguez said even with the four missed games, he still aims to leave Lexington as UK’s all-time leading rusher.
“That’s the plan,” Rodriguez said. “But, if I don’t, I don’t. It is what it is.”
