In a Nutshell: Ole Miss falls to Kentucky, 20-17; Instant Reaction to the loss
OXFORD, Miss. — Ole Miss (4-1, 0-1 SEC) fell 20-17 Saturday to the Kentucky Wildcats (3-2, 1-2 SEC) in a heartbreaker at Vaught-Hemingway. After the game, a disappointed head coach Lane Kiffin said he would not be overreacting to the loss.
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin: “I’m not going to overreact in loss, just like I don’t overreact in a tight win.”
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) September 28, 2024
Saturday, the Rebels lost to the same Kentucky team that fell to No. 1 Georgia, 13-12, two weeks ago. In that loss to the Bulldogs, Kentucky controlled the clock for 35 minutes, versus 25 for the Bulldogs. They out-gained Georgia 284-262 yards while running 73 plays to Georgia’s 54.
Here’s our instant reaction to what happened in the loss.
THE POSITIVE: There is a lot of football left to be played. Ole Miss is in week five of an extremely long season. In a league as tough as the Southeastern Conference, anything can happen. Another positive worth mentioning, the Ole Miss defense showed up and played well enough to win by most standards.
The unit finished with 82 total tackles (40 solo), 5 sacks, 10 tackles-for-loss, 7 pass break-ups, 3 quarterback hurries and one forced fumble. But they were on the field for almost 40 minutes of the game. Usually, holding an opponent to 20 points would be enough for the Ole Miss offense to handle and outscore.
THE NEGATIVE: The Rebels lost and not only did they lose, they looked unprepared and struggled in every aspect of the game. There was a lack of offensive production and also a look of exhaustion late in the game (likely due to the extreme disparity in time of possession).
THE KEY POSSESSIONS: Twice in the fourth quarter, with a 17-13 lead, the Rebels went three-and-out. They had an opportunity to put the game away and were unable to do so. They then had a final opportunity to win the game but were forced to settle for a game-tying field goal that went wide left.
THE KEY PLAY: With 4:00 minutes to go in the game and trailing 17-13 to Ole Miss, Kentucky faced a 4th and 7 from their own 20. It looked as if Ole Miss was going to stop Kentucky and get the ball back to run out the clock to win. But…instead, QB Brock Vandagriff hit Barion Brown on a go-route deep to the left, a ball which he caught on the Ole Miss 46 and advanced to the Ole Miss 17.
‘You can’t let people hang around, especially in this conference,” Kiffin said after the game.
THE KEY UNIT: In this game, the key unit has to be the Kentucky offense that went old school on the Ole Miss defense by controlling the football for two-thirds of the game, thus keeping the Ole Miss offense off the field. The Wildcats had possession for 39:43, while the Rebels had the ball for 20:17.
The Kentucky defense did its part as well, holding Ole Miss, after the Rebels’ initial opening scoring drive, to 17 plays and 31 yards in the entire first half.
WHAT THIS MEANS GOING FORWARD: The Rebels cannot lose another game or they will not make the playoffs. At this juncture, a one-loss team could definitely get into the playoffs, but the one loss will hurt their rankings and puts more pressure on the games to come.
