Gamer: Ole Miss drops heartbreaker to Kentucky in SEC Opener
Oxford, Miss. – On Saturday evening in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, the No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels fell short in a heartbreaking loss, 20-17, to the Kentucky Wildcats on Homecoming as a last-minute field goal to tie the game was no good.
“Beyond disappointing day today. We start fast and we play sloppy and bad in the second quarter. Then we start playing better on both sides in the third quarter. The game came down at the end as we had a chance to win it in every phase.“
~ Lane Kiffin in his opening statement
First Half
The Rebels received the game’s opening kickoff; however, it looked as if Kentucky came up with a fumble recovery to set themselves up in the red zone before the Ole Miss offense could even touch the field. Fortunately for the Rebels, Ole Miss returner Micah Davis was ruled down and the call was overturned.
Jaxson Dart then trotted onto the gridiron, leading the Rebel offense in a quick two-minute drive full of passes to Tre Harris and Cayden Lee. After a big gain from Harris, the Rebels were set up at the one-yard-line, allowing Henry Parrish Jr to cap off the drive with a rushing touchdown to make it 7-0 early.
Eazzzyyyyy money for Harlem.@DoubleTay_21 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/PiQgyFackB
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 28, 2024
On the opening drive for the Wildcats, the Ole Miss defensive line looked human for the first time this season. Kentucky quarterback Brock Vandagriff then marched his offense down the field deep into Rebel territory rushing for 44 yards. However, Ole Miss defensive back Trey Amos forced an incompletion on an island by himself, bringing up a 27-yard field goal attempt that put three on the board for the Wildcats.
On the following Ole Miss possession, the Wildcats forced the first three-and-out of the season for the Rebels. The Kentucky offense then came right back out, only for the Rebel defense to cause the same result. Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul Jr. and Princely Umanmielen both came flying off the edges after Jared Ivey got their first, coming up with a huge, combined sack to give the ball back to the Rebel offense.
However, the Kentucky defense continued to show why they are one of the best defenses in the SEC. For the second time already thus far in the game, the Wildcat pass rush got to Dart, forcing another Ole Miss punt.
Following the loss, Coach Kiffin repeatedly mentioned that the Ole Miss offense finished 1-for-10 on third down. Today was the first time all year the Ole Miss offense was brought to three-and-out, and it happened multiple times.
At the end of the first quarter, just 24 of the Rebels’ 117 total yards came from the run game. The Wildcats were also dominating the time of possession battle by nearly twice the amount of time. Heading into the halftime locker room, Kentucky had 21 minutes of possession time compared to the Rebels’ eight minutes.
The second quarter of play was full of punts from both squads; however, the Wildcats controlled the football for nearly the whole quarter. A 13-play drive that lasted almost six minutes was capped off by an unbelievable catch by Kentucky receiver Dane Key. The five-yard pass from Vandagriff gave Kentucky a 10-7 lead with under 30 seconds left in the half, marking the first time in 2024 the Rebels have trailed.
After the game, Ole Miss safety Trey Washington took the podium to comment on the loss.
“There are good moments and there are bad moments. We have to do a better job of relaying to routes and keep making plays on, but we just got to do better overall as a team.“
~ Washington on the Ole Miss pass defense
Another failed offensive possession to close the half ended with the Wildcats sacking Dart for a third time in the contest. Dart was sacked four times on the day, the most in a game all season. After the game, the signal-caller answered how the Rebels handled the loss in the locker room.
“There is not really much to say. You can look at it two ways: you can just quit, or you can take it on the chin and get up,” he said.
The Rebel defense gave up 161 first-half yards, 77 of them being on the ground, which is the most any team has rushed against the Landshark defense all season long. Struggling on offense, Ole Miss had just 32 rushing yards on the 12 attempts, completely stalling after the opening scoring drive.
Halftime in Oxford. pic.twitter.com/F1vwUmk56u
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 28, 2024
“I just wish we could have made adjustments sooner than we did. We got caught up in too many third and longs; We play in the SEC so those are hard to convert. There is a lot of things we have to look at on tape…the job is to not be in that situation again.”
~ Dart on the offensive struggles
Second Half
Kentucky received the opening kick of the second half with all the momentum on their side, holding onto a three-point lead. However, the Landshark defense came out of the locker room motivated, pinning their ears back and forcing a three-and-out. It was Umanmielen again, chasing down Vandagriff from behind on third down to force a punt.
That’s how you start the second half 😤@d1princely | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/HTh4PlH86D
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 28, 2024
In the first half, Parrish Jr. had four carries for just eight yards on the ground. On the first second-half offensive possession for the Rebels, the Miami native carried the ‘rock’ four times for 39 yards, pushing the Rebels deep into Kentucky territory.
However, on third down Dart was sacked again for the fourth time today by the Kentucky defense. Ole Miss was then forced to settle for the field goal, allowing Caden Davis to knock a 31-yard field through the uprights to tie things up at 10.
Caden kicks the FG to tie the game up! @_cadendavis | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/tN6QjvfITp
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 28, 2024
The Wildcats then came firing back, putting together their quickest scoring drive of the game in six plays. It was Key again for Kentucky carrying the load, surpassing 100 yards receiving on the day to get the Wildcats in field goal range. A 48-yard field goal then gave Kentucky the lead back once again, 13-10, midway through the third quarter.
Dart and the Rebel offense looked as if they had finally found their footing, driving deep into Wildcat territory after a 39-yard reception by Harris. However, another screen came Harris’ way and this time the Kentucky defense got to him, forcing a red zone fumble by the receiver at a moment when the Rebels really needed a score.
Again though, the Landshark defense stood tall, stuffing the Kentucky rushing attack to force another Wildcat punt. It was Suntarine Perkins this time flying off the edge, coming up with the third sack of Vandagriff on the day.
LANDSHARK D 🦈@suntarine | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/7HeDOfWR3j
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 28, 2024
On the following offensive possession for the Rebels, it looked as if the Kentucky defense stalled Ole Miss once again. However, on 4th-and-7 from midfield, Dart found Harris on a slant route over the middle and the playmaker took it 48 yards to the house. The first Dart touchdown of the day gave the Rebels their first lead since leading 7-3 earlier in the second.
4th Down? Not a problem for the Rebs.@_treharris13 | #HottyToddy pic.twitter.com/buLlcntz7d
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 28, 2024
Following the loss, Kiffin said he believed this was the moment the Rebels had the chance to put the game away.
“I really did. I thought it was going to springboard us to a two-possession type of game. We played great defense and needed a play like that to spark us. I thought the crowd was great at that point. I thought this was a game where it was close for a while and then we finish them off, but we didn’t do that, we had the opportunity to do it.“
~ Kiffin on taking the lead
With a 17-13 lead in favor of the Rebels, the Kentucky offense did not make it any better on themselves, starting their next drive at their own 15-yard line. A big gain on the second play of the drive looked to be an answer from the Wildcats, but again it was the Landshark defense showing up when it mattered most, stuffing the Kentucky offense to force another punt as the fourth quarter began.
The Rebels then had a chance to separate themselves by two scores, however; the Kentucky defense stood tall and forced a quick three-and-out by the Ole Miss offense to give their offense a shot late.
A nine-play drive from the Kentucky offense was then stalled by the Rebel defense. It was Perkins again, coming up with his second sack of the game on third down to force another Wildcat punt.
However, the Rebel offense failed to capitalize once again going three-and-out on consecutive drives for the first time this season.
The Wildcat offense then went right back to work with a little less than five minutes left in the game. Ole Miss would eventually get Kentucky to 4th-and-7, looking for one final stop to close this one out. However, Vandagriff bought some time and found Kentucky wideout Barion Brown down the sideline for a 63-yard gain, setting the Wildcats up to take the lead.
After the game, Kiffin claimed the deep shot taken by Vandagriff was not something he expected in that situation.
“We sent pressure and manned up; he made a great throw. Very unusual situation…Got to commend (Mark) Stoops there. He did something he probably had never done in his career and aired it out there.“
~ Kiffin on the 4th down UK conversion
Kentucky then punched it in from four yards out, fumbling, but recovering it in the end zone to take a 20-17 lead with two and a half minutes left in the game.
With plenty of time to work with, the Ole Miss offense went back to work in desperate need of points. The Kentucky defense then brought up a 4th-and-7 for the Rebel offense, and just as the Wildcats did; Ole Miss converted on a 46-yard pass to Caden Prieskorn.
The reception by the tight end set the Rebels up in Kentucky territory, but again the Wildcat defense stood tall to bring up another fourth down for Ole Miss.
A 48-yard field goal attempt by Davis with under a minute to go then went wide left, giving the ball back to Kentucky and setting up victory formation as the Wildcats watched the clock hit triple zeros in Vaught-Hemingway.
We head to the 4th quarter! pic.twitter.com/WSSrg79zsZ
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 28, 2024
After the game, Kiffin was calmer than usual after a loss. “I am not going to overreact in a tight loss, just like I am not going to overreact to a tight win,” he said.
Up Next
Next week, the Rebels will hit the road to Columbia, South Carolina for a matchup against the South Carolina Gamecocks. Kickoff is set for 2:30 pm CT and will be televised on ESPN.
Kameron Wicker
Kam is a senior at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he's from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn't stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He's a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.
