Amid a football season in which Kentucky and Tennessee have performed better than preseason expectations, the reality is that both the No. 18 Wildcats and the Volunteers are seeking to end two-game slides Saturday night at Kroger Field.
Tennessee’s recent losses transpired against No. 13 Ole Miss on Oct. 16 and No. 4 Alabama on Oct. 23, so there wasn’t any shame in that, which was the case Oct. 16 when Kentucky succumbed to top-ranked Georgia. This past weekend, however, the Wildcats were upset 31-17 by unranked Mississippi State while the Vols had an open date.
“Obviously a team like that comes off a loss and they’re fired up to get back out there and take it out on the next guy,” Tennessee redshirt junior right end Jacob Warren said Monday in a news conference. “They’re going to correct the mistakes they made, so we’ve just got to go in there and play our best ball.”
Kentucky used a 74-yard Josh Ali punt return to snag a 7-0 lead at Mississippi State midway through the first quarter and had a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter before the Bulldogs reeled off 31 straight points. Will Levis, the Kentucky quarterback who transferred from Penn State, was intercepted three times, while Wildcats junior running back Chris Rodriguez fumbled at the UK 26 early in the third quarter to help MSU extend a 17-10 lead to 24-10.
The Wildcats didn’t score an offensive touchdown until a 17-yard pass from Levis to DeMarcus Howard with 13:37 remaining.